Paying for Ambulance Services Tops the Agenda
By Lon Anderson
It may be a new year, but for the Hardy County Commission, there was nothing new about the concerns that dominated their attention at their first monthly meeting of 2020 held on Tuesday, Jan. 7. Even the Commission President that they voted in unanimously for 2020 was the same person who served in that office in 2019, Harold Michael.
The two over-riding and nagging concerns that continued to dominate their discussions and actions both involved emergency ambulance services in the County. One concerned how best to raise the money to provide the services, and the other with how best to collect and process the money.
Concerning raising the money, the Commission voted unanimously, after some debate, to put a referendum question on the ballot for voters concerning “an Excess Levy for Ambulance Service in Hardy County.” Although it was called a “Special Election,” County Clerk Gregg Ely explained that this was the technical name for the question even though a special election would not be required, and the question would just be added as a separate item to the ballot in the upcoming May primary election.
Currently the Hardy County Emergency Ambulance Authority (HCEAA), which provides the ambulance service, is funded by a special fee which, according to Ely, can be raised or lowered at any time by the Commission, and must be collected separately from[private] taxes.
The question that the Commission just approved for the May ballot would change that funding mechanism to an “excess levy” which is a tax that would be added to the property tax bill, and thus eliminate the tens of thousands of dollars currently being spent to collect that money as a “fee.”
If passed in the referendum, Ely explained, the tax would raise an estimated $1,322,296. However, it takes a 60% voter approval to pass.
Commission member David Workman expressed his desire for a strong public education campaign. “We want to make sure we have the public educated about this…We’re not voting to do away with it (ambulance funding), but just changing the way it would be collected,” he explained.
Since tax bills are mailed anyway, and no collection services are needed for tax collections, all of the HCEAA’s mailing and collection expenses would disappear if the fee converted to a tax.
Sheriff Bryan Ward agreed: “I think it’s important we have the facts out there. Speaking as a taxpayer not as Sheriff,” he said, “Every penny we put into collections is a penny we can’t spend on diesel fuel or other vital expenses. It should be a tax.”
A citizen attending the meeting, John Buckley, asked “who will compile the list of facts?”
Commission President Harold Michael responded that it would be the WV Association of Counties.
“Do citizens have any input on those facts?” Buckley asked. Buckley was an outspoken opponent of converting the fee to a tax.
“I think that can happen,” Workman responded.
The other issue that dominated the meeting was also a continuing one related to the County’s ambulance service: how to best manage the ambulance fee collections. This controversy seemed to have three major components: which contractor should be used, how much it costs, and where should the public collections point be located?
Workman noted that there seems to be more comfort with using GST (Global Science Technology), the firm which provides billing and mailing software for the state.
Paul Lewis, the Director of Emergency Services for Hardy County, countered that “there are some things that GST can’t do, and we’ll have to enter a lot of data each year.” The County is currently using software provided by the Simplicity Corp.
Sheriff Ward said he thought “it was six of one, half dozen of the other” concerning which contractor they used, noting that they had some problems with Simplicity with online billing. “We’ve had issues with the online services regardless of the contractor.
“We’ve had problems with both and have ceased doing business with them,” Ward continued. “I’d rather not have the service if it’s not reliable because, in the end, it’s the customers that get the grief.”
Commission President Michael explained that the fee was imposed by the Commission, but later shifted to the Ambulance Authority to handle. “Then we had such a mess up last time—that’s why I think the public should be able to pay at the Court House.”
Michael explained that currently when the Commission’s assistant, Rose Helmick, is out at meetings, the Commission’s office door “is closed and locked.” Having the clerk who handles the ambulance fee billing at the Court House, he said, would allow the public to pay their ambulance fees here and also help keep the Commission’s offices open to better serve the public.
“The $35,000 we have already spent for collections is exorbitant,” Michael continued. “It seems way out of line.”
“That amount includes our new billings, so the collections costs are only about half that,” explained Derek Alt, Director of the Ambulance Authority.
“I was here when we moved the clerk out (of the Court House) and I didn’t get any good reasons about why,” noted Commissioner Jay Fansler. “And I’m not sure everyone understands what’s going to happen if we bring it back.”
Fansler then made a motion to move the billing services back to the Court House. The motion was seconded by Workman and more discussion ensued.
“I’m a latecomer to this, but there are other ways to do this that we are not even considering,” Workman said. “I urge the Commission to vote it down and give it back to the Authority to come back to us with recommendations.”
“If you are going to take it away from us, just take it all, not just halfway,” urged Alt. “We need to settle this. We have employees that are impacted.”
Citizen activist Buckley said he “tends to think it ought to come into the Court House—bring it in house.”
“The Commission created the Authority to run ambulances, not collections,” Michael noted. “What changed was when they went to an outside vendor,” calling that a major concern “because of the loss of internal controls, and the costs are way out of whack. And we need to have others here to help us keep our doors open so folks can do business with us.”
Greg Greenwalt, a former member of the Ambulance Authority, noted that “it would be good to have someone at the Court House who can deal with this (the billings), noting that the “the intent of the Authority was to deliver emergency services not run collections.”
“This is likely the most important decision we’ll make and there are more ideas out there that we’re not even considering,” Workman noted. “Let’s send it out to the Ambulance Authority to work on and come back to us.”
Michael then asked Fansler what he wanted—to withdrawal or table it?
“I’d like to have Dave more on board,” Fansler noted. And the measure was withdrawn.
“We’re not finished with this yet,” Michael noted.
OEMS
In his monthly summary, Emergency Director Lewis told Commissioners that:
— Work was about to begin “on a sizable project” upgrading the 911 call center phone equipment for $90,000;
–After audits, some state grants to Emergency Services are being reduced statewide, and he expects the County will receive about $4,000 less;
–The County Call Center is currently advertising for part-time dispatchers;
–A total of 797 law enforcement calls were handled by the 911 Center. DNR had 20 calls, Sheriff’s Office had 237, Moorefield Police 398, and State Police 49;
–For EMS calls, Fraley had 91, HCEAA had 66, Wardensville had 21 and Capon Springs assisted with 3.
HCEAA
In his monthly report for the HCEAA, Executive Director Alt told Commissioners that:
–Expenses for the month totaled $77,776.48 and revenue was $47,676.22;
–They had 66 alerts and 38 transports;
–No patients were transported under the Home for the Holidays program
–He was requesting a drawdown of $65,000 for the HCEAA budget, which the Commission approved.
LEPC/CERT
In her updates to the Commission on the Local Emergency Planning Committee, Fran Welton reported that:
— The County’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERTs) had installed 60 smoke alarms last year;
–There is no Red Cross representative for the County currently and they are having to go through the Red Cross office in Charleston;
–They are seeking a grant to update their computers;
–They will be placing notices in the newspaper and on the radio to get citizens to sign up for County emergency alerts.
Concerning the alerts, a discussion ensued over whether an alert about an incident on one side of the County, such as a landslide in South Fork, would have to go to everyone such as residents in Mathias who likely would not be impacted.
Lewis noted that the alerts would go to everyone in the County who signed up to receive them. Residents wanting to receive the emergency alerts should call 304-530-0291 to be added to the network.
Discussion then turned to an issue involving the installation of an emergency generator for the County Courthouse. Helmick reported that the Commission had only received one bid for $79,962, from the Power Connection of Harrisonburg, that was substantially over the estimated cost of $64,000.
“There are a couple of things built into that bid that could be removed for cost savings,” she indicated, citing a $3,700 concrete pad as an example. She explained that the contractor was proposing to place the unit on the lawn in front of the building, but that she thought it should go in the parking lot, which would not require the pad.
“I don’t think we want it in front of the Court House,” Michael responded.
Helmick suggested they could also reduce the cost by not purchasing the cover to mute the noise.[/private]
“I don’t think we want to omit that,” Michael responded, and asked if Steve Weese, a local master electrician, had reviewed this, and there was agreement that he should review the proposal before proceeding.
Sheriff Ward noted that that company does all of his work and is “pretty solid.”
Workman made a motion to approve the bid for the generator, along with a review to implement cost savings as possible. The motion passed unanimously.
Refugee Placement
The Commission also received a short presentation from Elizabeth Ramsey of the local Catholic Charities about their work to assist immigrants settling in West Virginia and Hardy County, along with a request for a letter of support from the Commission for this effort.
Ramsey explained that they provide necessary resettlement services and support by teaching refugees things to help create self-sufficiency.
“Our arrivals are very small,“ Ramsey noted. “Our program is vitally important. Without this support, the immigrants can’t be successfully relocated.”
The Commissioners approved a motion to provide a letter of support. “We’ll get it done,” Michael assured Ramsey.
CERT Volunteer Insurance
On another business item, Michael questioned Helmick about a proposal for liability insurance to protect CERT volunteers. “Is this to protect us or them?” he asked. “The question is are we covered under out existing liability policy (for their actions) and the second question is do we want to protect them (the CERT Volunteers)?”
“We are asked to call out the CERTs to participate in disaster exercises,” Fran Welton responded. “I encourage them to get their own (liability) coverage.”
“But we want to make sure the taxpayers are also covered,” Michael said. Helmick agreed to investigate further.
Other
The Commissioners also agreed to approve an application for $45,000 to the USDA to provide some supporting equipment to the County Fire Departments.
County Clerk Ely also asked the Commission to reaffirm its policy on physical security of the County’s election equipment, which the Commissioners did on an unanimous vote and also approved an emergency absentee voting policy proposed by Ely.