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Hardy County emergency management outlines tower delays, call volumes and pending grants
Summary
County emergency management reported delays to tower upgrades, a lightning strike that damaged dispatch equipment, call‑volume statistics for June, and multiple pending grant awards and trainings. Staff requested additional river gauges (~$5,000 each) and said dispatcher staffing will be full once a trainee finishes.
Hardy County emergency management reported equipment delays and infrastructure issues tied to cellular and dispatch towers and provided the commission with June call‑volume statistics and a status update on several grants.
Emergency management staff told commissioners that Motorola omitted central cables needed to complete upgrades, pushing activation of some towers from June into July, and that T‑Mobile has asked to modify footings at the Helmet Rock tower — a change that would cover anchor bolts and is under engineering review. “T Mobile are still interested in the helmet rock tower, but they want to pour some additional concrete on the footings on that,” the emergency management report said. Staff opposed the plan as presented and said the company’s engineers must propose a bolt‑accessible solution.
Staff also said a lightning strike about two weeks earlier had burned a generator circuit board and knocked out some paging and dispatching functions; the circuit board has been replaced and dispatching was restored the following day. The report listed agency call totals for June: Department of Natural Resources 13 calls; Hardy County Sheriff’s Office 295; Moorefield Police Department 42; West Virginia State Police 60. On the EMS side, West Hardy reported 417 calls, HCEAA 91, Mortimersville Rescue 47, county EMS 5, Caden Valley fire 14, Myers Baker 12, Moorefield fire department 36, and 41 calls involving the Department of Highways for storm‑related debris.
On grants, staff said the county’s 2023 MPG application has been accepted by the state but funding has not arrived, and that the 2024 LAPC grant was closed out in the state system before funds were approved; Hardy County’s $3,000 allocation will need to be reinstated. A separate LAPC‑25/26 application — for $4,000 and $3,000 line items tied to training on electric vehicle battery incidents from West Virginia University — has been submitted and may be scheduled for October if funded.
Emergency management recommended installing additional river stage ring gauges at two locations (one near the South Fork/South Branch confluence and another on the Wallace River side) and estimated installation and maintenance at about $5,000 per gauge. On staffing, officials said they have one dispatcher in training and expect to be fully staffed upon completion; one other employee has announced an undetermined retirement.
Commissioners did not take a separate recorded vote on equipment purchases during the report but discussed inspection and follow‑up steps for the dike and drainage concerns raised by a resident.
