SALYERSVILLE – The Magoffin County Fiscal Court met in special session on Wednesday, April 13, honoring dispatchers and allocating funds to fire departments and the rescue squad.
The court approved the resolution for LGEDF grants for $5,000 for each local fire department and rescue squad, and for radio equipment and upgrades needed for local emergency management. Magoffin County Judge/Executive Matt Wireman explained this is using line item funding at the state level.
They approved a petition to change the road name of Montgomery Branch to S. Arnett Branch, which was unanimously signed by all of the residents and landowners along that road.
The court also approved authorizing Wireman to enter into agreements to purchase and install lights at the Ramey Memorial Park baseball fields, which is just part of a larger project to upgrade the park, with design work already done.
Judge Wireman also recognized Magoffin County 911 dispatchers, as this is National Public Safety Telecommunications Week, reading a resolution declaring this week as such in Magoffin County and thanking them for their service to the community.
Scott Jenkins with Magoffin County 911 thanked the fiscal court, stating they’ve been able to make more improvements at dispatch in the last few years than in the rest of their 27-year history.
Magistrate Darrel Ray Howard was unable to attend the special called meeting on Wednesday.
The next regular Magoffin County Fiscal Court meeting is tentatively set for April 19 at 6 p.m. in the Magoffin County Courthouse Albert Patrick Building.
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AMBULANCE SERVICE UPDATES
MAGOFFIN COUNTY – As “Level Zero” instances are reportedly becoming more frequent, indicating no staffed ambulances in the county when emergencies occur, Magoffin County Judge/Executive Matt Wireman updated Mortimer Media Group on the transition to Net Care Ambulance Service, which the county agreed to hire under their certificate of need late last year.
Wireman said Net Care told him this week they are still working to acquire supplies and ambulances for the community, but they have assured him they will be operational in Magoffin County by the end of the month.
“I received correspondence from Lifeguard several weeks ago, advising they are pulling out completely on April 30, but we will have the new service, which will be called the Magoffin County Ambulance Service doing business as Net Care Ambulance and they will be here,” Wireman said. “If everything fell into place this week, they could be operational next week, but odds are it will be the following week.”
He also said that currently Lifeguard is only staffing one ambulance in the county at a time and when they get a call, the county is immediately at “Level Zero,” again.
“It’s very frustrating to know they would let it get to that level,” Wireman said. “That’s not providing services to the people of Magoffin County that they are obligated to do under the terms of them operating a service here to start with.”
Wireman also noted that Lifeguard Ambulance Service, which took over Trans-Star Ambulance Service in April 2019, is not necessarily making the smoothest transition out of the county.
“Someone in the organization is making accusations that all of this is political,” Wireman said. “I think everyone in Magoffin County is aware we’ve had a problem with this since the summer of 2019. We’ve went through the process. We’ve had talks about everything we can do on the governmental side to get those services out to our citizens, and for anyone at a corporate level, a company level or a staffing level from Lifeguard to say this is a political issue, they’re very much mistaken and I take offense to those remarks. We are here to serve the citizens of Magoffin County and we’re going to make sure that when we get the new service in, they’re going to be held to higher standard and, if they don’t work out, we’ll find somebody else.”
