The Calhoun County Commission met Friday, August 12th for a Special meeting regarding a letter they received regarding the desire to amend the Emergency Services Levy. Although the contents of the letter were not shared it appeared that Chief Tanner had requested that the dividing of the funds received from the levy that did not pass in the May Primary election be changed to equal amounts between the three departments rather than 50/25/25 as listed in the table below showing all levy proceeds.
| Ambulance Services | $258,007.43 | 62.50% |
| Arnoldsburg Volunteer Fire Department | 27,617.12 | 6.69% |
| Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department | 55,234.23 | 13.38% |
| Upper West Fork Volunteer Fire Department | 27,617.12 | 6.69% |
| Salary for Deputy Sheriff | 38,597.91 | 9.35% |
| Office of Emergency Services | 2,869.04 | 0.695% |
| Contingency Fund (i.e. Election) | 2,869.04 | 0.695% |
Commissioner Walker said that after receiving the letter, and speaking to Randy Perkins of the Upper West Fork Park that he, Commissioner Kevin Helmick and Commissioner Michael Hicks had been talking about the issue (although no Commissioner, or other Fire Department reached out to discuss the matter with the Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department). They had determined that there was no way to divide the funds completely equal without taking money from one of the other recipients of the Levy Funding.
Commissioner Kevin Helmick said that “They didn’t want to raise taxes,” to add additional funds to the Levy.
Commisioner Walker further stated that they wanted to keep it (the money) as even as possible for the Fire Departments and still keep the funding for the Ambulance Service. What was determined from their conversations was that they would remove the Office of Emergency Services (OES), the Contingency Fund (election costs) and Sheriff’s Deputy from the Levy and divide that money between Arnoldsburg Volunteer Fire Department and the West Fork Volunteer Fire Department. The Calhoun County Commission will then take on the”added burden” of coming up with the funds to pay the Deputy’s salary. Their decision would not effect the Ambulance Service portion of the Levy, or the Grantsville Volunteer Fire Departments portion.
Commisioner Helmick aslo added that the previous Levy had included the Prosecutor’s Salary which had been removed and added to the Ambulance Service portion due to the desparate need in that area. So this Levy wil now be strictly Emergency Service and Fire Department.
The new amounts of distribution would be Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department (unchanged) at $55,234.23, Arnoldsburg Volunteer Fire Department and the Upper West Fork Volunteer Fire Departments both at 49,785.12.
Commissioner Walker said that there was no way of making them absolutley equal without taking away from someone which is what they did not want to have to do. But they felt that by taking the Deputy’s salary off and leaving that at a County expense it would permit them to provide funding for the other two departments at a closer rate.
Commissioner Helmick said that the Calhoun County budget is in ”good enough financial shape apparently that it will not effect our budget that much.”
When ask for discussion, Steve Ludgwig of the Upper West Fork Volunteer Fire Department said ”I just wanted to make clarification for Shari (Ridgeview News) that this was not Chief Tanner’s idea, that he was only a spokesmen”
Ridgeview News Publisher Shari Johnson, responded, that she had no problem with that, and that she had not said it was ”Joe Tanner’s idea”, but only that he had submitted the letter.
Mr. Ludwig then responded that Ridgeview News “leaned toward that idea.”
Which may have certainly been the appearance from the coverage of the previous Calhoun Comission meeting. But in defense of the Ridgeview News, There was no representation from either the Arnoldsburg Volunteer Fire Department or the Upper West Fork Volunteer Fire Department present at the Calhoun County Commission meeting on Monday, August 8th, even though it was their request. Nor did either Department reach out to the Ridgeview News or the Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department to advise them that they were making this request and to provide information. Mr. Ludgwig also suggested that the Ridgeview News placed a ”limelight” on the Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department.
For further clarification on that matter, Ridgeview News (Shari Johnson) is married to Chief David Johnson, for 42 years this coming Tuesday. This makes my knowledge of the goings on of the Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department much more accessable and involved. I have attempted to cover all calls, those on the West Fork and Arnoldsburg Area. I have spoken with Chief Tanner on multiple occasions and ask him (who takes pictures on most every scene) to provide me that information if I happen not to make it. That same offer is extended to the Upper West Fork Fire Department that I would love to provide more coverage for.
Commissioner Helmick said that he had spoken to “several of the Upper West Fork Volunteer Fire Department and Arnoldsburg Fire Department members, and their primary goal, although its a little bigger area for Grantsville, is that they wanted it to be equal and this is as equal as what we can come.” He did not, however, speak to the Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department which was the Department losing funding, had it gone through as Chief Tanner allegedly recommended, although that letter has not been shared.
Chief David Johnson of the Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department told Ridgeview News that “their Department would have been happy to talk about splitting the levy if they’d ever been asked. He knows from experience how hard it is to keep a funding stream coming into the department through donations.”
Mr. Ludgwig disagreed with Commissioner Helmick that Grantsville had the bigger area of coverage and he believed it was the Upper West Fork.
Commissioner Helmick stated that upon the running of the levy at the last election (not the one in May) he had spoken to Chief Randy Perkins of the Upper West Fork Volunteer Fire Department who said that he was ”Kind of good at how the Levy was set,” and Commissioners Chip Westfall and Mike Hicks had spoken to then Chief Derek Wright of the Arnoldsburg Volunteer Fire Department, who agreed, so that’s the reason it wasn’t considered for the last levy.”
Mr. Ludwig informed Commissioner Helmick that when they said that it was good, it was because they didn’t want to ”make any waves.” He further said that “they have outdated Fire equipment, 40+ year old trucks, and they recently bought a new set of ”Jaws” that were $35,000.00, and all we want is a little bit of fairness.” He also noted that if you took the Landing Zones away from Grantsville, their runs would be comparable.
Just a side note from Ridgeview, you can’t take the landing zones away from Grantsville because volunteers are responding as well as the trucks. Just because those runs are only 1/2 mile from the Station, doesn’t exclude the fact that many of their members live several miles from the Station and respond. The number of calls for the past 12 months were Grantsville (88), Arnoldsburg (46) and Upper West Fork (38). As far as the equipment is concerned, all department have outdated equipment. Grantsville’s most recent purchase was a used fire truck from Wirt County for $20,000 and a used truck from the Reedy Fire Department for $25,000. They were also given a $50,000 used truck from a New Jersey Fire Department. The Arnoldsuburg Volunteer Fire Department recently purchased a new truck for greater than $400,000.
Commissioner Helmick informed Mr. Ludwig that the new levy rates would increase the money received from the Levy to their department (as well as Arnoldsburg) $22,168.00 without raising taxes or cutting anyone.
Mr. Ludgwig stated that ”We need to get this (expletive) Levy passed. And it would be nice if everyone worked to get it passed. We could probably survive a couple of years without the levy.”
Both Commissioners noted the need for the Levy.
Mr. Ludgwig went on to say that ”Joe was merely a spokesman and we’ve been talking for months, this isn’t something that just popped out of thin air.”
This raises the question, if this has been being discussed for months, why was it never brought to anyone’s attention outside of their departments? Commisisoner Helmick noted that they were given very little notice at the County Level which was the reason a rushed special meeting was held.
Grantsville Volunteer Member Judy Brannon asked ”Why wasn’t Grantsville informed” to which Mr. Ludwig responded, ”Grantsville wasn’t really involved.” Judy’s response was ”We could have worked it out, we should be working together.
Ludwig went on to complain that Grantsville received donations that their departments didn’t receive from Dominion, Minnie Hamilton and others. ” His reasoning for not receiving donations was because they didn’t have any businesses on the West Fork.
Judy Brannon stated that Grantsville receives donations because they ask, which the West Fork could have done as well.
The Commission then moved to get rid of the salary of the deputy, OES funding and the election costs and divide that money between Arnoldsburg and Upper West Fork Volunteer Fire Departments.
Regarding Ridgeview News’ stand on the Levy. I have always been a proponent of the Emergency Services Levy due to the fact that volunteers who defend and protect the county’s property should be compensated by the county’s support for their agencies. And I continue to support the passing of the Levy.
But this does not excuse some of the decisions made by people within those organizations that have created undue contention between volunteer departments that have always strived to help each other out through mutual aid and other support.
