The Calhoun County Commission held their monthly regular meeting with all three Commissioners Present on march 11th, 2023 at 9 a.m.
Opening with delegations, Businessman and County Commission Candidate Eric Lupardus asked if the County Commission could hold their regular meetings at varying locations in the county to make it easier for citizens to attend. Commissioner Kevin Helmick stated that the rules for County Commission meetings were that they had to be held in the governing location but the Commission discussed the possibility once again of holding evening or bimonthly meetings. The matter was tabled for later discussion.
Sharon Kesselring of the American Red Cross requested that the Commission make a proclamation declaring the month of March as “Red Cross” month and provided the Commission a brief description of several recent projects and provisional measures that the Red Cross had made to Calhoun Citizens during emergency situations. The Commission did make the declaration acknowledging that March would be recognized by the County as Red Cross Month .
HVAC sealed bids were accepted and opened to install a unit on/in the third floor Circuit Court area. Bids were received from two companies, the first being Murray Sheet Metal for $91,817.00 and the second bid coming from Steer Heating and Cooling for $154,750.00. The Commission moved and passed for the acceptance of the Murray Sheet Metal bid.
Kelly Barr, Director of Calhoun E911 provided the month of February counts for local emergency services:
- Arnoldsburg VFD – 6 calls
- Calhoun DNR – 4 calls
- Calhoun E911 -83 calls received
- Calhoun Sheriff’s Department – 94 calls
- Grantsville Police Department – 1 call
- Grantsville VFD – 10 calls
- Upper West Fork VFD – 5 Calls
- West Virginia State Police – 88 calls
Jason Wilson, Director of Minnie Hamilton EMS provided the month of February activity.
- ALS transports – 22
- BLS transports – 21
- Canceled Enroute – 4
- DOA – 1
- Refusals – 15
- Treated and transferred to Aeromedical – 0
- Treated and refused – 2
- Standby – 1
Mr. Wilson updated the Commission that following the incident with Calhoun County Schools bus accident, the agencies involved had a debriefing session with the over all consensus being, a job well done, by the many agencies involved that arrived, treated and transported the many victims of the accident as quickly as possible. The community is grateful for all agencies and counties who cared for the children and families.
Reports were given by Teresa Overton of the Wood Festival Committee who announced that they were in the planning stages of the 2024 festival, and Donnie Pitts from the Calhoun County Park advised the commission of several upcoming events and their desire to have more participation from the Commission with the Park Board, who meets on the first Thursday of each month.
Sheriff Graham Knight reported that his office is now monitoring nine home confinement inmates but had recently had the resignation of their only home confinement officer, Mitchell McKown. The Sheriff will soon be advertising to fill that position once again.
Shelia Burch reported for the Little Kanawha Area Development Corporation, stating that her office is now located in the 1982 Foundation office at 354 Main Street in Grantsville where businesses can come to the BEI Zone to use equipment and receive assistance for their business needs.
Under New Business, the County Commission accepted the republican poll workers that had been recommended by the Calhoun County Republican Executive Committee, but there is currently not a Democratic Executive Committee to recommend their poll workers so the Democrat applicants were received without recommendation.
Other matters of discussion under new business was a county website quote, which brought more questions than answers on how the site updates would occur, verification of Town of Grantsville Boundaries, budget work sessions, Library Audit approval and the approval of making application for a Cyber Security grant.
Under Old Business, Aryeh White, Board President of the Mt. Zion PSD, requested additional funds for a second smaller truck that would be for efficient for conducting PSD Business. The Commission voted and approved the balance remaining on the original request of $60,000, which $39,000+ has been used or earmarked for the purchase of a larger truck and trailer.
The Grantsville Lions Club spokeswoman, Emily Collins, addressed the Commission to update how much funding the Lions Club had raised toward their building repairs and provided an estimate of $15,452 to repair the block building foundation. The Lions club has raised $4200 to pay toward the repairs, and would cover the $4,600 down payment. Following discussion the Commission agreed to pay $10,852 toward fixing the foundation of the 501c3 organization.
Business owner and County Commission Candidate, Alice Holmes, appeared at the request of the County Commission to provide a status of the use of $2,000 in assistance the Commission had provided the Grantsville Conservatory of Music for building roof repairs. At last month’s meeting Mrs. Holmes had stated that she had planned to change the use of the $2,000 from roof repairs to Programming material for the Conservatory. This raised questions with the Commissioners if it was permitted that she use the money for something other than its intended purpose. In her opening she asked “Who had her put onto the agenda?” to which Commissioner Propst stated that he did. She then accused Roger Propst, who is also running for the office County Commission, of having a political agenda by having the issue brought up again. In her conversation with the Commission she stated that she would use the money for the roof, which is now costing her at total of $18,000 for the repairs. After what was about to become a very argumentative conversation, Craig Arthur interjected that the matter was closed because she had said she would use the money as it was intended and it was no longer an issue.
The Commission accepted the resignation of Mitchell McKown who left on good terms for employment of a higher wage.
The next County Commission meeting will be April 16th, 2024 at 9 a.m.
