ELKINS — The Randolph County Commission has approved a quote for the purchase of equipment for a new ambulance for the Randolph County Emergency Squad.

President David Kesling told the Commission that a representative from Randolph County EMS recently attended a county Opioid Committee meeting and presented a quote for new equipment.

“At our last opioid quarterly meeting, Kurt Gainer from the Randolph County EMS presented to the board a quote for some equipment for a new ambulance they are getting,” Kesling said. “They (EMS) have a new ambulance being delivered in January and the quote is for a power lift and a bed for that.”

Kesling said the total for the two items came to $69,394.42 and that the Opioid Board approved EMS’ request.

“The Opioid Board approved to take that money from the Opioid Fund, so we are just going to approve that payment,” Kesling said. “This is a quote and we are giving Kurt (Gainer) the ‘go ahead and get it taken care of.’ So we are going to make a motion to pay up to $69,394.42 once we receive that bill.”

Commissioner Chris See made a motion to approve the request, and fellow Commissioners Cris Siler and Kesling voted yes to make it unanimous. The items will be purchased from Stryker, which is one of the world’s leading medical technology companies.

In 2024, the Randolph County Commission received $496,582.31 of the $73.5 million opioid settlement money that was dispersed to municipalities and counties in West Virginia.

The County Commission then formed a committee that would decide where the money was distributed. The committee is made up of representatives from the Randolph County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office, and other organizations with Opioid knowledge.

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The Randolph County Commission unanimously approved the county’s absentee voting policy during the meeting.

Randolph County Clerk Brenda Wiseman explained to the Commission how the policy worked during elections.

“This is something we do every election for people that end up being in the hospital, a nursing home, or something like that on Election Day,” Wiseman said. “If they didn’t get to vote early or didn’t get an absentee ballot by mail, this is for emergency absentee voting that the ballot commissioners would actually physically take the ballot to them in the hospital or nursing home for them to be able to vote in the election.”

See asked Wiseman how often they took ballots to someone in the hospital or nursing home.

“The last election they took three or four out,” Wiseman said. “They took one up to ERCC and some to the hospital, so it does happen once in a while.”

The next Randolph County Commission meeting will be Jan. 22 a 1:30 p.m. at the Commission Annex.