Commissioners Craig Arthur, Jacob McCumbers and Eric Lupardus met Tuesday, June 10th, 2025 at 6 p.m. in the Little Courtroom for the regularly scheduled meeting. Following the Pledge of Allegiance, Commissioner Craig Arthur opened with prayer before calling the meeting to order.
Calhoun resident Hortz Motz spoke to the Commission during the delegation time, requesting information on how the water rates were configured when billing above the base amount. According to his billing statement Pleasant Hill charges $17.70 per thousand for the first 2,000 gallons and not less than 35.00 (approximately) as the minimum for a 5/8 inch meter. While he understood the minimum charge he requested to know if the gallons above the minimum of 2,000 were prorated for each 100 gallons.
Mr. Motz also stated that he was pleased to say he had ran across Intel Engineering who were checking the poles for Frontier communication in his area, and was informed that they are expecting to have fiber in about 3 months for the Frontier company. Motz described a recent incident of a 24 hour period where he had lost his land line, internet and electric and was unable to communicate with anyone.
Gayle Ford was second to speak requesting information on the $10.00 service fee charged by the Town of Grantsville, which is a municipal matter and requested information on the services offered by the WV Department of Health. The Commissioners responded by stating that they would assist him in getting that information.
Tyler Ohrn, Field Representative for Congresswoman Carol Miller addressed the Commission with an offer to help the County when needed.
A Public Hearing was held for two Calhoun County Ordinances, that of Dilapidated Structures and and Salvage Yards. Commissioner Lupardus presented copies of the newly revised ordinances for both the Calhoun Chronicle and The Ridgeview News.
Resident Ed Lott expressed concern on the penalties of residents having an unauthorized Salvage yard being a $50 a day fine and was concerned that the Dilapidated Structures Ordinance should read more about health and safety than how it looks.
Changes can be made on the ordinances until the 23rd of June, 2025 when the final reading will occur. Commissioner Lupardus commented that it has “been a blessing to have the legal assistance of County Attorney’s Harris and Holmes” in putting together the legality information for the ordinances.
With only one entry for the logo contest, the Calhoun Commission have decided to wait until the coming school year to allow more design entries by school children.
On the agenda was the Consideration of investing in the Board of the WV Treasury, however the Commissioners determined that they would rather keep any investments on the local level and would continue to use Calhoun Banks who is a vital part of our community.
The Upper West Fork Park made a funding request to continue updates and renovations. The Park Board appeared by phone, having been in a board meeting themselves, stating that they had already remodeled the Sycamore room, sidewalks, upgraded bathrooms and hope to do more. Work had also been done on the playground, and basketball court, and bleachers had been built. The stated that they would like to finish the basketball court, ceiling tile in the park building, acoustical tiles, and put fencing around the new basketball court which has been elevated to be out of the floodplain. Eric Lupardus made a motion for the Upper West Fork park to receive $17,465.25 in previously allotted and unused park fund from a West Fork project, and pull the additional $9786.71 from the Parks and Recreation Fund for this project. The motion passed. The commission will give the $17,465.25 to the park prior to June 30th, 2025 so that the money can be expended the same fiscal year it was allotted.
Under Reports Commissioner Jacob McCumbers reported on a recent Mid Ohio Valley Health Department Meeting. The Little Kanawha Area Development Corporation Director, Shelia Burch discussed loan processes and new businesses opening in the area. Shelia was contacted by Fairmont State University on a project collaboration and the LKADC continues to explore local properties and business opportunities
Commissioner McCumbers also reported on his attendance of the Calhoun County Park Board meeting, who are currently looking for new members. The park board has been working on new buildings and ideas, fencing around baseball field and recently hosted the Overlanders Off Road Group where around 11 vehicles enjoyed the park and were provided a meal by Park Staff. Mike Richards was elected as a new board member, who has already put in several hours of work for the park. Upcoming Park events will be an Appreciation board dinner on August 30th, 2025. Hope Gas is volunteering staff and equipment to fix the tee boxes for the new disc golf. A Star party will be held on July 3rd, with the Park’s Independence Day fireworks and music on July 4th. During that event there will be waterslides for the kids. The recent Bluegrass event netted $700.00 in profit for the park and a donation was made but he Oshoway family for allowing the use of the park for their annual Egg Hunt.
Commissioner Eric Lupardus reported on the Wood Festival event stating that the festival went well and that he appreciated the volunteers who put on the event. He also congratulated the newly elected Mayor, Recorder and Council members for the Town of Grantsville.
Commissioner Lupardus reported that American Medicine will be hosting an event on June 25th, 2025 with businesses, medical professionals and political leaders from across State attending to receive an update on where AMC is at. With an estimated 38 million in salaries coming into Calhoun if the AMC facility is placed in Calhoun this is an exciting time for our community.
During the Wood Festival Commissioner Lupardus met with the Overlander’s group, speaking with Jedediah Smith who is interested in assisting with grants for back road events.
Commissioners Lupardus and Arthur as well as County Administrator Jennifer Randolph attended a three day conference. Commissioner Lupardus said that he believes the “sky’s the limit” for Calhoun County with the many changes that are being made. Recently Senator Ben Queen visited the Calhoun Commission office as well as others and the ability to have one on one conversations with State Officials shows that there are things happening for Calhoun in West Virginia Government.
Commissioner Arthur commented on the Wood Festival as well saying that Calhoun has a “ton of good hearted people who put in a lot of work an go unrecognized and that he wanted them to know he was appreciative. The 1982 foundation gave out ride wrist bands for the festival and he. Was proud of the progress that Calhoun has made, believing we’ve made great strides in changing the mindset of the people to understand it’s not about politics, it’s about the county.”
Commissioner Lupardus added that it was good to see Police and Emergency services working together for the Festival to keep everyone safe.
Sheriff Graham Knight reported that the new Civil service board had met and it looks to be that good things are coming out of it. Knight informed the Commission that rather than looking to purchase a Canine which would cost about $26,000, his department would like to purchase a testing and analyzation tool for narcotics to be able to identify the chemical compounds. Knight believes that this would eliminate the safety factor of touching substances and will bring a cost amount to the Commission for consideration.
Sheriff Knight has recently looked through several pieces of outdated equipment that his department would be unable to use and would like to provide the equipment to the Calhoun Gilmer Career Center Criminal Justice Class. This included the possibility of an automobile the Sheriff’s department has been unable to sell. He believes it would be a good vehicle to outfit for the Career Center Students to practice traffic stops, etc. and that the encouragement will hopefully cause some of the students to consider law enforcement as a career.
The Commission thought the idea was excellent with Commissioner Lupardus adding that the “Calhoun Gilmer Career Center students are the workers of America” and he was excited to see their programs.
Hortz Motz, Calhoun School Board Member as well as being on the Career Center board, expressed that the Career Center is their for a purpose and would no doubt appreciate the help.
Shelia Burch, Director of the LKADC reported to the Commission that she is trying to get the Stem Program up and running so that the AMC will have a viable workforce. They will soon take ownership of the BF Goodrich building which will require considerable assessment and work. Burch encouraged folks to shop local as the economy continues to struggle and announced another new local business, Hardway Heating and Cooling.
The following calls were reported by Calhoun 911
Although Kelli Barr, 911 Director was not present for the Commission Meeting, Commissioner Lupardus reported the previously reported number of calls that the WV State Police had made in May was inaccurately reported due to the 911 center not receiving every call that the WV State Police are on. Both Calhoun 911 and the WV State Police in Charleston dispatch calls. The Calhoun 911 Center only had access to their own data. Leaving several calls uncounted on their register. Last month’s WV State Police call were reported in the 70’s by Calhoun 911, when in actuality the number of calls was 188. The number of calls for May for the WVSP was 242. Ridgeview will request the State police numbers from their office so that an accurate count is reported.
Another issue with Calhoun 911 is the inactivity of the 911 Board. A board required by the WV State Code to be active and members appointed through the Calhoun County Commission. Commissioner Lupardus took action on this matter last night to nominate the following new members to the 911 board:
- Marlan Zwoll (Community Member)
- Dana Godfrey (Community Member)
- Josh Hand (Community Member)
- Jenna Jett (Community Member)
- Carl Brannon (Fire)
- Sheriff Knight ( Law Enforcement)
- Brent Barr (other emergency service)
- Jason Wilson (emergency medical provider)
- Eric Lupardus Commission
- Kelli Barr Ex-Officio
Other Board Appointments were as follows:
- Bruce Jones – Pleasant Hill PSD Board
- Jason Firestine – Mt. Zion PSD Board
- Samantha Hicks – Calhoun Library Board
All the above members were appointed by the Calhoun County Commission.
The Calhoun Commission approved the application of a REAP grant which would provide $100,000 in funding to purchase much needed doors, security cameras and a forklift for the Cabot Recycling Station.
