Ronnie Travis, County Commission President called the March 3 Commission meeting to order at 9:01 AM after holding a silent prayer and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
The minutes for the February 18 meeting were approved as presented.
The Commissioners greeted attendees and noted that none of the attendees had requested to speak during Public Comment.
Neal Romain, DCAA Director, presented the only bid received to replace two ambulance units that were totaled by the DCAA. Penn Care submitted the bid which was $82,415 each for new, all-wheel drive Ford Transits. This bid is $10,000 more than the last Transits purchased. According to Mr. Romain, the last units purchased were demonstrators, and hence, less expensive.
Although not sure if they were needed, Romain included new cots at $9,000 each that were also part of the bid.
The Commission approved the bid noting that the insurance payment received for Unit 605 for $120,000 would be used toward payment for the new units with the remaining balance paid from DCAA’s operating fund.
Romain also said the DCAA would buy back Unit 605 from the insurance company for $10,000 noting that the chassis could be salvaged and the box could be replaced at a much lower cost compared to purchasing another new unit.
The Commissioners disapproved requests that had been made to the Board of Equalization and Review for re-assessment of property values made by Sandra Bonnell, Dorothy J. Moyers, and Gregory Robinson.
Jennifer Wilt, DC Economic Development Authority Director, requested that Linsey Ferguson, Frank Brunetti, Isaac Richards, Amanda Trent, and Mike Underwood be placed on the EDA Board, explaining that sometimes they did not have enough members in attendance to have a quorum.
Wilt was asked how many are currently on the Board and how many
Jamie Reiser reported on the Doddridge County Day Report Center (DCDRC) noting that through the end of January, it had saved the County $258,000 in jail bill expenses and that February had been a busy month with new participants in the program.
Reiser requested approval of an $189,000 FY 20/21 budget for the DCDRC with the County paying $37,801, and the State, the remainder.
An agreement between the West Fork Soil Conservation District and the Doddridge County Commission for future creek clean-up was approved.
Jim Fostor reported that six areas had been identified in the northern part of the County for clean-up. Next week he would be meeting State representatives for their approval to move forward with the clean-up. He noted that once the work in the northern section was complete they would move to the southern part of the County.
Earl Gaskins and Mike Daley from the Doddridge County Office of the Department of Highways (DOH) asked for approval of a letter to the State DOH requesting restriction of truck traffic on the bridge next to the 7-11 Store in West Union citing damage caused by over-sized trucks/loads on the old Rt. 50 end of the bridge. They said signs are in place, but without the letter, the restrictions would not be recorded on GPS routes. Their request was approved.
The DCAA reported the balance in The Fund is $117,932, the primary account balance is $177,932.39, and income for February was $54,192.99.
Romain went on to say that most of their transports were inter facility from Camden Clark, Ruby Memorial, and UHC and that DCAA no longer has contracts with any nursing homes.
George Eidel, Floodplain Manager, reported there were two new floodplain permit applications from Antero. The first is for the replacement of culverts on Arnolds Creek and Punkin Center Road and the second is for a slip repair on Sam Cavens Road. When asked, he was unsure as to the price for each permit.
As OEMS Director, Eidel presented the emergency run total for the month of February and reported that he and members of the Smithburg VFD had gone to Columbia Gas on Rt 18 South and participated in a table top emergency exercise.
David King was not present to give the Clerk of the Works report.
In-house and State budget revisions were approved as follows: in-house moving $2,500 into the Animal Control account for Supplies and $13,000 for utilities; State moving $10,000 from the Commission’s Courthouse Account and $3,000 from the Commission “other” account.
Three exonerations and signing probate orders were approved.
Employees in attendance included: Catee Slater, County Clerk; Beth Kellar, Chief Financial Clerk; Randee Britton, Executive Assistant; George Eidel, Floodplain Manager and DCOEMS; and Neal Romain, DCAA.