MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Members of the Monongalia County Commission and the county Volunteer Firefighter’s Association call a disagreement over the distribution of state funds a misunderstanding.

The county recently distributed funds received through the state All-County Fire Protection Fund based on population and the County Fire Protection Fund that is distributed to counties with a fire protection levy approved by voters.

According to the President of the Monongalia County Volunteer Firefighters Association, Mickey Rinehart, they expected the funds to be distributed to all of the volunteer fire departments, but the paid Morgantown Fire Department was included.

“We understand that bills get changed, and once they finally get signed, they can be a totally different beast,” Rinehart said. “We’re just trying to get clarification on how the money can be distributed.”

Commission President Sean Sikora said the funds were distributed based on the legislation, not the intent.

“There was specifically specified these dollars were going to volunteer fire departments, but that was stricken in the final version,” Sikora said. “So, through the legislative process, there was obviously someone that wanted that removed.”

Rinehart said his group would have lobbied the commission to change the decision if they had advance notice. Rinehart added that communication between the groups has been very poor.

Our biggest thing is if we had just had the knowledge of this ahead of time, we could have sat down with the commission and the city (Morgantown) if need be, and we could have discussed how this would all transpire,” Rinehart said.

“What they came to us with was to split the dollars equally, and that’s what we did,” Sikora said. “We had to make a modification to what they asked to do because we had a request from the city.”

Sikora said some of the funds distributed come from lottery proceeds and should be made available to all departments regardless of their operational status.

“We felt they should have been available to all of our citizens, and the Mon County Volunteer Fire Department Association made that same conclusion when put forth the levy request that goes into effect next July,” Sikora said. “So, we didn’t feel like we were trampling on untilled ground.”

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