Tim Walker
AMR Reporter
The Pocahontas County Commission agreed, September 1, to authorize Chris Lusk, the county EMS Director, to transfer Jordan Greathouse and Angie Lewis from part-time positions to full-time positions effective immediately. Greathouse will now be earning $14.75 per hour with county benefits and Lewis $13.75 per hour plus county benefits.
Commission President John Rebinski explained that this is necessary to help eliminate some of the overtime costs caused by expanding the hours necessary to provide additional coverage in the southern end of the county. He explained that the southern end shifts are 14-to-16 hours in length, three days a week, depending on the hours required for the coverage and that it is almost impossible to maintain those shifts with only part-time EMS workers. Commissioner Jamie Walker suggested that since moving part-time employees to full-time positions cuts back some of the overtime, it might be worth it to add even another full-time employee and shorten the shifts, because with three weekly 16-hour shifts, the employees will still be putting in 48 hours per week, with eight of those hours being at an overtime rate. Although no action was taken on that, it will be discussed again in the future. Rebinski said that while the employees in the southern end of the county work the 14-to-16-hour shifts, the employees in the northern end work 10-hour shifts.
During the hear-callers/ public input portion of the meeting, Alan Wright asked the commission about the water-testing the county is required to do at the former tannery site in Frank. Rebinski said that, under the EPA Clean-up Project at the tannery, the county is responsible for testing surface water but not sub-surface water. He added that the recent tests seem to not be finding any dangerous pollutants, so they will be addressing it with the EPA to possibly terminate that testing.
Dave Cain, a resident of the Cass area who owns land adjacent to some of the FEMA lots now owned by the county, asked about the possibility of the county offering to lease those 10 FEMA lots in East Cass to adjoining neighbors for $1, as Kanawha County does with their FEMA-donated lots. He said the FEMA restrictions imposed on those lots would still have to be maintained, including no construction or digging on them. The lessee would, however, be allowed to maintain them and cut the grass on them, thus relieving the county from having to do that. Rebinski said he has no objection, especially since doing so will also relieve the county of liability if a lessee injures themselves while maintaining the lots. There were some questions about the possibility that leasing the property, could cause the county to lose its tax-exempt status for the property, so Rebinski said they will need to ask the assessor about that before moving forward.
In other matters, the commission:
• Appointed Jordan Greathouse to fill an unexpired term on the County Fire board, and Authur Sharp to an unexpired term on that board.
• Approved and signed Help America Vote Act Subgrant Agreement which gives the County Clerk’s Office $43,197 for election equipment.
• Approved the 2027 WV Courthouse Facilities Improvement Authority Grant application and resolution.
• Provided a letter of support for the U.S. Forest Service’s purchase of about 200 acres from Let’s Get Outside LLC near Durbin.
• Provided a letter of support for Boyd Thompson Road and Shiela’s Way Road to both be maintained by the Department of Highways.
• Rescheduled the November 3 Commission meeting to Wednesday, November 4, at 8:45 a.m. due to the November 3 election.
• Rebinski led a discussion about organizations such as Parks and Recreation who request County Commission emergency funds, but do not provide accurate information about their financial status. No action was taken of this.
