Looking back
A look at some of the headlines gracing the pages of the Observer-Reporter and Waynesburg Republican this week in Greene County history:
A costly cleanup
WAYNESBURG – Franklin Township racked up more than $17,000 in overtime and equipment charges to clear roads during just the first two days of the Feb. 5 snowstorm.
The supervisors had been asked to prepare an account of its expenditures during the storm, using Federal Emergency Management Agency guidelines, as the county prepares information to seek federal disaster assistance.
The township, using the guidelines, determined its costs for employee overtime and vehicle use at $17,649 for just the first two days of the storm, Feb. 5 and 6, supervisor John Higgins said at Monday’s supervisors’ meeting.
Supervisor Reed Kiger noted the costs do not include those associated with the repair of damaged trucks or equipment, or township efforts during subsequent snowstorms.
Municipalities, school districts and authorities had been asked to prepare the cost information for a 48-hour period during the Feb. 5 storm as the county prepares a damage assessment for the state, said Jeff Marshall, the county’s Emergency Management Agency director.
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Lawsuit expected
against Consol
Two West Virginia environmental groups issued a formal notice Friday indicating they intend to sue Consol Energy Inc. to force the company to halt discharges of mine water high in pollutants into Dunkard Creek.
The Sierra Club and West Virginia Highlands Conservancy filed the notice claiming the discharges, now permitted under a compliance order issued by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, fail to comply with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency water quality standards.
High levels of chlorides and total dissolved solids in the company’s mine discharges are considered a contributing factor to the bloom of golden algae that killed nearly all aquatic life along a 43-mile stretch of the creek in September.
Though Consol voluntarily stopped pumping the mine water into Dunkard Creek on Sept. 17, during the fish kill, it started pumping again after receiving the compliance order in December from West Virginia DEP.
“The compliance order issued by W.Va. DEP continues a pattern by W.Va. DEP of being too cozy with the industries they are supposed to be regulating” said Jim Kotcon, energy chairman for the West Virginia chapter of Sierra Club.
“Consol has been given one extension after another to comply with the Clean Water Act and it appears that W.Va. DEP is more concerned with protecting the industry than with protecting the environment,” he said.
The company had sought to resume pumping water from the mine to protect the safety of the mine’s work force.
W.Va. DEP approved a plan allowing Consol to discharge mine water until April 30 under certain conditions.
The order requires the company to reduce chloride discharge levels as creek water temperatures warm to reduce the chances of another algae bloom. The probability for a bloom increases when water temperatures rise above 50 degrees, the agency said.
W. Greene district’s reserve
fund back in black
ROGERSVILLE – Positive things happened with West Greene School District’s finances last year, the district auditor told school directors Thursday.
The district’s reserve fund posted a positive balance for the first time in two years, according to Cypher and Cypher’s audit report for fiscal year 2004.
“This seems to show you made a nice recovery for the school district,” said Steve Cypher of the auditing firm.
As mandated by state law, all school districts are required to complete a financial audit every year. Citizens can examine West Greene’s audit report in the district office.
The district’s fund balance totaled $383,086 June 30, 2004, the end of last fiscal year. The figure pales in comparison to the fund balance in 1997, when it amounted to more than $3.8 million.
However, the school district adopted a five-year trend in which expenses significantly overshadowed revenues every year. The fund balance dwindled and it hit a low point in 2002, when it reflected a deficit of $530,097.
“The last two years represent a reversal of that trend,” Cypher said.
The school board approved two tax increases, and the district posted surpluses for the past two years. In 2003, the deficit shrunk to $134,280 and the district had a positive balance last year.
The fund balance is now about 3 percent of West Greene’s total budget, which is the minimum recommended percentage. Cypher said the reserve fund needs to go even higher.
In fiscal year 2004, West Greene posted a surplus of $537,366. The district reported $12,582,095 in revenue through taxes, state and federal subsidies and other sources. That amount is $636,147 over the budgeted amount. Expenses totaled $12,044,729, which is $364,113 over budget.
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Buyer for Greene
Memorial targeted
WAYNESBURG – Officials at Greene County Memorial Hospital are negotiating the sale of the hospital to a Nashville, Tenn.-based company that owns five community hospitals in four states.
Essent Healthcare was unanimously selected by the hospital’s board of trustees last week as the potential buyer of the 67-bed hospital. The board had reviewed proposals from three other hospital companies.
GCMH officials are working with Essent to develop a formal letter of intent, which should be completed within 30 days, and to begin the due diligence review, said Raoul Walsh, hospital chief executive officer.
The sale, pending approval of state officials, could be completed by July 1, he said.
“The board feels Essent is a perfect fit for our hospital and community,” Walsh said. The sale not only should help the hospital expand its services to the community but also ensure its existence in perpetuity, he said.
“We’re convinced Essent has the financial resources and the expertise to take our hospital into the future,” Walsh said. “They have developed a strong reputation as an operator of high quality community hospitals that invests in the facilities they own and the people they employ.”
In recent years, GCMH has suffered financially with rising costs and declining reimbursements.
Founded in 1907, GCMH has an annual budget of about $25 million. During the last two to three years, it has operated with an annual deficit of about $1 million, Walsh said.
GCMH also has been at a disadvantage because it does not have a large endowment. Neither does it have easy access to capital, which is necessary to secure the new technologies that are essential to providing care in today’s health-care environment, Walsh said.
Essent’s financial resources should help the hospital expand its services, increase technology purchases as well as recruit new doctors, Walsh said.
The sale is not expected to effect current staff. Local input in the hospital’s operations will be ensured by a local advisory board that will focus on strategic planning, Walsh said.
School to review
showing of movie
ROGERSVILLE – Administrators in the West Greene School District will investigate allegations that an R-rated movie was shown to a seventh-grade class.
School Director Scott Moore asked administrators at a meeting Thursday about the district’s policy concerning teachers’ use of movies in class, saying he was told the movie was PG (parental guidance) and another rated R were shown at the school.
Moore said he believes the R-rated movie in question is “Robocop.”
“I’ve seen it,” he said. “The language is terrible, but the violence is what scares me more than anything else. I can’t see any educational value in the movie.” Administrators were surprised to hear an R-rated movie might have been shown in school.
“That was the first I was aware of it,” said Superintendent Dr. Byron Phillips. “In a very general sense, the movies hat teachers show we hope are applicable to subject matter,” Phillips said.