Tim Walker
AMR Reporter
After routine business concluded at the March 18 Pocahontas County Commission meeting, the meeting was moved upstairs to the courtroom to hear from the public regarding the proposed county ordinance to fund countywide ambulance service. Nearly 20 citizens attended the public meeting, which was kicked off by Commission President John Rebinski.
After pointing out that “volunteering is a thing of the past,” Rebinski said that necessitates the use of paid ambulance crews to provide adequate emergency medical response in the county Rebinski said they are currently using some funds from the Hotel Occupancy Tax in addition to some COVID relief funds to pay for the county ambulance service in the northern part of the county.
However, he added that the COVID funds will not be available in the future, and a way must be found to not only continue funding service in the northern part, but to also expand paid ambulance service to the southern end of the county. Rebinski said the Snowshoe Resort Area District (RAD) is currently paying Shavers Fork Fire and Rescue to provide ambulance service there, but their ambulance service sometimes also assists other areas of the county.
Rebinski said that in order to have reliable 24-7 ambulance service in the entire county, they will need two paid crews in the northern end of the county, and two in the southern end, with each costing about $1.2 million for salaries and equipment.
To just add one crew to southern end of the county while maintaining the existing crew in the northern end would take about $2.4 million dollars. But that will still not be 24-7 coverage, so they will have to still rely on the volunteer departments, the PMH ambulance (when available) and Shavers Fork to handle calls when no county paid crews are working.
He explained that he has looked at the Tucker County Emergency Ordinance as an example of a way to fund ambulance service here.
Rebinski pointed out that while the Tucker County ordinance adds fees to tourist activities, such as lodging, sports equipment rentals and tourist-oriented fairs and festivals admissions, he does not want to aim the fees exclusively to tourism, but since he estimates that tourists account for about 25% of ambulance calls here, they, along with residents, should contribute. His solution is to tax most retail sales in the county at a rate of 1% or 2%, and the fee would be collected similar to sales tax. It would not be applied to items, people or organizations who are cur- rently exempt from paying state sales tax, nor to property sales.
There were a number of questions and comments about this from the audience. Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Chelsea Faulknier asked where he obtained the information about the number of tourists using ambulance service. Ken Gaitor, Snowshoe Mountain Resort’s VP of Mountain Operations initially appeared skeptical of Rebinski’s plan, saying that the resort is already at “the point of saturation” with fees charged to guests and any additional fee could cause the resort to lose enough business to other resorts to the point where Snowshoe could eventually close. He said that they are at a “tipping point” and to stop growing in this business is to fail. Rebinski said that was why he wanted to exempt the Snowshoe RAD area from these fees since they are already paying Shavers Fork for ambulance service.
Other people who were skeptical when they came to the meeting also made comments, including Steve Dilley, Dave Dragan and Lisa Cutlip.
Although the crowd seemed to be against Rebinski’s fee when they arrived, they also came realizing that there is a need to find a way to fund emergency ambulance services here. After Rebinski explained that he wanted their ideas and was willing to create a committee to consider the ordinance. He passed around a sign-up sheet for people who wanted to be a part of the committee, and the attitude in the room seemed to moderate into one of cooperation.
In other matters, Shaun McCarty, of the Marlinton-based company, Pocahontas Development Resources LLL, submitted an estimate of $8,000 to take care of the repairs at the Pocahontas County Animal Shelter, and the commission voted to hire him. The work to be done is as follows:
Installation of a 6-foot-high aluminum sheeted wall behind the dog pens, designed to prevent the damage done in the past by the dogs to the existing wall. Above the wall, they will also install “micro walls” up to the ceiling.
Anchor the dog cages to the new wall.
Provide paint to animal control to paint the new wall.
Replace the hot water tank in the shelter’s bathroom.
Replace the outdoor water faucet.
Install a peep hole in the main entrance door to enable employees to see who is entering.
Because of the amount of the estimate, the work did not have to go through the bid process.
Two bids were received for the purchase of a vehicle for the county process server.
They approved the lowest bid, which was from Mitchell Chevrolet for a black 2025 Chevrolet Colorado 4-wheel drive pick-up.
Amy Trusdale, of the Greenbrier Valley Economic Development Corporation (GVEDC), asked the commission to sign the Voluntary Remediation Agreement regarding the EPA clean-up project at the former Howes Tannery property in Frank. The commission had already approved the agreement at an earlier meeting, but it still needed their signatures.
At the request of Day Report Director Jodi Zickefoose, the commission approved the 2026 Community Corrections Grant Application, in the amount of $75,000.
They also approved the request from Region Four’s Amanda Smarr for the payment of Draw Request # 13 from the Pocahontas County ARC Broadband Project in the amount of $437,766.30. Smarr said this money will come from funds available in the approved grant and will be used to pay 25 invoices from Mon Power for their required utility pole inspections. The inspected poles will be used to string the fiber for the project, but each one was inspected, and improved, as necessary, to ensure they can handle the additional weight of the fiber lines.
Carla Miller addressed the commission, asking them if the demolition of the buildings on the recently purchased county property adjacent to the courthouse would also include the removal of all the junk that has been scattered about throughout that property. After being assured that is included in the demolition grant, which should happen in April or May, Miller also expressed concern about trespassers hanging around the property. Other than calling 911, they had no solutions to offer.
The commission also:
• approved a 2025 -2026 letter of commitment of $25,000 to the Mountain Transit Authority, which is done annually.
• approved the FY 2025-2026 county Budget.
• approved a correction to the Budget Revision and Resolution #3 and approved In-House Budget Revisions #711 and 712.
• appointed Jayrd Wilfong to the LEPC Board as the PMH Representative.
