The Calhoun County Commission continues to cinch some ropes tighter on what has notoriously been loose ends in the County government. Following Monday’s meeting I questioned the mention of an approved purchase through the 911 Center, for which the subject was barely broached during the 911/OES reporting while the new spending policy was being voted on.
Kelli Barr, 911/OES Director, vaguely mentioned a contract signed between herself and Tanner Communication, which was questioned with regard to policy. After having requested copies of the related documents, the contract in question was submitted by Tanner Commucation (Joe Tanner) on June 16th, 2025 and accepted by Kelli Barr, 911/OES Director on June 17th, 2025. The total cost for the GeoConex GPS based GIS Mapping and address System Software Package and installation for which Tanner was requesting payment was $19,850.25. That amount was $4,850.26 over the amount permitted to be purchased in accordance to West Virginia Code 7-1-11. Anything over $15,000 requires an RFP (request for proposal) and pre-approval of the County Commission. Tanner Communication has received multiple contracts for the Calhoun 911/OES system over the years.
A halt on the purchase has been made by the Commission until policy is complied with for appropriate bidding and approval.
Recently minutes for the 911 Advisory Board Meeting were requested, at which time it was discovered that there were no minutes available. The advisory board had not met in some time and if they did meet there was no formal minutes stating any action taken. Earlier this year new 911 Advisory Board members were appointed by the Commission and will meet for the first time this month. Those members are:
| Name | Representing |
| Carl Brannon | Fire Service |
| Graham Knight | Calhoun Sheriff’s Dept. |
| Jason Wilson | EMS |
| Brent Barr | Emergency Service Provider |
| Eric Lupardus | Calhoun Commission |
| Marlan Zwoll | Community Member |
| Dana Godfrey | Community Member |
| Josh Hand | Community Member |
| Jenna Jett | Community Member |
| Kelli Barr, Director | Ex-Officio |
| 3 years terms |
People should also be questioning the town spending money on the dumpster by the Fire Hall. I’ve witnessed on multiple occasions the “Cheif” bringing truckloads of trash from his house 2-3 times a week and dumping into it. He “works” for Dominion Energy and his wife “works” for the ambulance service so they should be able to afford their own trash pickup. Is it really feesable for the town to be paying for a dumpster for him to throw personal trash into? Does the fire department really have enough trash every week to justify having a dumpster? The dumpster by the courthouse is locked to prevent everyone from dumping their trash so why isn’t the one by the Fire Hall?