Tim Walker
AMR Reporter
The “on again, off again” potential purchase of the currently leased county landfill, has again been stalled because of the wording in agreements and in the actual deed.
At its last meeting, the Solid Waste Authority and its attorney, David Sims, reviewed the proposed deed and made changes including removing some of the side agreements from the deed and including them in a separate agreement. During the December 17 commission meeting, the commission presented the side agreement and other changes to attorney Josh Hardy who represents the sellers – the Fertig Family – who were seeing these changes for the first time. Hardy said he would need to review those documents with his clients.
That delayed, once again, what was set to be the final agreement for the sale. One additional issue this caused is that if the sale is not completed by January 1, 2025, the Solid Waste Authority will owe a quarterly lease payment to the Fertig Family. Hardy said he could try and get the documents reviewed by then, but was unsure if that is possible given the holidays. He was assured that the new documents did not significantly alter the content of what was already contained in the deed, just moved some things from being in the deed into a separate agreement, however Hardy said that, while the revised deed and agreement appear at first glance to be ok, he still needs to review them thoroughly with his clients to ensure that is the case. Hardy said if it is all the same, why not just approve the earlier version of the deed, as that could be done now at this meeting. That suggestion was not acceptable to Commissioner Jamie Walker – who is also a Solid Waste Authority Member. Walker insisted the side agreements not be included inside the actual deed, but be presented as a separate agreement.
Walker offered a motion, which passed – that the total price of the sale – $157,297.50 – will be acceptable if the sellers review and accept the documents prior to January 1, and that no additional lease payments will be added to that sale price if the acceptance is reached before the new lease payment is due on January 1, 2025, even if the actual closing occurs after January 1. His motion stated that this only applies if the seller approves of the changes before January 1, but if the seller finds the revised deed and agreement unacceptable, the additional lease payment will be added to the sale price on January 1, but the remaining lease days after the sale actually occurs will be prorated and any unused lease payment amount will be returned to the buyer. That motion seemed to be acceptable to both the buyers and the seller, but still leaves the sale “up in the air” for now.
Also at the meeting, Marlinton Mayor Sam Felton reiterated his request that the commission donate $30,000 to Durbin and $30,000 to Marlinton to be used as local match funds for Mon Forest Towns Partnership grant writer Sarah Cottingham to use for grants she writes for each town. Felton said Cottingham has a good record of leveraging local match funds into much larger grant awards. It should be noted, that during the December 12 commission meeting, when this issue was discussed at length, the commission did not actually vote to approve awarding the $60,000, as this reporter erroneously reported they did.
Based upon a motion at December 17 meeting by Commissioner John Rebinski, the commission did vote to donate the $60,000 – half to the Town of Durbin and half to the Town of Marlinton – although it was stated the towns could work it out between them if one needed a little more than half and the other a little less. Walker asked why Hillsboro was not included, and Felton explained it is because Hillsboro is not a Mon Forest Town.
In other business, the commission:
• awarded the only bid received for gasoline for the county offices for 2025. It was from Woodford Oil, at a cost of Rack Price plus 15 cents per gallon delivered. At today’s price that would be about $2.07 per gallon.
• approved the PMH HVAC Project resolution #7; to pay invoices totaling $89,662 and also Resolution #7 for the Public Service District’s Thornwood Water Extension Project to pay a $560 EPA fee.
• approved a request from James Exline of Pocahontas Center to park flood evacuation buses at the ARC lot on Third Avenue in Marlinton.
• appointed Erica Clark and Hannah Scrafford to the Parks and Recreation Board and appointed Leshia Cassell to the 911 Advisory Board.
• agreed to schedule interviews with the three applicants for a part-time worker position at the Animal Shelter.
