MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Monongalia County Commission has approved a tri-party agreement involving the old MECCA 911 call center and has offered an update on a tri-county partnership related to the West Virginia First Foundation.
The commission unanimously approved an agreement between themselves, Monongalia Health System Inc., and the Monongalia County Building Commission to allow for Mon Health to take over the former MECCA 911 facility. This was supported by members of the building commission and the county as part of a land transaction that will also include property owned by Mon Health that will be later given to the county.
“Essentially this is an agreement between the two parties,” said Sikora. “Mon Health will convey to the building commission, the building commission will convey to Mon Health property, and then the commission will release a ground lease with the building commission on the 911 property,” he said.
According to the commission, the agreement will allow for the Monongalia County Building Commission, which currently owns the land lease for the old MECCA 911 Call Center, to sign over the necessary deeds and leases over to Mon Health, with the healthcare provider giving a piece of owned land to the county. The county will then sell the land acquired by Mon Health, which will be used for the various services and programs provided by the county. With Mon Health hoping to develop the site into a new healthcare facility, Sikora felt it was an easy proposal to approve.
“We’re getting something out of a building that we’re no longer using,” said Sikora. “It’s the best use of it, it would be the (planned) Mon Health complex, so it’s kind of a win-win situation,” he said.
Monongalia County Commissioner Tom Bloom also reported that he, along with commissioners in Upshur and Lewis counties, reconvened to send a letter calling for local governing bodies to support more local involvement with the WV First Foundation. The collaborations were discussed between Bloom, Lewis County Commissioner Agnes Queen, and Upshur County Commissioner Kristie Tenney as part of an effort to increase direct local access to over $1 billion in opioid settlement funds.
“We had a follow-up meeting that was with Commissioner Tenney and Commissioner Queen, we did come up with an email that we sent to all 72 governmental bodies in Region 4, to emphasize the need for and importance of more local input,” said Bloom.
The collaboration between Monongalia, Lewis, and Upshur counties was supported by West Virginia First Foundation Executive Director Jonathan Board as well as other commissioners from the three counties. The hope from the commissioners is that the foundation will allow for local involvement in the grant review process as well as keeping regional review committees that were a part of the approximately $10 million in fund allocations that were issued in 2024. With multiple counties on board and a meeting with the West Virginia First Foundation scheduled in the coming weeks, Bloom hopes more counties will be willing to join in to gain more local control over where opioid settlement funds will go.
“Local input into the distribution of the $1 billion controlled by the First Foundation board,” said Bloom on what the commissioners hope to achieve with the email sent to Region 4 governing bodies.
“We’re going to follow up with that, we believe there’s a meeting with the West Virginia First Foundation board, and that will be brought up,” he said.