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Senate Bill 224 History
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ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 224
(By Senators Tomblin, Mr. President, and Caruth,
By Request of the Executive)
____________
[Passed March 8, 2008; in effect ninety days from passage.]
____________
AN ACT to authorize the county commission of Jefferson County to
create a joint emergency services agency; legislative
findings; and management by a joint emergency services board
.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
JEFFERSON COUNTY
JOINT EMERGENCY SERVICES
AGENCY.
§1. Legislative findings.
(a) The Legislature finds that:
(1)
Jefferson County
has a demonstrated population growth rate
history;
(2) Small separate volunteer emergency services agencies
cannot adequately serve the people of
Jefferson County;
(3) The municipalities, communities and the county cannot
separately finance
individual volunteer emergency services
agencies;
(4)
Jefferson County is in a unique position that it has the only national historical park in the state which attracts thousands
of visitors annually;
(5) The national historical park with its historical buildings
and visitors places an undue burden on the
small individual
emergency services agencies
in Jefferson County; and
(6) An agency that combines
joint emergency services
would
enhance Jefferson County's ability to serve its people.
(b) Therefore, the Legislature declares that since Jefferson
County is in a unique situation, it is in the public interest that
the county commission of Jefferson County be authorized to create
a
joint emergency services
agency.
§2. Authorizing creation of the Jefferson County
Joint Emergency
Services
Agency.
(a) In lieu of creating both an emergency ambulance service
authority and a separate county fire association or county fire
board, the county commission of
Jefferson County
may enact an
ordinance creating a combined joint emergency services agency to
provide emergency services and emergency response services
.
(b) The agency shall possess all of the rights and
responsibilities conferred upon emergency ambulance service
authorities, county fire associations and county fire boards that
are not otherwise inconsistent with state law and local ordinance.
§3. Joint Emergency Services B
oard.
(a) By ordinance,
the county commission of Jefferson County
may create a Joint Emergency Services B
oard
to oversee the
management and control of the agency.
(b) The board shall consist of at least the following
individuals who shall be appointed by the county commission:
(1) A representative from an emergency medical service;
(2) A representative from a fire protection service; and
(3) A citizen member who is not employed with an emergency
medical service, a fire protection service or the county
commission.
(c) All board members shall be residents of
Jefferson County.
(d) The board members shall serve for staggered terms of three
years and are
limited to two consecutive terms. In the event of a
vacancy, a successor shall be appointed from the same service area
as the unexpired representative
's term. Members shall continue to
serve until their successors have been appointed.
(e) A majority of the members of the board constitutes a
quorum.