The Calhoun County Commission met Monday, July 13th, 2026 at 1:30 p.m.
The Commission opened the meeting by signing a proclamation for the County to “Go Purple” in September 2026 to celebrate that Calhoun County is committed to supporting recovering addicts and raising awareness of the struggle that families face when a member is addicted to opioids and other substances. The Community is encouraged to wear purple and join in the events planned for September. Commissioner Lee Rush read the proclamation
Under delegations, Saila Hill, Arnoldsburg Elementary School teacher, shared her concerns with the Commission of the Valley North Project that could possibly be coming through Calhoun County. She provided the Commission with a list of questions and requested that they put the project on the agenda for further discussion.
- Will the Commission do a cost benefit analysis of the project. Will the large trucks working on the project damage the road where the tower construction is done and in the process damage vehicles of those who live here.
- Will it effect the property values?
- Will reclamation and cleanup be done properly?
Commissioner Lupardus assured the citizens that the commission was there to represent the citizens.
Will Dobbins, a small business owner, voiced his strong opposition of the health concerns of the Valley North Project power lines creating health risks including cancer and creating an eye sore to the landscape as well as an increase in electricity costs.
Commissioner Lupardus stated that he would share his email and allow community members to stay up to date on information regarding the Valley North project.
Commissioner Rush made a motion to approve $1,200.00 for the Arnoldsburg Halloween Committee to assist in the annual October Halloween event. All Commissioners approved the county contribution.
The WV Fairs and Festival will be hosting an annual conference in Charleston for which the Commission suggested an opportunity to send Molasses and Wood Festival members and cover the costs for them to look what entertainment and events are available. The matter will added to a future agenda.
County Clerk Whitney Butler requested the replacement of public computer and desk that is available for the public to access public records at approximately $1,000.00 which the Commission approved.
Sheriff Graham Knight updated the commission on the activity by the Calhoun Sheriffs department stating that his office had 98 Deputy calls for the previous month of June and that July 15th will begin the opportunity for the payment of taxes for 2025 and that the Sheriff’s Department recently updated their Computer software and he is hoping that there will be no issues for payments.
Kelli Barr, Director of Emergency Services provided an update on Calhoun 911 and the office of Emergency Services by providing the number of calls by each Emergency Service Agency and the activity of her office.
Commissioner Rush provided an update on a recent meeting he attended with the Calhoun Roane EMS, informing the public that it was discussed on the necessity of getting a new 2026 or 2026 F250 model ambulance with current available funds. The upgrade will provide an environmental system to keep drugs safely regulated. The new ambulance will be stationed in the County for service at Minnie Hamilton.
Commissioner Craig Arthur gave commentary on the ribbon cutting of the Bert’s place center that will provided safe housing for women struggling with abuse and that he believes a great number of people will be positively impacted by the Calhoun FRN facility. Commissioner Lupardus recognized the contribution that Tina Persinger and her staff have made to Calhoun County.
Commissioner Lupardus spoke regarding the Norman Ridge Water project that has been a ten year slow progress but will now move forward with an update next week on when the bidding will go out. Work sessions were also held with the two Public Service Districts, both Mt. Zion and Pleasant Hill who continue to work together and he looks forward to working toward getting the water connected to Clay County in the Future. Ritchie County is also interested in an extension project to connect to Calhoun County.
February 12th, 2027 will be Calhoun County Day at the WV State Capitol and interested organizations or businesses should reach out to Commissioner Lupardus to determine if there is space for them to participate.
Under appointments to boards and authorities Commissioner Rush requested that he would be appointed to the Calhoun Solid Waste Authority as an individual for a four year term. Both Commissioners agreed after discussion that Lee Rush would be appointed.
Calhoun Roane LEPC Received a request to accept the resignation of Judy Brannon which was approved by the Commission.
County Clerk Whitney Butler provided a list of segregated duties for the three person staff of the Calhoun County Clerk’s office stating that a recent self audit of her office led to the discovery that there were things that were not being done now, nor by previous administration that needed to be done to maintain the integrity of the available information for the County Clerk’s office. Due to large quantity of monthly repetitive work, and the need to purge decades old documents that should have already been removed from he current filing, Mrs. Butler requested approval for the hiring of an additional Deputy. With regards to the voting precincts she has received numerous complaints where precinct information updated by the WV Secretary of State’s office was incorrectly done with many homes having residents living in the same house, voting in separate precincts. The new staff member would be hired at full time at $15.00 an hour.
President Lupardus questioned Mrs. Butler regarding the hire, saying that he would rather have a part time staff member and requested why she believed she needed full time in stead.
Mrs. Butler responded that a current member of her staff is looking toward retirement in the future and that while the new staff member would be helping to get the office up to date on unfinished State required tasks, there are certain tasks that the future retiree has been exclusively trained on. Having another staff member trained on those tasks is prudent to the consistency of a well informed office for the dispensation of public information. The Clerk’s office received negative comment during a recent audit because of the fact that there has not been segregated duties, which creates an issue when someone is unavailable. This would be one less issue regarding Calhoun’s future audits. Commissioner Lee Rush asked if another person would be hired after the retirement, to which Mrs. Butler said that would depend upon the circumstances at that time. Commissioner Craig Arthur stated that he believed the request made sense and made a motion to approve. It was seconded by Commissioner Lee Rush with all Commissioners in agreement. Commissioner Lupardus suggested future training which Mrs. Butler stated that there would be a State wide training in the future.
County Administrator Jennifer Randolph provided a budget report and requested a resolution approval of the following:
The Calhoun County Commission budgeted $625,000 for carryover but only had $541,768 due to putting $500,000 in the rainy day fund; an adjustment was made to that line and reduced expenses by the same difference ($83,232).
Permission was given by Commission to increase the elected officials’ salaries 5% per recent legislation and those amounts were already set aside in contingencies.
The County now plans to pay the wages for the 911 center staff directly from the 911 fund (previously paid from General County funds and were reimbursed by the 911 Fund). The same with the Assessor Valuation wages.
The total change to the budget was a decrease of $661,017. The total budget after the revision will be $3,470,121.
Under the Consideration of time keeping policy for County Employees, County Clerk Butler informed the Commission that there had been issues with the newly updated time keeping system with some employees clocking in early, and others not clocking in at all or late. The policy simply stated that staff would not be paid for hours prior to the 8:00 a.m. start time, and late clock ins or no clock ins would require supervisor approval for pay. The courthouse closes at 4:00 p.m. on regular hours and time past that would not be paid unless approved. The policy would set the standard for all staff requiring accountability for all staff. All offices that a choice of phone or computers for clock ins. The matter would be added to the employee handbook. Although elected officials are not required keep track of their time, Mrs. Butler stated that she, Sheriff Knight and Director Kelli Barr, although all were salary, did track their own time for accountability purposes.
Commissioner Lupardus requested that County Clerk Butler get with each office and make sure that there would be complete transparency regarding the new policy and allow feedback. He stated that each department had previously had the opportunity for input of the handbook and refused, but to move forward in a positive way, he believed the discussion should remain open and allow elected officials to run their office as they seen fit.
Consideration of a time keeping kiosk was recommended which County Clerk Butler had already looked into and the matter of security. The cost would be $928.12.
According to both Kelli Barr and Whitney Butler, “feathers had been ruffled” regarding time keeping, making accusations of tracking by having a portion of it on a mobile app on their own phones. The kiosk and the office computer logins would eliminate that.
COMMENTARY: In a world where transparency is needed and appreciated by tax paying citizens, Ridgeview News believes that the “ruffled feathers” should not be accepted or tolerated by any elected or appointed official. Mrs. Butler seems more than willing to work with any office when issues arise, requesting only a notification of the issue and the approval by a superior. This is the case in the world of private employment. Refusal to cooperate on something that is meant only to provide proof of hours worked, makes me wonder why? If it is expected by private companies, why should the government not expect it as well? I don’t believe it was ever about tracking staff, it was about tracking dollars.
County Clerk Butler is looking into the partiality grant funded purchase of a box trailer to safely transport election equipment on Election Day And to purchase a piece of equipment that will create a photo id voters registration card which can be used as a photo id for persons not having a drivers license.
