“None of us are anything without You,” prayed Roger Dahmer, commissioner, as he opened the first Pendleton County Commission meeting of July with the customary invocation.
After Carl Hevener, Pendleton County Commission president, commenced with the meeting, Janice Lantz, executive director of Pendleton Senior and Family Services, was recognized to speak.
She came to deliver a report, not participate in public comment, so she could interact with commissioners and answer their questions. Lantz stated that she came to “inform you about what’s going on with flooding at the senior center.” (Coverage in another story)
Next, commissioners discussed an upcoming possible change to a commonly applied fee that dates back to, but has not been changed, since 1998.
Approximately 27 years ago, the Pendleton County Commission passed an ordinance establishing an “enhanced emergency telephone system,” commonly referred to now as 911. The county commission established this in November of 1998 after the West Virginia State Legislature passed HB 4448 to establish it nine months prior.
In addition to permitting the system’s establishment, the law read “A county commission may impose a fee upon consumers of local exchange service within that county for an enhanced emergency telephone system and associated equipment and for the conversion of all rural routes to city-type addressing.”
The county ordinance set up an “Enhanced 9-1-1 Communications Advisory Board.” It also set up the fee system as follows “$2.50 per month per local exchange service line or line equivalent, except for the Tel-Assistance lines, is proposed. In addition, for each Centrex system the fee will be $2.50 for each line up to eight (8) lines and then $0.31 for each line over eight (8).”
Fees applied to landline users of Spruce Knob Seneca Rocks Telephone Company and Bell Atlantic (originally part of American Telephone and Telegraph’s “Bell System,” later absorbed into Verizon).
With the West Virginia Public Service Commission raising the Wireless Enhanced 911 (WE911) fee just over 10 percent as costs rise, some counties will need to follow suit as they implement more comprehensive technology in their systems. Pendleton and other counties plan to bring expanded abilities to 911 by connecting it to modern internet technology.
Rick Gillespie, Pendleton County Emergency Services coordinator, explained that Pendleton 911 and similar agencies remain “at the mercy of vendors and manufacturers of equipment” during times of price instability such as the nation has seen in the past five years.
“Nothing in the country has stayed the same” since 1998, noted Hevener.
Commissioners discussed the need to set up the legally required readings of the proposed ordinance as well. They agreed that April Mallow, prosecuting attorney, should draft the measure.
Gillespie then shared that the Office of Emergency Management received $22,000 that originally came from FEMA to help defray certain costs. “It’s based on population, which is why it’s not higher than it is,” said Gillespie.
After that update, Karen Pitsenbarger, Pendleton County administrator, was asked about progress on the courthouse annex. She replied that contractors were waiting on the arrival of bar joists to move to the next major phase, but had gotten more minor work completed.
Mike Alt, training officer for Pendleton County Emergency Rescue, was queried by commissioners about the still unknown whereabouts of lawfully establishing funding to enhance EMS salaries and stipends. He responded by saying that would not be known until the agency in authority received their budget. New budgets open July 1 on the first day of the new fiscal year.
Gillespie then provided information about an opportunity related to a study conducted for the National Radio Quiet Zone that he said “will help us in several ways.”
Gillespie later stated, “We thank the National Science Foundation and the National Security Agency for funding the study which is nearing its conclusion. We are in the testing phase of the study. This phase involves over-the-air tests of proposed VHF band equipment. The federal agencies provided us with the Starlink units to test and we appreciate it. We see these as a great augmentation tool, not a solution on their own. However, they are a great tool to add to the toolbox and they do expand our communications abilities.”
