Calhoun Commission Meeting – First with Commissioner Roger Propst

Monday, November 13th, 2023 was the first meeting of newly appointed Commissioner Roger Propst who began the meeting by thanking his Commissioners Arthur and Helmick for the professional process that was followed to the letter of the law leaving him as “last man standing,” and the newest Commissioner. 

Propst told those in attendance that he was honored to serve and aware of the great challenges before him, but also believed there would be great opportunity with transparency front and center. All business will be conducted in open session unless there is no other choice but executive session. 

His first order of official business was to call attention to two areas of importance. The first being the posting of the Commission meeting agenda, which for months has only been done on the porch bulletin board with a very limited audience for viewing. Propst read the ethics opinion on the matter which said that “The only requirement is posting the meeting agenda in a central place and by having copies available in regular businesses hours in the County Clerk’s office. The clerk may distribute agendas by mail, email or web. While encouraged, it does not invalidate a public meeting.”

“We need to do more than what satisfies the law,”he continued. “There is no reason that press in our county should not have the agenda. I plan to do that on a monthly basis.” 

The second matter he wanted to bring to the attention of the people was how specific must a agenda be. “Vague heading are insufficient.” Speakers and what they’re discussing should be clearly listed. Commissioner Propst that that he was looking forward to working on the budget with his fellow commissioners and working to rid the county of dilapidated buildings. “I’m the rookie, I may have questions and need clarification, and I’m ready.”

The first to speak under Delegations was Dr. Mark Sarver of Glenville State University.

Sarver’s recommendations was for the Elected officials to:

• Make zoning and the implementation of an Unsafe Housing Ordinance a priority
• Implement an Unsafe Housing Ordinance
• Implement a tax fee structure for abandoned and dilapidated properties.
• Market to Contractors regarding opportunity
• Consider using Little Kanawha Area Development Authority
• Partner with a non-profit to expand apprenticeship programs for contractors
• Identify opportunities to expand infrastructure. 

Some of the issues that Mr. Sarver noted that the Commission would face would be:

• Property that had gone heirship with multiple, possibly hundred of heirs, furthering the difficulty of selling the property.
• A history of land hoarding in many WV Counties. Research done by the Appalachian Land Ownership Task Force shows that Absentee owners, Corporations and Government agencies controlled at least 53% of the total land surface in 1978-1981. 
• There is currently a lack of Contractors
• There is also a lack of infrastructure necessary to develop housing areas such as public water, sewer and broadband. 
• Zoning is in place that addresses the Dark Skies Ordinance and has the structure in place for building codes. Investors and purchasers want to make sure their investment will be protected. The Town of Grantsville has a set of comprehensive zoning codes but they currently do not enforce them. 

Sarver informed the Commission that Calhoun has significantly more occupants in rental housing than the national average. There are almost four times as many residents living in mobile homes than the national average and that new residents since 2021 are almost five times as likely to move into a rental house than owner occupied. In Calhoun County 25% of the homes are now vacant. According to the research Sarver said that the current demand for housing in Calhoun County is 20-25 units per year in the next 5 years. That number increases in Gilmer County to 35-50 houses needed annually. 

Dr. Sarver added that by implementing a free for home left vacant, owner would be encouraged to get occupants in the homes or tear down unsuitable housing which would increase property values.

Mt. Zion resident Ari White asked if the fee structure would incentivize destruction of perfectly good homes? Dr. Sarver’s response was that the fee had proven effective in the communities that had introduced it

Business Woman Crystal Mersh asked if migration was driving the reason for new homes being needed for which Sarver answered that people were also moving back home as well as wanting out of high traffic areas. “People like small towns,” he said. 

Melissa O’Brien, now representing  City Net as their local liaison brought an update to the commission on the progress of the Roane EDA Project for which Calhoun is apart of. The project will serve about 450 Calhoun residents and is $22 million dollar project at no cost to Calhoun. She provided a map (as seen below) that shows the coverage areas. The blue will be covered by City Net, the gray areas by Frontier Communications and the White areas are either already covered or are too sparse to be efficient. 

Hortz Motz who has struggled with Frontier service for many years questioned Ms. O’Brien about why Frontier was permitted to provide inadequate service that they were capable of changing such as an increase in the internet speed at his home that came following a complaint. 

O’Brien informed Mr. Motz that because she was the competitor of Frontier she could not answer his question but that he should be aware there are regulations that they have to turn in their speed every so often and if not they’ll suffer penalties or have to pay money back from funding sources. 

Carl Ballengee spoke for the Christmas Parade Committee to inform the Commission that the Christmas parade continues getting larger which they would like to see it continue. This year they’ve added a light post display contest to the home decorating contest. The theme of the 2023 event is Musical lights and magical nights”. The parade depends on donations, for which Ballengee requested a donation from the Calhoun Commission to buy prizes and other things for the parade. 

Commissioner Helmick informed Mr. Ballengee that it couldn’t be voted on because it wasn’t on the agenda to which Ballengee stated that he had attempted to get it on the agenda but couldn’t get in touch with Jean Simers, County Clerk on the day prior to the deadline for such matters. The Commission agreed to hold a special meeting to provide a donation prior to the parade. 

Kelly Barr, 911 Director reported to the commission that her agency is continuing their training and have had a very busy month. In addition, wildfires are up across the State, which included a Gilmer County Fire that Arnoldsburg assisted on where firefighters fought a forest blaze for 20 hours. She reported that she had taken and passed a G273 class and was planning to hire a couple of part time people at the 911 center.

Jason Wilson, EMS Director of Minnie Hamilton Health System reported to the commission that the ambulance service had 100 run sheets for the month of October as well as EMS chart accounts. He told the Commissioners that he was looking into a continual issue of refusals being a high number of runs in the course of their service. Of the 100 runs in October, 23 had come through as refusals. The number of patients represented in that series of refusals was 9, causing a question as to why they had such repetition. One event was the same patient calling and refusing three times in a 48 hour period. Wilson is attempting to address the issue with Community medicine to provide education to patients.  

Another matter of concern for Wilson was comments heard in the community regarding Emergency crews not responding with lights and sirens. Wilson explained that the use of lights and sirens made very little difference in arrival time and increased the possibility of accidents along the route, therefore it was intentional that the lights and sirens were not in use. 

A second community complaint had been heard regarding the first response vehicle, for which Mr. Wilson drives, having been left running while he attended meetings and events. This is due to the fact that there are medicines in the vehicle that must remain a certain temperature. Due to weather variation, the van remains on with climate control. 

Minnie Hamilton EMS Fiscal report 2022, financial audit, was provided to the Commission. 

Sheriff Graham Knight reported that there were currently 13 defendants on Home Confinement which brought in $3800 this past month home confinement fees. He has ordered an additional 15 new boxes for more people being assigned to the system.  

Sheriff Knight further reported that both cruisers were now completed, he would need to do a budget revision of an additional $60,559.19 for the hiring of Anna Stevens as deputy and would look to transfer funding again in the future to cover uniforms and other needs as his department grows. He provided a list of equipment need to the Commission. 

Shelia Burch of the the Little Kanawha Area Development Corporation spoke to the commisioners, encouraging them to look further into the ordinances of dilapidated structures for the purpose of receiving grant funding.  Roane currently has an ordinance which she will provide examples of to the Commission.

Image used with permission from The Metro News

Mrs. Burch reported that Calhoun County is currently 20th in the State on new business development. She also brought attention to a new business in Clay County that may directly effect Calhoun with job at the CM12 Civil Military Institute. Officials with the Civil-Military Innovation Institute also known as “CMI2” broke ground Wednesday in Clay County on the first permanent structure at the company’s testing ground on a former mine site. The structure will be a facility which will allow for those who travel to the site for testing to stay in and operate during their stay.

Mt. Zion resident, Danielle Wilson, spoke at length to the commission as an advocate for the concerns of citizens in the vicinity of the site recently purchased by the Calhoun Commission for the location of an Animal Shelter. The property located a short distance down Country Lane on Mt. Zion is in a highly populated area, including Mrs. Wilson’s family. She accused the Commission of secretly planning the purchase and questioned who might have benefited from the sale of the property. Wilson told the Commission that the shelter was voted on and determined without public notification and without the disclosure of where it would be located until after the purchase was made. 

Commissioner Helmick denied that fact saying that the Commission had disclosed the location. However, looking back on the meetings of the past several months, the only mention prior to their purchase as at the June Commission meeting when it was said the property was being considered and was located in the area of Mt. Zion. But no disclosure was made until Ridgeview News messaged then Commissioner Matt Walker (who apparently brokered/organized the deal with Scott and Angela Ferrell, property owners. Walker told Shari Johnson, via email where the property was located and an article was then posted on the Ridgeview News. It was not until that time that Wilson and others in the neighborhood discovered what had transpired. 

Mrs. Wilson’s major concern is her autistic child and the reaction he has to noise. She believes that the location of the Shelter will be detrimental to her son’s health and has offered to buy the property, allowing the Commission to look for a more suitable location. 

Judy Hall, who also lives in neighborhood expressed concern about the noise, dangers of animals getting loose and the smell that would plummet property values. The Commissioners agreed to look further at the situation. Helmick saying that once the board gets created, the money and funding will be determined. He said that it was Matt Walker who had brought Ritchie County Animal Shelter staff to view the property who said it was suitable. However it has now been determined that it may not have passed inspection and that no one was aware of the sale strategies, except Matt Walker. Helmick also said that he didn’t “think Matt meant for it to be a secret.”

Business Eric Lupardus thanked Danielle for bringing it to the public’s attention and asked the Commission if maybe the industrial park would be a possible location. 

When pressed further on the matter Commissioner Helmick said “I want to represent people who represent me.”

An  EMS salary enhancement fund was established and passed. Fund 323 is a separate fund 

for an Opiod settlement the county had entered into.

Mt. Zion PSD resent audit was questioned by Commissioner Roger Propst to determine if action had been taken to correct matters that were flagged in the report. Ari White, Mt. Zion P.S.D. Board President said that the report was not “light reading,” but from what he had determined, the issue was a reoccurring theme with organization in the county that were small and division of responsibilities were complicated. 

Commissioner Propst said that the Commission would work with the Mt. Zion PSD and others to have good water and a good rate structure.   

Commissioner Helmick had spoken with the water operator and the transmission has gone out on the truck that the Mt. Zion PSD was requesting a replacement for. He also noted that he was told it had not had a sticker for 5 years. 

Shelia Burch spoke up and said that  the consolidation of the psd’s would allow a better range of accountability and putting all those psd’s together with more staff. She said that she did not know where the Consolidating plans were at, but Charlotte Lane was willing to come to the county and speak to the PSD’s regarding the consolidation. 

Ari White responded that he had found that consolidation could multiple rather than solve problems.

A request by the Calhoun Composite Squadron Civil Air Patrol to hold a Wreaths Across America ceremony was accepted and passed by all Commissioners. 

Alice Holmes of the Calhoun Music Conservatory  updated the commission on her roofing issues which the Commission had, at last month’s meeting, contributed  $2,000 to having done. Mrs. Holmes said that she had the contractor look at her roof again and it needed an additional $6,000 in repairs. She requested the addition amount but it was delayed by the Commission. She also agreed to provide a copy of her 501c3 to the Commission to be put on file.

Commissioner Propst questioned as to whether her property was owned by the non profit or her personally. Mrs. Holmes responded that she was informed it was okay if a building was privately owned, (which hers was) if the non profit received financial help for the building, leaving it up to the commission to determine what the lease should be for approval of funding. 

Roger told her that people have questioned their decision and that the Commission needs to look into the legality in giving money in this manner.  

Commissioner Craig Arthur, who attended by phone, was under the same opinion as Roger Propst that the commission should seek legal advice before entering into any further agreements of assistance for non profits. This included the Grantsville Lions Club as well and both matters were tabled.

Mt. Zion PSD requested $58,000 in funding for a truck to replace their current service truck. The Commission approved up to $60,000 to cover the current bidding on some online options. Once that is done the Commission will consider other funding requests by Mt. Zion totaling $18,000 for a box trailer and costs of two recent audits. 

Helmick told the Mt. Zion PSD that they did not currently have a copy of the County’s financials and would have to receive those before determining how much the county could commit. 

Anita West  of the West Fork Park requested $2,500 once again for the purchase of gifts and food baskets during the Christmas season. The request was approved. 

Teresa Overton, organizer of the Calhoun County Animal Shelter Project that has been a part of the 1982 Foundation’s Boot Strap Project for many months, spoke to the Commission about the progress made their group in work toward establishing a committee to oversee the Animal Shelter.

The group is working toward establishing a 501c3 giving them nonprofit status and getting registered with the WV Secretary of State’s office. In addition they are working on a mission statement and bylaws.

The group presented a list of names and titles to be held to the Commission for consideration:

• President, Teresa Overton
• Vice President, Tessa Batten
• Secretary, Jane Carpenter
• Treasurer, Jason Cunningham
• Rescue Coordinator, Patty Laughlin
• Fundraising Coordinator, Melissa West
• Grant Writer, Jim Morgan

and at the recommendation of Kevin Helmick, Danielle Wilson was added as the Community Liaison.

The question is still on the table as to what role the Calhoun County Commission will play in the Operation of the Calhoun County Animal Shelter, whether as oversight or financial as well.

Ms. Overton told the crowd that many volunteers will be needed and she encouraged everyone, especially the Commissioners to attend the organizational meeting on Wednesday, November 15th at 6:00 p.m. in the Calhoun County Library.