Tim Walker
AMR Reporter
When the bid to demolish the former Pocahontas County Board of Education Office Building was approved in May 2024, the winning bid, from Reclaim Construction of $148,900, was well under the bids of the other three companies. It was also well under the $245,000 contained in the Community Development Block Grant the county received to fund the demolition project. Reclaim Con- struction completed the demolition last summer, but then the Board of Education asked if they could use the leftover $98,100 to make improvements to the site, such as grading the site to eliminate a drop off, removal of gaps, and building a fence to enclose the school playground next to the site.
It took a long time to get a decision from the federal authorities who administer the CDBGs but at the April 15 Pocahontas County Commission meeting, Casandra Lawson of Region 4 requested that the commission approve a change to the CDBG Board of Education Demolition Project, which does allow $33,950 of those leftover CDBG funds to be used to grade the site, eliminating the drop off and gaps. Lawson explained that the grant officials could approve that use of funds since they are still part of the “demolition,” but grant money cannot be used to build anything on the site, including fences.
At that meeting, the commission also voted to make an offer to hire Mark Walton as the Head Custodian for the courthouse at $40,000 per year plus benefits. No date was provided for Walton to start, since he needs to provide two weeks’ notice to his current employer.
They also approved a request by Donna Ward of Region 4 for a resolution and a change order for the Pocahontas Memorial Hospital HVAC Project. Ward explained that $402,211.16 needs to be spent from the available grant money to pay invoices, plumbing costs, construction costs, administrative fees, and for some of the cost of the units. She also asked them to approve change order #2 from the grant, which allows $87,965.94 of extra unused grant money to be spent on additional pumps, valves and equipment.
Amy Trusdale of the Greenbrier Valley Economic Development Corporation (GVEDC,) asked the commission to approve resolution #7 of the EPA Tannery clean-up grant, which is to pay administrative fees of $1,468. She also provided a project update.
Truesdale said she just met with a representative of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and they discussed recent water quality sampling at the former tannery in Frank. They will need to conduct additional sampling to be able to decide what is needed next. She said additional sampling wells will be needed and, after future monitoring, it will be determined if additional clean-up is required or if enough has been done. She said Kevin Richardson, the Brownsville Manager for the project, and Ross Britain, their toxicologist, advised that they should apply to the DEP for a Ground Water Protection Act deviation exemption for the site since the county is an “innocent owner” of the polluted site – meaning they were not responsible for causing the pollution at the former Howes Tannery site.
During commission updates, Commission President John Rebinski said the EMS Board is finishing the writing of a job description for an EMS Director to run the County Ambulance Service.
Regarding the Ambulance Service, he said the upper end just had their ambulance pass state inspection, and on the lower end, Hillsboro and Marlinton VFDs are still working on starting up 10-or-12-hour shifts for a county ambulance, since 24/7 in impractical for now. They are hoping to receive their new ambulance at the end of the summer. He said the 911 Board is still working on the Thomastown Communication Tower and the one behind Marlinton Middle School.
Commissioner Jamie Walker reported that the Health Department has slowed down a lot since COVID but is offering flu shots and inspecting B&Bs in the county. He also said there was one case of Bird Flu in the county in late 2024. Walker said Farmland Protection will be closing on two farms this summer, and another one is delayed by right-of-way issues. The Convention and Visitors Bureau noted that it was a good winter at Snowshoe, and they are gearing up for the new bike trail to open this spring.
There was no report from Commissioner Thane Ryder as he was absent from the meeting.
In other matters, the commission
• laid the 2025/2026 levy
• approved Sheriff Troy McCoy’s request to hire one full-time and one part-time Courthouse Security Officer. The full-time officer will be Virginia Deputy. The part-time officer will be Robin Robinson.
• appointed David Armstrong to the Farmland Protection Board.
• approved of the WVCORP insurance proposal for courthouse workers compensation and vehicle insurance the 2025/2026 fiscal year.
• tabled the haymaking agreements at their East Fork Property until their next meeting since the written agreements are not yet finished.
