Pocahontas County Is Officially in a Declared State of Local Emergency

At the April 7^th Pocahontas County Commission meeting, the commissioners officially voted a Declaration of Local State of Emergency for the county. This was done because of the coronavirus situation, and it will enable the county to be eligible for additional state assistance.

The Commissioners also voted to extend the limited access to the Pocahontas County Courthouse and county offices through April 30^th.

Emergency Management/911 Director Mike O’Brien was authorized by the commissioners to submit an application for the 2018 Emergency Management Performance Grant. O’Brien explained that this is a reimbursement grant for that year’s expenses incurred running the county’s Emergency Management Office, and it is a formality, as they have already been per-approved to be reimbursed in the amount of $25,583.00 by the state under this grant once they submit the application.

O’Brien also received approval from the commissioners to enter into a formal agreement with the GPS company, TOMTOM to provide that company with their 911 addressing information. The agreement specifies just what TOMTOM can use that information for and what they can’t use it for. O’Brien said this will help ensure that GPS data in the county is more current.

They also approved the purchase of two medical grade HEPA Negative Air pressure machines for Pocahontas Memorial Hospital at a price (for both) not to exceed $3,100 including the purchase, shipping and handling.

They approved routine budget revision and resolutions for several county agencies. The commissioners also held a short discussion with members of the County Health Department about concerns with people coming in significant numbers to perform work in the county during this emergency and the risks of virus spread in the local community that could present. They said that an Ohio company was scheduled to bring in workers this week to rebuild the bridge in Durban, but local attorney Bob Martin informed them he had obtained a court injunction to delay that until June. Another Ohio company is also scheduled to bring in a large number of out-of-state workers to resume construction of a new motel at Snowshoe. The Health Department said they have recently received new authority to delay those kinds of things, and will talk to the resort to ask them to delay that as well.