THE OPENER OF THE COMMISSION
Commissioner Walker opened the Calhoun County March Commission meeting with an update and followup on previous matters of discussion. He began by encouraging the community to participate in the April 1st, county clean up day sponsored by the Cabot Recycling Center. Volunteers are ask to meet on Main Street in Grantsville on April 1st at 10 a.m. to receive their assigned areas for clean up and the materials needed. The EMS Audit is done by the county audit.
Walker advised the community that he had spoken with Prosecuting Attorney Nigel Jeffries to see if there were any criminal charges that could be ensued against Julie Sears for the loss of revenue the county suffered due to the negligence in billing. The Prosecutor responded that there was no evident criminal intent.
Commissioner Helmick brought up during this time that concerning the Broadband and Waterline projects, he had told everyone that his priority was broadband and water but that the commission went with broadband because it would serve 300-400 people and the water would not serve that many citizens. He then turned his attention to the recent social media post that he had made which made accusations against the Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department for having had discrepancies in their audit that caused them to lose their state funding. In the post he praised Arnoldsburg VFD and the West Fork VFD for their audits in what could only be viewed as an attempt to pit the volunteer organizations against one another. He accused Ridgeview News and Crystal Mersh of failing to mention the failed audit because of our obvious bias due to the fact that Ridgeview News Publisher Shari Johnson is proudly married to Fire Chief David Johnson. When in fact, the reason Ridgeview News didn’t cover it, is because there was nothing to cover and Mr. Helmick lied. He stated that he was told by “three agencies that it was a matter of fact,” but refused to say who those agencies were. He said if he discovered he was wrong he would handle it his own way, and that he would “be calling the State Fire Marshall.”
Ridgeview News sincerely hopes he does.
Commission Walker opened the only bid received for the courthouse improvement project of repairing the steps to the side entrance of the courthouse. The bid came from M & S Concrete in the amount of $72,000 which is $10,000 over the grant funded budgeted amount. Following motions the Commission passed the decision to pay the additional $10,000 out of the County’s budget.
Commissioner Craig Arthur, who has been diligent about looking for ways to get a water expansion project in the county, updated the crowd on the Norman Ridge Project, which has had their funding held up due to PSD audits not being up to date and an issue with the project right of ways that required the hiring of an attorney.
THE DELEGATIONS OF CALHOUN COUNTY
- Charlotte Blair, Annamoriah resident, who at an earlier meeting presented a petition to the County Commission of potential water customers, spoke to the commission about the communities ongoing desire to see a water expansion in the area of Annamoriah. She described her life of 60 years in that area and the lack of water. She still has to go to the homes of family that live nearby to fill up two 5 gallon jugs of water to be able to cook meals for her family. Even making multiple runs on days of celebration when she has a lot of food to prepare. She asked the Commission to consider going after funding for the extension.
Commissioner Arthur said that Delegate Roger Hanshaw had asked for a preliminary engineering report (which Calhoun already has) for Annamoriah because he thought the project would be doable. We’re making progress Arthur said on both the Annamoriah and Route 16 extension possibilities. He further said that Delegate Hanshaw would like to meet with Calhoun leaders to discuss the matter further and is planning on coming down later this month.
It was at this point that Commissioner Helmick began a rant on how he had knocked on every door of the county and that he knew what the people needed and wanted. “There has been no funding, and we don’t have $2 Million dollars,” he said. He then spoke of conversations he had with previous delegates, and closed with “He wasn’t going to say Hanshaw was lying, but somebody was.”
Charlotte Blair continued that the county could live without the internet but not without water. She questioned why the water had gone down sparsely populated secondary roads and not out a major highway for which she lived.
Multiple times Helmick went off the rails speaking about things out of context to the current discussion. One such topic was that of his denial of “seeing a plan” for a water project. Even though in multiple Town Council meetings, Mayor Robert Petrovsky has expressed his frustration at the fact the Grantsville, Mt. Zion and Pleasant Hill spent time putting together a plan and presented it to the County Commission, only to have never received any response.
Commissioner Arthur ended the water discussion by saying he would like to get a preliminary engineering report done for the West Fork, Route 16, for which Helmick agreed was a good idea.
2. Shari Johnson, Publisher of the Ridgeview News was next to address the County Commission speaking directly to Commissioner Helmick. “You are a person paid thousands of dollars to serve this community, and you’re creating contention with an agency filled with volunteers who are spending thousands of dollars out of their own pockets to serve the community for free,” she told him. “If you want to attack the Ridgeview News, that’s fine. I’ll stand on the truth of what I’ve written. But wen you attack the Fire Department you’re attacking the heart of this community.” In closing she told him, “As for your comment that we’re after you. We are. We are after you to do what we pay you for and to stop making our county look bad.”
That conversation went to a place nobody expected out of even Helmick when he told the crowd of fifty or so in attendance that they were nothing but trouble makers.
3. Volunteer Fireman Lucas Morford of the Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department spoke next. An 18 year veteran of the department he told the crowd that the Grantsville VFD didn’t know they’d lost their state funding, because they had passed their audit. He believed that the information was perhaps confused with a recent issue with the NFIRS (National Fire Incident Reporting System) where data is entered from Fire Department calls much like the EMS reporting is done. Assistant Chief Craig Gherke had entered all information into the registry and due to a glitch in the web browser Brave, it was not received. Once they were notified, the runs were re-entered, the matter cleared and the State Funding that the Fire Department receives was released mid February without incident. Morford then ask Helmick where he received his information from.
Helmick responded that David Johnson, Chief of the Grantsville VFD posted the night before that he wasn’t sure they had received the State money yet, (This was another lie. Johnson had never said their money wasn’t received. Once the demoralizing post of Helmick’s was discovered Johnson called the Treasurer of their Department, Sharon Gherke, who informed him that they’d received their State money the month prior.
Morford told the Commissioners that the Grantsville VFD had not received any notice from the Commission of a required audit or details about such audit. He requested and was denied by Helmick and Walker for the Calhoun EMS and e911 to be subject to an outside audit. He closed by telling the commission that they’ll post “stuff about the Fire department on social media, but turn a blind eye to all the problems the Calhoun EMS are having.”
4. Fourth delegation to speak was Businessman, and organizer of the Calhoun Citizens for Accountability group, Eric Lupardus. With further regard to the continuing saga of the Calhoun EMS, Eric wanted the Commission to understand that the citizens do not believe all of Calhoun EMS is bad. “A few bad apples don’t take away from the heart of the people that serve us every day he said. We’re not after the people, we’re after the handling of funding and have concerns about the former director and the un-billed runs.” Lupardus told the Commission that he and others had met with the West Virginia Attorney General to ask what qualifies as dereliction of duty. The percentages of loss for the county were listed as a great loss. He questioned the Commissioner as to whether or not they felt any accountability themselves for the damage done through the mismanagement of Calhoun EMS. Helmick said no, Walker responded he didn’t know, and Arthur was not in office. Further questioning by Lupardus yielded little result. He demanded that the county hold those responsible accountable and pleaded with them for transparency.
Helmick informed Lupardus his five minutes was up. The audience yelled for more time allotted. A disgruntled audience member said “This is the laws of our democracy.”
Our system of government is best described as a constitutional republic. Power is not found in mere majorities, but in carefully balanced power.
5. Graham Knight, the fifth person who had signed to speak as a delegation reminded the commission that he had spoke in that same court room in September regarding Calhoun EMS and that he had came today for clarity on some questions. “Who does OES 911 answer to,” he asked. The commission response was “The Calhoun Commission and the Calhoun 911 advisory board.” He asked if there had been any changes to the staff of EMS or 911, and Walker responded yes. After a brief conversation about the water issues, Graham returned to his line of question regarding EMS, asking Helmick “Why do you not feel responsible?” Helmick’s response was “We just hire.” Knight then ask if anyone other than Julie Sears had applied for the Calhoun EMS Director’s job when Julie was hired. Helmick said no. Multiple audience people yelled out the names of people who applied, Helmick continued to deny it. Graham himself said that he knew of 4 who had applied and that he had asked the question to bait Helmick with a response. “And you lied.” Before he walked away he asked the Commissioners if they’d admit, out of the 5 who applied, they had hired the least qualified?
6. The last who was on the agenda to speak as a delegation was Glen Siegrist. Speaking on behalf of Annamoriah citizens he wanted to acknowledge his appreciation for Commissioner Arthur’s efforts to help them get water in their community. Mr. Siegrist said that perhaps he would not see the water but he wanted it for his kids and grandkids and he would appreciate all help offered.
7. Not signed in but allowed to speak was Rissa Staples who was not pleased with many of the decisions made by the county over the water systems and the handling of the consolidation.
Helmick mentioned that it was Luke Peters of the Mid Ohio Valley Regional Council that had thought the money for the water consolidation of Grantsville, Mt. Zion and Pleasant Hill was in hand, but it had fallen through. He reminded the audience that the Commission had provided 500K for the Public Service District water meters and if necessary they could float the bill for the 100K consolidation.
For such a poor county, Ridgeview wonders where they suddenly got such deep pockets. More on this to come.
THE HOPE OF A DREAMER
Crystal Mersh, President of the 1982 Foundation gave a detailed update on the Calhoun County Community Center Project telling the Commissioners that the 6.5 Million dollar project was now fully funded. She introduced them to her construction crew members that would be getting the project through the next phase. As of last week the foundation was informed by the National Park Service that they were also interested in the consideration of the gymnasium for a historical site status as well. This added to the excitement already there for the chance to be registered as a National Land Mark.
Mersh showed the detailed plan for a
- 28,000 square feet learning center
- 4 class rooms
- A Cafeteria for the learning center
- Bottom floor offices for an entrepreneur program for art, music, antiques and food to attract people into the area for day trips
- The business incubator on the second floor
- A steak house and brewery on the back side of the school
- In front of that will be a cafe for spice events and hosted parties
- A commercial kitchen designed by the bootstraps project will be a farm 2 table adventure
- The third floor of the old high school will be five 2 bedroom apartments and an Air B&B.
The project will hopefully be self funding in about two years. Mersh has a way of saying things in such a manner that has most all those around her are on board in the belief that this project is without question going to happen. And yet little to no response from the commission in support of what is the most exciting thing to happen in Calhoun in a very long time.
The Foundation’s Program “Aspire” will be a project for entrepreneurs to get assistance in making their own business a success. And the sister program “Inspire” will be focused on children, summer camps, day care, head start, and the 2nd floor classrooms that can be utilized for any number of things.
Ridgeview asks only, “Why on earth would the county powers that be not be in line to shake the hand of a woman bringing this to fruition in front of their very eyes, and thanking her for her unbridled belief in a community that was ready to die? We have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
THE COMPASSION OF A CARETAKER
Teresa Overton, 1982 Foundation staff member, moved back into Calhoun after living many years in the Parkersburg area. While in that area she helped with the Wood County Animal Shelter and she too shares a passion to make a difference in Calhoun; but her passion lies with the animals needs in the Community and what to do with animals abandoned or neglected. In hopes of establishing funding for an Animal Shelter Teresa encouraged the audience and Commission to help people like Pat Laughlin get the funding for a shelter. Commissioner Walker toured the Ritchie County facility and brought back good information as a place to start. It is hoped that with the help of the Commission, WAG and other concerned citizens, that funding will be made available for the project. Jane Carpenter of the WAG program stressed the need as well saying that she receives 2-3 calls weekly for animal help and currently has nothing to offer people. WAG has spayed and neutered over *1400 animals in Calhoun.
*Requested correction from earlier report of 4,000 animals.
OUR EGGS ALL IN ONE BASKET
Another large issue for Calhoun County is the risk that Calhoun is now taking with the money to be invested in the GIG ready project and the chance that we will lose a 3.5 million dollar match because the project has already gotten off to a slow start. If the project is not completed within a certain time frame, it runs the risk of non compliance on completion dates and loss of the match funds. The project must be fully completed by 2026. Calhoun’s portion must be completed by 2024 and has yet to begin.
Mark Whitley of the Roane and Jackson Development Authority laid this out clearly before the commission to which Commissioner Kevin Helmick responded by saying “That sounds positive, I thought it was going to be much worse.”
How does it get any worse than losing 3.5 million dollars? But then again, we’re growing accustomed to losing money in Calhoun County.
Judge Larry Whited asked the Commission if Clay County had withdrawn their money, which Mark Whitley confirmed had happened. A new project was slated to come down the pike, for which Whitley would like Calhoun and Clay to look at investing in. Commissioners Helmick and Walker both stated that the water projects were not an option for this money because that type of project could not be completed before the expirations of opportunity. Which now is much closer than it was when they made that decision.
THE BUSINESS OF A MEETING
Reports:
Little Kanawha Area Development Authority Report by Shelia Burch, Director – a Calhoun County Non Profit Summit is scheduled for March 23, 2023 from noon to 4:00 p.m. at the Little Kanawha Transit Authoity to help non profits grow.
Shelia Burch also reported on the Water expansion project saying that it was a priority for the
Public Service Districts and a must for economic development. She reported that Mt. Zion and Pleasant Hill are going forward with the consolidation to bring a better program.
E-911 report provided by Julie Sears via Commissioner Matt Walker. Questions were ask about why Julie has failed to appear the past 2 months but no answer was given.
Jason Wilson, Calhoun EMS Interim Director reported for the Calhoun EMS, with a demonstration of why he believes the CAD system was delivering two numbers for every one ambulance call during the Calhoun EMS management of Julie Sears. When a call is dispatched the system issues a text and an email, and Wilson believes the CAD system is counting that as two runs. He stated that “People are critical because we are two months into this without answers, but I have said that I would not put something out to the community that I wasn’t 100% sure of.” And this is what he believes is certain: that the Calhoun 911computer system was doubling the calls and that the un-billed numbers were not nearly as bad. He stated that he met with Julie and had her print out a report of every call dispatched which was 264 calls. There were 66 that the patient refused care or canceled in route. Of the 198 calls that should have been billed, 145 were billed and the truly undocumented amount that he believes Sears to be responsible for is 52. The estimated loss of Revenue was $18,038.
Wilson accused people who did not have all the facts of taking numbers and running with it. It should be noted that those numbers were provided by Wilson.
As for staff accountability Wilson said that one employee of Calhoun EMS was terminated for failure to complete records, and a couple were reprimanded during Sears management time.
Director Wilson believes his theory is correct and Commission Helmick said that it was 100% correct.
Wilson announced that Bruce Fitzwater resigned from the EMS Board because of the pressure he felt from the community.
Crystal Mersh’s response to the theory presented was “Hogwash.”
A member of the audience asked Wilson if he had found the records of Rose Brown and Gary Knight which were Ambulance runs with ethical questions, to which Wilson answered one run sheet was found and the other is still missing.
Multiple questions were raised about the loss of the billable runs, responsibility and why the system no longer counted 2 runs and why it didn’t do it in previous years. All of this was chocked up to the CAD system being in error at that time.
Steve Whited, CEO of Minnie Hamilton Health System defended the actions by the way different people present different information. He stated that “He probably should have never gotten involved with this.”
Walker stated that he believes the EMS is in a good spot and we need to move forward, learning from our mistakes. He does not believe Sears has done anything to be fired from her current position at 911.
Matt Walker reported that the Calhoun County Park continues to make progress with the installation of a new HVAC system ready for bid. The stage was removed in the barn, opening up floor space, new flooring has been purchased, the kitchen has been updated and other things are on the horizon.
Commissioner Arthur reported for the Calhoun Family Resource Network -the FRN is getting ready for Easter gifts for children 18 and under and the community can reach out to the FRN for Easter baskets. There will be a Farm program for the summer with free fruits and vegetables.
Under New business a fiscal grant for the FRN was discussed. The Calhoun FRN is looking into a grant to purchase the Red Devil Inn, an empty former hotel and use it as a recovery facility.
A motion was made and passed for Calhoun to become the fiscal agency for that project in which money will flow through.
Deirdre Purdy of “Light and Sound” gave the commission a proposed budget for what they believe it will cost to replace the sound and lighting in the Calhoun Middle High School. The bid for the project in the failed school levy was over $200,000. Their committee began to look at individual issues and believe it can be done for approximately $60K. Lighting is $50k to replace everything with LED, and replacing the sound will cost around $10,000. We want to modernize the program she told the commission and asked the for the Commission’s help by giving them $10,000. Other community donors have contributed, and any amount from anyone will be accepted she said. Helmick made a motion to provide $10,000 out of the County’s budget, all commission members were in favor.
As the meeting came to an end Budget meeting dates were voted on for March 21st, 23rd and 28th at 4 p.m. to accommodate Walker’s schedule.
Commissioner Arthur asked his fellow commissioners to consider hold two meetings per month to allow more people to attend, one in the day, and one in the evening. A request quickly squelched by both Helmick and Walker saying it wouldn’t work.
Commissioner Arthur was appointed to the Little Kanawha resource conservation Board, the eesignation of Bruce Fitzwater from the Calhoun EMS board was accepted as well as the resignation of Dale Cunningham from the Pleasant Hill PSD Board.
Michael Hicks was appointed as fiduciary commissioner for the RJ Knotts Estate and the meeting ended with the payment of county bills.
