County receives additional COVID-19 funding

POMEROY-Garfield County has received notice of an additional $50,000 coming the State as part of extended COVID-19 relief funds, bringing the total to $300,000. During the meeting September 8, the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) has asked for community input on how to best spend the money, benefitting the entire county. It must be used for COVID-19-related expenses.

The ongoing dialog on overnight camping during this year’s modified and restructured fair continued with Commissioner Justin Dixon clarifying the rules allowing campers at the fairgrounds. Only pre-approved campers will be allowed and will receive wristbands to allow gate access. The County requests no assembly of people in any one area, no partying, camping should be located away from buildings and spaced apart from each other. No tickets will be required at the gate for entry, but the gate will be monitored for unauthorized entries. Dixon added that this plan has been approved by the Garfield County Public Health District, and very few requests have been received so far.

Martha Lanman, Garfield County Public Health Department Administrator, gave an update on COVID-19 testing citing the county has 131 negative test results, nine positive results, and zero pending. Four of the nine have recovered, and the remaining five, which are under 50 years-of-age, are currently recovering at home. These current active cases are considered low exposure risk to the community or school from. Contact tracing was done over the Labor Day weekend. Lanman urged the community to continue to wear masks to prevent the rapid spread of the virus.

Garfield County Sheriff Drew Hyer, said the Labor Day weekend was an uneventful one, but was busy for the Sheriff’s Office. The Dunes area remained closed, and due to increased release of water through the dam, the river level is up, which has reduced the beachfront area. He also reported overall calls for August were up 35 from the previous month, with 10 more county citations. Criminal citations were down by one. Thirteen verbal warnings were issued, and 14 arrests were made. Total contacts by Sheriff’s Office personnel were 146, and there was a daily average of 2.51 persons incarcerated in the Garfield County Jail.

Hyer was given permission by the BOCC to surplus some old cell phones, old obsolete radios, and old vests. A resolution will be drawn up for the next meeting with an inventory of the surplus items.

Adam Hodges, representing the County’s interests in the insurance risk pool, warned the BOCC of significant increases on property insurance rates. The increased rates are due to “playing catch-up” because of recent flood damages.

In 2018-2019, the County paid $10,751 in property tax premiums. In 2019-2020, the rate doubled to $21,510. The new rates just received for 2020-2021 are about $42,000, and as advised by the risk pool, will probably increase once again the following year of 2021-2022 to $80,000.

Hodges said Garfield County is not the only county in the risk pool that has been hit hard with premium increases, but it was quite a shock to see just prior to the payment due date. He and the BOCC will be looking into options that could potentially reduce this expense, such as looking at a different risk pool. Hodges will request a breakdown of all covered County properties to review and discuss at the next meeting.

The Garfield County Planning Board interviewed two candidates for the open position on September 2, 2020, and recommended the appointment of Dan Claveano for the vacancy. The BOCC approved the recommendation.

The Emergency Management Director position still remains open, which was advertised for two weeks. Several inquiries have occurred, but only one response to the advertisement has been received, which was from Tina Meiers with the Sheriff’s Office. The new Fire Chief has expressed interest in the position and Donna Deal indicated Garfield County Fire District will be preparing a response on his behalf.