By Stephen Smoot
Last week, inclement weather forced the Pendleton County Commission to delay its regular second meeting of the month by 90 minutes.
The first item of discussion centered around county commission support for the county economic development authority. Until this year, the Pendleton County Economic Development Authority served as that agency. Now, the Seneca Rocks Regional Development Authority has superseded the PCEDA’s mission in that area.
As Laura Brown, executive director of the SRRDA stated, “This year, we’re the official regional development authority” that combined the old Pendleton and Grant EDA functions. She also suggested that the two county commissions could save money by splitting the cost of the usual matching funds. Pendleton normally has contributed $32,000 and Grant $35,000.
Brown later reported that the SRRDA had obtained an award from Building Resilient Economies in Coal Communities to support remote work programs at the new Franklin Innovation Hub.
Carl Hevener, Pendleton County Commission president, responded by stating that in the next meeting, the commission would have ready a resolution to officially designate SRRDA as the county’s official development authority and receiver of the funding match.
He added that, as far as the match was concerned, “we’ll take this up when we do our budget.”
Next Karen Pitsenbarger, Pendleton County administrator, provided an update on the effort to build the courthouse annex. She shared that the judiciary committees in Charleston had approved the final draft of the plans for the expanded space.
Hevener stated that on his recent trip to Charleston, he discussed the matter with a judge and said “she kind of laughed” and said that they could have given Pendleton County more leeway if they wanted, but “she was really appreciative that we did it.”
Later in the meeting Rick Gillespie criticized the process, saying that in a county that has only limited need for such offices that “there’s no reason why family court and circuit court can’t share the same space.”
Commissioner Roger Dahmer agreed and said, “They don’t understand that other people don’t do things the same as Kanawha County.”
The commission then discussed a trip earlier in the week for EMS Day at the State Legislature. Held by the West Virginia EMS Coalition, the event brings together the emergency response community, local elected officials, and members of the State Legislature to discuss issues of concern.
Of the meeting, the Facebook page of Pendleton County Emergency Rescue thanked “all the WV delegates who took time away from their busy schedules to listen and talk with us. Thanks to Bryan Ward for representing our area.”
Tina Eye, president of PCER, Mike Eye, training officer, and others joined Hevener to represent Pendleton County.
State director of the Office of Emergency Services Jody Ratliff explained during the event that counties with local levies to help to pay for emergency services consistently enjoyed better response times over counties that lack them.
Hevener told the rest of the commissioners that emergency services officials are “finding that more of the funding from the state will be for the equipment side” and that county levies are expected to fill in other gaps.
“The big boys,” Hevener said, “they understand what we were telling them about square miles” but one told the group “don’t worry about your turnaround time.” Gillespie retorted, “It’s easy for them to say not to worry about it.”
Some EMS calls can keep a volunteer out for eight or more hours with no additional stipend. Unlike decades ago, local employers can no longer afford to pay worker wages while they go out on a call. Turnaround time has played a key role in discouraging many from joining the volunteer services and has also forced many skilled men and women out.
Gillespie noted that many “small rural counties that are closer (to the Capitol) were not represented,” and “Tucker, you’d think that the issues they’ve had, you’d think they’d be there with bells on.”
Hevener then introduced a memorandum of understanding that makes official the disbursement of state funding to boost the stipends of volunteer emergency responders. It introduces into local regulations a scale of added payment to what is currently received.
Certified EVO drivers will see their $30 per call stipend increased to $70. Basic EMT volunteers will have their stipend increased from $35 to $90. AEMTs will gain from $45 to $105 and paramedics will get a raise from $80 to $140 per call.
All of these payments also must follow established regulations as to who is officially a responder and what level of response they provided.
Finally, the commission filled vacancies on the library board. Charles Burgoyne will fill a position whose tenure ends in 2027. Mary Warner will take a seat that expires in 2026.
