The Braxton County Commission held a special meeting on Monday, July 1. The extra ordinary session came in the wake of the resignation/retirement of John Hoffman as OES/9-1-1 Director which he announced earlier this month and took effect on June 30.
The meeting was called to order by President Lisa Godwin with all Commissioners in attendance. The body immediately went into executive session to discuss the first item on the agenda, “Discussion and Possible Approval of Interim OES/9-1-1 Director.”
The meeting reconvened in open session approximately 15 minutes later. President Godwin said she had spoke to Dale Hall who previously served the county as a paramedic and EMS Director. She said Hall, who is now retired, agreed to serve in the position on an interim basis. Godwin added that during Hall’s tenure with Braxton County, she knew of no complaints regarding his work. Following the discussion, Larry Clifton made a motion to appoint Hall to the interim position on a part-time basis. He will be paid $20 per hour with no county benefits.
The second item on the agenda was the DOJ and COPS Grant, and the Communication grants previously earmarked for the county. President Godwin discussed the recent change by the Sheriff’s Department from using the $211,000 for communications equipment as it was originally applied for to a new pickup truck, equipment, a side-by-side w/trailer and body cameras. A lengthy discussion followed. During that conversation, President Godwin stated that the deadline to submit the grant application was July 2 and that changing the direction, so drastically at the last minute, would likely jeopardize the grant.
Sheriff Lou DellaMea stated that the reason for the change was that John Hoffman had indicated that he could include the communications equipment in the larger $1.8 million grant that would primarily provide equipment for fire departments. During the discussion, it was noted that the requests from the fire departments had exceed the $1.8 million amount and that a discussion with OES Director Hoffman indicated that the amount of equipment some fire departments were requesting would have to be scaled back.
President Godwin said that Matt Ward, the County Grant Writer, had contacted Hoffman about a month ago to have him provide the equipment list so he could prepare the grant. Hoffman reportedly stated that he was familiar with the process and would handle it himself. Godwin said that no one seemed to have that list and that the deadline for submitting that grant was also July 2. The Commission recessed while their administrative assistant attempted to contact Hoffman and 9-1-1 Supervisor Tyler Long. The meeting adjourned with the hope that additional information would be forthcoming and that the grants would be submitted on time.