BY BEN CONLEY
BConley@DominionPost.com
Initially announced in late November, the agreement merging Mon EMS and HealthTeam Critical Care Transport has been signed and will take effect July 1.
Mon Health System President and CEO David Goldberg and Albert Wright, president and CEO of WVU Health System, attended Wednesday’s Monongalia County Commission meeting to reiterate some of the details.
The reconstituted Mon EMS will be a 50-50 partnership between the entities with a consolidated budget, a new board of directors and rebranded blue and white vehicles featuring the logos of both.
“It’s about promoting an EMS system that’s a county resource. It isn’t Mon Health. It’s not WVU Medicine, but it’s the county’s,” Goldberg said. “We’re going to operate it together and bring what we think will be even better response times and services to the community we love.”
The partnership will have a $7 million operating budget including staff, vehicles and sites of service across the county, according to Mon Health System Multimedia Coordinator Emily Gallagher.
Wright said the process of hiring a new executive director is underway, noting an out-of-state candidate was in town on Wednesday to interview.
In the meantime, the operations will be headed by Mon EMS Special Operations Supervisor Pat Cornell and HealthTeam President Clinton Burley. Goldberg said former Mon EMS Director Dave Custer will work with MECCA 911 to align ambulance services with the county’s disaster preparedness and education efforts.
The merger marks the county’s move away from its longstanding practice of dispatching ambulances based on a priority list — a list Mon EMS topped dating back to the early 1980s.
When WVU Medicine formed HealthTeam in early 2018, county residents took note and began asking the commission why Mon EMS vehicles were still being dispatched from Morgantown when HealthTeam had vehicles stationed in outlying areas, like Blacksville, Clinton District and Cheat Lake.
As has been the case in recent months, the new agreement stipulates vehicles from either the newly formed Mon EMS or Star City Volunteer Fire Department EMS will be dispatched based on vehicle proximity.
In February, the commission provided up to $14,500 to Star City to outfit four vehicles with the needed Zuercher GPS hardware and software.
“I want to thank you. Twelve months ago, this was not a reality. In fact, we were going in the opposite direction,” Commission President Tom Bloom said, adding “No one believed we’d be here today. I’ve received a half dozen emails and letters from the western end thanking you all. The response times have been unbelievable, working together.”
The commission asked to be updated every six months on the progress of the new venture.
Also on Wednesday, the commission congratulated Assessor Mark Musick, who was named West Virginia’s Assessor of the Year last week during the annual assessor’s meeting, in Charleston.
Musick, the association’s outgoing president, said it’s the first time the honor has been given to the Monongalia County assessor since it was created, in 1981.
“You’re voted on by your peers,” Musick said. “And to be honest with you, it was a little bit overwhelming.”
As for the county assessor’s office, Musick said representatives are out looking at commercial property in Clay District; residential property in Cass District, Clay District and the city’s 3rd Ward; and new construction throughout the county.
In other news the commission:
— Will soon post the superintendent position at Chestnut Ridge Park after accepting the resignation of Catherine Hinkle, effective June 20.
— Will interview Matthew Gutta, Ryan Umina and Beth Lebow as potential fiduciary commissioners for the county based on the recommendation of County Clerk Carye Blaney.
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