Tim Walker
AMR Reporter
Three attorneys, one representing the Pocahontas County Solid Waste Authority (SWA), one representing the Pocahontas County Commission, and one representing the Fertig family, had collaborated to produce a draft deed for the purchase of the county landfill by the commission on behalf of the SWA. That deed was rejected by the members of the SWA at its October 30 meeting. They did this following a spirited discussion between the SWA members and County Commissioners John Rebinski and Jamie Walker. Rebinski attended this meeting because of his concerns about the landfill purchase, and Walker is a member of the Solid Waste Authority Board.
A major objection was that the length of the fence to be built around three sides of the landfill had been underestimated when discussed at the commission meeting at which the commission approved the purchase and the creation of the deed. The commission had agreed to be financially responsible for the cost of building that perimeter fence as part of the sales agreement, and that would be reflected in the deed by adding that cost to the price they were willing to pay for the property.
However, while the finalized deed accurately identifies the length of the fence in accordance with the length on the official plat, during that commission meeting a shorter fence length was incorrectly verbally stated. Although the official plat was present at that commission meeting, no one checked it to verify the accuracy of the length mentioned and apparently used to approve the sale. The result of that error is that using the accurate plat length caused the sale price for the property, as listed in the deed, to be about $3,000 more than the commission had approved to pay.
That additional cost as well as several other items contained in the presented deed, including limits of the SWA’s right to access water from the Fertig farm and an added clause which seems to make the county commission responsible for maintaining the access road through the Fertig farm to the landfill property even though that road is a state road, caused a very upset Jamie Walker to recommend rejecting the deed and possibly the entire purchase. Walker said this deed, which is seven to nine pages in length, is not the “simple” deed he had voted for at the commission meeting. The other SWA members felt the same way. SWA member David Henderson said the Fertig family “keeps moving the goal posts,” by adding requirements into the deed, which now contains many of the sale provisions that the SWA had rejected three years ago.
Despite their own attorney’s involvement in producing this deed, the members agreed that they should reject it and have their attorney draw up a new simple deed with only what the SWA wants in it, and the Fertigs can accept or reject that deed. Walker said he was sick and tired of dealing with this sale.
According to Jacob Meck, a friend of the Fertig family, the fence issue and other issues in the deed are apparently just unintentional errors or miscommunications between the commission’s attorney the SWA’s attorney, and the Fertig family’s attorney and their clients which can easily be resolved. According to Meck, to reject the sale over these simple to fix miscommunications will result in an irresponsible waste of the taxpayers’ money spent to create the deed and move forward with the sale.
The SWA also heard from eight residents of the Green Bank Community who were all extremely upset over the decision to remove the buildings used to place usable furniture and other items at the Green Bank Green Box site. Tom Sharp, who manages that site said that none of the problems experienced at the Marlinton and Caesar Mountain sites exist at Green Bank, as he maintains that recycling area and disposes of anything that is not picked up. They also presented a petition signed by 346 people to not close that service because it is important to the community. One person called the recycling of usable items there “Green Bank’s Walmart.” The members voted to not remove the building from the Green Bank site as long as it is maintained by the community. The buildings will still be removed from Marlinton and Caesar Mountain.