By Shari Johnson, Publisher
All State governments are modeled after the Federal Government and consist of three branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. The U.S. Constitution mandates that all States uphold a “republican form” of government, although the three-branch structure is not required. In every state, the Executive Branch is headed by a governor who is directly elected by the people. In most states, other leaders in the executive branch are also directly elected, including the lieutenant governor, the attorney general, the secretary of state, and auditors and commissioners. States reserve the right to organize in any way, so they often vary greatly with regard to executive structure. All 50 States have legislatures made up of elected representatives, who consider matters brought forth by the governor or introduced by its members to create legislation that becomes law. The legislature also approves a State’s budget and initiates tax legislation and articles of impeachment. The latter is part of a system of checks and balances among the three branches of government that mirrors the Federal system and prevents any branch from abusing its power. – This paragraph is copied directly from the Whitehouse.gov site to give some foundation for the next line of thought.
Following this morning’s release of the letter from the West Virginia Office of Emergency Services, I have attempted for some time to locate the chain of command for the Calhoun County EMS to know who stands accountable for the actions that have been occurring. I was somewhat alarmed that this information wasn’t readily available on the internet. Calhoun EMS has a Facebook Page, but does not have the organization’s membership listed. Nor did any other site that I could find. I did find one site that listed three of the members but it’s last update was 2019. I sent an email that has yet to be addressed, but perhaps it will be later and I’ll update the information.
An unofficial source involved with the agency said that the board members for which they were currently aware of was Paul Haggeman, Commissioner Michael Hicks, Sheriff Warren Basnett, and Ronald Blankenship. This EMS Board would be the first line of command for overseeing the Calhoun EMS and being accountable for its actions. The second in the chain of Command would be the Calhoun County Commission. Michael Hicks, chairman, Kevin Helmick and Matthew Walker. According to the WV State Code, the County Commission is obligated to insure the county has EMS coverage in one form or another. According to WV Code §7-15-4, 5. Duty of county commissions to provide emergency ambulance service; emergency ambulance service authorities authorized; authorities to be public corporations.
UPDATE: LIST OF EMS BOARD MEMBER PROVIDED BY JULIE SEARS:
- Ron Blankenship-President
- Michael Hicks- Vice\ President/Secretary
- Bruce Fitzwater- Treasurer
- Paul Haggemann
- Warren Basnett
According to this code (in part) the County Commission
- shall cause emergency ambulance service to be made available to all the residents of the county where such service is not otherwise available:
- This article shall not be construed in such manner as to impose a duty to cause such emergency ambulance service to be provided unless the commission shall make an affirmative determination that there are funds available therefor by the inclusion of a projected expenditure for such purpose in the current levy estimate, and in the event that such county commission shall make such determination the commission shall not be under a duty to cause such service to be provided beyond a level commensurate with the amount of funds actually available for such purpose.
- The county commission may provide the service directly through its agents, servants and employees; or through private enterprise; or by its designees; or by contracting with individuals, groups, associations, corporations or otherwise;
- or it may cause such services to be provided by an authority, as provided for in this The management and control of any authority, its operations, business and affairs shall be lodged in a board of not less than five nor more than fifteen individuals who shall be known as members of the board and who shall be appointed for terms of three years each by the governing bodies of the participating governments
Following the oversight of the Calhoun County Commission for the assurance that the ambulance is properly managed would be the state level which is the WV Office of Emergency Services who are a part of the WV Department of Health and Human Resources. If a complaint is filed, which there was, it is then a matter that is placed under investigation of the State.
Which brings us to where we are today, in that, the Ambulance Service has obviously not been monitored by anyone other than the agency itself until the State had to step in and suspend their license. A previous issue had been sited July 7, 2020 which apparently went unheeded.
This is the an added concern with regards to the management of Calhoun County Offices by the Calhoun County Commission. Although it is not their job to personally Manage the office of elected officials or appointed boards, they are in charge of providing the means that those agencies can run effectively and properly. In one week the county has had both the Sheriff Department vehicles and the Ambulance Service compromised by mismanagement and failure to oversee the safety of County staff (necessary vehicle replacement) and properly trained staff (Ambulance).
The question of the day is this: Who’s driving our county?
