Tim Walker
AMR Reporter
After debating and discussing the issue for many months, the Pocahontas County Commission finally received and approved the drafts of the two agreements that will allow several local farmers to make hay on the county’s East Fork property. One of the parties – Ronald Warner and Jamie Warner – was present at this meeting, and signed the five-year agreement. They have been making hay on the property for about 35 years. The other party will be sent their five-year agreement for their signature.
Under these agreements, the property will be divided into two areas, with one farmer being allowed to make hay on the west side of Industrial Park Road, and the other party gets the east side. Neither party will be charged any lease fee in these agreements, as the county benefits by having the fields cut, and the parties benefit by getting the hay.
The commission approved the following pertaining to the ARC Broadband Project:
a) Bonds and issuing an insurance letter. This insurance will provide coverage of up to $2,300 per day.
b) A bid letter, approval of which had been required to move the project forward.
c) Draw Request #14 from that project grant in the amount of $8,525.60 to pay invoices to the project’s law firm and to pay invoices to Region 4 for their assistance with the grant process.
Regarding the now completed Broadband Study Grant, they approved Draw request #8 in the amount of $1,966 to pay invoices from Region 4 and from the Thompson and Litton company, the project’s engineering consultants, and they approved the closeout documents for that grant.
At the request from Leslie Taylor of Region 4, the commission approved Resolution #8 from the Public Service District’s Thornwood Water Extension Project, in the amount of $3,205 to pay invoices. Taylor also said that project has currently been delayed because of some deed restrictions that are being worked out.
At the request of Amy Truesdale, of the Greenbrier Valley Economic Development Corporation, the commission approved Resolution #8 for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Tannery Groundwater Clean-up Project. This resolution will pay $5,441.25 of invoices and fees from that grant.
Sheriff Troy McCoy asked the commission to approve the appointment of James Michael Evans as Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy at a salary of $70,000 per year with full benefits, to begin June 2. Evans is currently the Chief of Police in Rainelle and has retired from other police departments.
Also at the meeting, the commission:
• approved the inspection agreement with Securitech LLC for that company to inspect the fire alarm systems in the courthouse and former jail, at a cost of $2,246 for the annual inspection. Securitech has been doing these inspections for the county for a number of years at the same price.
• approved for the Mountain State Hot Spot Bar and Grill to hold its one year celebration on their grounds. It was explained that the state requires this event to have commission approval since the celebration will be held on the grounds outside of the actual bar.
• approved and signed a General County Budget Revision in the amount of $10,000. This is for a received settlement. They also approved In-House Budget Revisions for Community Corrections and for the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Those in-house budget revisions simply allow an agency to shift money that is currently in their budget to a different line item.
• approved and signed for the Emergency Management’s Performance Grant for salary expenses in the calendar year 2023. Kevin Stitzinger from the Emergency Management said this grant is applied for yearly and although they are applying for $91,000, they usually only receive $24,000.
• appointed Kendel Ober, as the Law Enforcement member, and Joel Feltner, as the PMH Representative, to the Pocahontas County EMS Authority.
The commission went into Executive Session to discuss a personnel issue at the Animal Shelter, and when they returned to open session, announced that they were not taking any action on the matters discussed.