The Wetzel County Commission held a meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 7 to discuss various matters throughout the county. Bryan Hostetler, probation officer, addressed the commission regarding the purchase of bullet proof vests. He stated the Supreme Court is purchasing a certain amount of vests to distribute to probation officers throughout the circuit. The court is able to obtain four for Marshall, Wetzel, and Tyler counties. Hostetler stated he feels, being chief probation officer, all of the officers should have access to a vest for when they’re doing home visits. He questioned if two different counties are conducting home visits at the same time, how do they decide who gets a vest and who doesn’t? Since this circuit will be receiving four vests, and the circuit serves three counties, Hostetler has asked each county commission to buy a vest ftor each probation officer, which would make three additional vests. The cost is about a $1,100 per vest. One can be purchased at this time for almost $900. However, since the court will be purchasing the vests in bulk, the cost per vest is only $649.

The commission approved the payment for a bullet proof vest for the probation office, as well as a Memorandum of Understanding with the Supreme Court, for reimbursement.

In another matter, the commission discussed approving the payment of legal fees by the firm Kay Casto & Chaney, PLLC for Jonathan Nicol. Mr. Nicol is representing the commission in the mineral dispute between the county and Southwest Energy. Nicol was recommended by the commission’s legal counsel to take the case, and the firm has submitted a bill in the amount of $3,548.71.

In another matter, the commission approved an agreement between Wetzel County Commission and Shiben Estates, Inc. to receive a generous donation of three of the Shiben buildings on Main Street. The county commissioners noted they were appreciative of Mr. Mensore and his family to make this generous donation.

In another matter, Jim Colvin, from the Wetzel County Emergency Ambulance Authority, addressed the commission regarding personnel and funding. He stated the authority has lost three EMTs and one paramedic due to wages. Some have gone to the gas and oil industry, and others have gone to other EMS agencies because the other agencies can afford to pay better than the authority. Colvin noted, in March, he had written the commission a letter, requesting the commission allot the authority $150,000 for this fiscal year. He said he was recently advised these funds were going to be considered on an as-needed basis.

Colvin stated he has done quite a bit of research, and the ethics committee previously allowed non-profits, such as the authority, to advertise for ambulance memberships. The non-profits were allowed to send flyers to all residents of the county. However, as of July 2017, that changed. They are allowed to apply for grants that have web pages or are advertised in the newspaper, or some other means of advertisement. They are allowed to ask for donations, as well as ask internally for donations since they are a county entity. He stated that this past week, the authority was approved a grant for $4,700 toward an electric cot that will be picked up in Middlebourne. The grant was through the Upper Ohio Valley grant funds. The authority has also applied for an $80,000 grant through FEMA. Since 2011, through grants donation requests, the authority has applied for $2.7 million worth of funding. They have collected just under 400,000. He said it may not sound like much, but to him it is a lot.

Colvin said he retrieved a list of how many households are in Wetzel County. He found there are 8,958 households served by the post offices in Wetzel County. Colvin proposed the commission consider giving a county ambulance membership, which the commission would purchase for the county, similar to what is done for Air Evac. Colvin stated the numbers will probably have to be updated through the assessors office, to know an exact number of the households in Wetzel County.

Colvin said, originally in 1974, when the squad started in Wetzel County, he joined as a volunteer and has been a member ever since. He is currently serving as a medic and is the president of the board for Wetzel County EMS. Formerly, EMS used to be able to bill the patient the total amount for ambulance transports. This would be submitted to an insurance company, and the insurance company would pay whatever it would pay, and then the patient would be responsible for the balance. Over the years, that policy began to fail because EMS services were having a lot of trouble trying to get the money back from the patient. Debt collectors were then utilized. However, debt collectors have to be paid an up-front fee, whether the debt is collected or not.

Colvin noted, in one case, $10,000 was paid for the debt collectors to take on 20 outstanding bills.

Colvin said the insurance companies then suggested a contract be signed that the EMS accept whatever can be paid. If $100 is normally charged, and the insurance pays $50, the other $50 would be written off. Colvin said when this contract is signed, the insurance company would then send a check directly to the EMS, rather than the patient.

As to a decision to help the authority with funding, the commission decided to approve to pay the balance on four monitors the ambulance authority owes on. The commission requested additional time to consider other

options.