Officials in Madison County are planning to construct a new EMS building, which will be located adjacent to the county's existing facility. The project is expected to cost about $2 million and take about nine months to complete.

"It will employ a lot of Madison County subcontractors," Michael Eaves, attorney for the county, told the Richmond Register. "This will be good for a lot of people in the county."

Officials expect the new facility to create jobs and ultimately result in better emergency management services for the county. The new building will be about 10,000 square-feet and allow room for more ambulances, in turn enhancing services to nearby cities.

"We have totally outgrown the facility," Carlos Coyle, Madison County EMS director, said. "The run volume has increased dramatically, and we're just totally out of room at this facility. It will more than double our space."

The existing county EMS facility, which was built in the 1970s and expanded in the early 1990s, will be given to Eastern Kentucky University. Although the school's administration has agreed to use the building, they have not yet said exactly what they will use it for.

"They have worked hard to make this happen, and we certainly appreciate that support from EKU," Coyle said. "It allows us to keep the ambulance service close to campus and close to Pattie A. Clay Regional Medical Center. And, from the university’s standpoint, it’s good for them.

"We train a lot of EKU's EMT and paramedic students, and they have to leave (the current facility) at 11 p.m. because we don't have enough sleeping areas," he continued. "We will be able to house them overnight (in the new facility) and let students get the real concept of being an EMT and a paramedic."

Convergys Corporation recently announced its plan to hire 200 people for jobs at the company's contact center in Erlanger, Ky. Full-time, part-time, regular and seasonal positions will be available, as well as flexible scheduling and benefits, such as tuition reimbursement and paid vacation.

According to an article by the Business Courier, new employees will be responsible for providing customer management and technical support for the company's telecommunications, healthcare and retail clients.

Convergys, which is headquartered in Cincinnati, provides customer care, human resources and billing services for companies throughout the globe. Company representatives said the contact center in Kentucky is growing in part because of more business from an established customer.

News of Convergys's hiring initiative in Kentucky comes on the heels of the company's announcement earlier this month that it would close its plant in Norwood, Ohio, and move 247 employees to the Erlanger office.

According to a report by The Cincinnati Enquirer, the company's move "will increase both the efficiency and productivity of Convergys customer management operations in the Cincinnati area," as the Erlanger site is a newer building with up-to-date technology.

The company's recruiting efforts are welcome by anyone looking for a job in Kentucky, as the state has continued to lose jobs, despite a drop in unemployment as of late.

During September, Kentucky saw its unemployment rate decrease from 11.2 percent to 10.9 percent, but that number is still more than one full percentage point higher than the national unemployment rate of 9.8 percent. Prior to September, the state had not seen its unemployment rate decline since November 2007, when it went from 5.5 percent to 5.3 percent.

The state had a total non-farm employment of 1,758,600 workers during September, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 1,773,200 workers during August and a 4.7 percent decrease from last year.