Calhoun Commissioners Tackle Multiple Issues During Monday’s Meeting

All three Calhoun County Commissioner’s were present at the Monday, February 10th, 2025 meeting opened following the pledge of allegiance and prayer by Commission President Craig Arthur.

Tina Persinger, Calhoun FRN Director reported to the Commission that a generator had been paid for and would be installed soon. The FRN currently officers a warming station should an outage or emergency arise in a Calhoun residents home that would require a temporary shelter. Mrs. Persinger also informed the Commission that the agency is creating a comprehensive plan for use of the Opioid funding and will be meeting with regional partners soon to determine how the funding will be spent. One purchase under consideration is a unit that will test drugs in a way that will not require officers to come into contact with the substance. Calhoun FRN contributes a great deal to the community and will be going to Washington, DC to present the Calhoun FRN program.

Kelli Barr, Director of Emergency Services reported for 911 telling the Commission that she had recently met for a work session with the Commission, Fire, Citizens, Magistrate, 911 Board and LEPC involvement. A Calhoun Roane LEPC Meeting will be next Wednesday at Roane General Hospital at 1 p.m.

Calhoun Park Board President Donnie Pitts reported to the Commission that the Park has the following upcoming events: “April Fools Bluegrass Festival,” an all day event with Bruce Jones and Rick Falls will be held on April 5th, 2025, The CCP Kite Festival will be in May, July 4th the Park will host their annual Independence Day Event and an event to honor all past and present volunteers is in the planning stages. The Park Board is planning an opening day event for the new Disc Golf Course which will also provide instruction for those interested in the sport. Mr. Pitts update the park renovation project to the upstairs which has seen the removal of the ceiling and insulation, examination of the rafters which proved safe and they’ll soon begin the installation of a new ceiling and flooring. The bathhouse project will move forward once a determination is made on whether or not they’ll have to pay prevailing wages. Those wages will likely prevent interest from local contractors. Bidding will begin soon for the new Tractor shed at the Park. The next meeting date for the Park Board will be be March 6th, 2025 at 6 p.m. New members are encouraged and welcome.

Sheriff Graham Knight reported to the Commission that there was no change in the number of home confinements. He then informed them that there was an issue with the previous Sheriff, Warren Basnett, who had made a fraudulent purchase of personal cell phones which resulted in the receipt of a collection notice from the cell phone company to the Calhoun Sheriff’s Department as well as the personal purchase of a bullet proof vest that was to be paid for by Mr. Basnett personally and had not been.

Little Kanawha Area Development Corp Director Shelia Burch reminded the citizens that the harsh winter has been difficult for many small businesses and encouraged residents to shop local when possible to help the businesses and the economy.

Commissioner Eric Lupardus asked Mrs. Burch if there had been any updates on the Arnoldsburg Industrial Area to which she stated there were no new updates. She did encourage small businesses to contact her for several loan funding options that her agency could offer saying that Calhoun had the highest number of monthly new businesses in the state twice in 2024.

The Commissioners received and approved the Calhoun Magistrate Court Audit report.

The Commissioners continue to move forward toward the hiring of an Administrator which will be housed in the Courthouse Annex, formerly the Jail. It was moved and approved that the purchase of a printer, computer and the installation of Starlink Internet would be made to place in the annex building for the Commissioners and the Administator. The Internet would also be used by the Sheriff’s Office, LKADC office and the Domestic Abuse Response Team as well as a back up for the Courthouse should their Frontier service go down. An attempt for Frontier and Shentel providers was made but after being placed on hold for 45 minutes, it was determined there was no interest by those companies. The lack of internet in the Annex Building created an issue with compliance for the agencies renting space in that building.

Shelia Burch asked if the Courthouse currently had an IT person and was informed that they are currently looking at service providers: GST Supplies, CWS as well as A&M Technology of Roane County.

Commissioner Jacob McCumbers advised that the cost of Starlink would be $1,499 for the equipment with a monthly cost of $140.00, motions were mad and passed to have the Starlink Service installed.

Four Courthouse Contractor Applicants were received and approved: Hardway Construction and Maintenance LLC, Small Town Buiilders LLC, Ray Shemp and RJ Farmer.

Pathfinder Land Surveying was appointed by the Commission as the County Surveyor due to the position not being filled during the 2024 General Election process.

Sheriff Graham Knight requested the consideration of the Commission for the use of the received Opioid money to purchase a dual purpose K-9 for the Calhoun Sheriff’s Department. Following the incident with the previous K-9 unit that was purchased with donations and then lost when a deputy left the county, Commissioner Jacob McCumbers advised that they should move forward cautiously when considering another K-9 to insure that something like that would not happen again. After considerable discussion a motion was made by Commissioner Eric Lupardus and approved by all that $26,000 would be pledged for 6 months from the Opioid funding for Sheriff Knight to find a suitable K-9 for the Sheriff’s Department. Sgt. Williams of the West Virginia State Police, a former K-9 officer was on hand to answer questions about the logistics of the purchase as well as training and care. It was also determined that before they moved forward Sheriff Knight would contact the Prosecutor for advice on creating an agreement on the ownership and possession of the dog.

Jacob McCumbers also suggested that 1-2 more deputies be added to the Sheriff’s budget due to the time requirements of Sheriff’s Department training and the fact that they are currently understaffed for the workload they’re experiencing.

A designation of the fourth floor left room for court security was passed by the Commission for the use of a holding cell, rather than the currently location in the Probation office.

Deputy Hannah Stephens provided the Commission and the Community with her current duty assignments for the Calhoun Sheriff’s Department. Deputy Stephens is also Dog Warden for the county which she said consumes a considerable amount of her time. She acknowledged the good work being done by the shelter committee, but currently without one she is required to find fosters for any dog taken into the custody of the Sheriff’s Department and because of that number, she has been unable to provide help with strays.

At the January 27th evening meeting of the Calhoun County commission meeting, a motion to remove Anita West from the Mt. Zion Public Service District Board was made and passed, but later determined to be procedurally incorrect. Commissioner Eric Lupardus once again made a motion to move forward in the removal of Ms. West which once again passed the Commission.

To facilitate the consolidation of the Town of Grantsville, Mt. Zion PSD and Pleasant Hill PSD, The commission voted to pay the approximately $300,000 owed by the water companies in bonds and with that payment lock all those water agencies involved into the consolidation with no option of backing out once those bonds are paid. The Water companies were instructed to provide an exact amount of the bond for payoff at the February 26th evening meeting.

Sheriff Knight addressed the Commission regarding an issue with Deputy C.R. Stevens pay, where he had signed a time sheet for Deputy C.R. Stevens to be paid time and a half for a holiday, but that rate was changed to regular time by Clerk Jean Simers. Mrs. Simers said that she contacted WV Wage and Hour who informed her that because Stevens was a WVDNR employee, and paid a holiday pay by them, he was not entitled to holiday pay from the County.

Sheriff Knight responded by saying that Stevens is a separate employee of the County, one pay rate had nothing to do with other, being that it was a entirely separate agency.

Commissioner Lupardus asked if Sheriff Knight was notified by the Clerk of the changes to which both the Sheriff and Clerk Simers agreed that he was not. Lupardus said that there seemed to be a communication issue, which the Clerk and Sheriff agreed once more, there was.

Commissioner McCumbers suggested that the Sheriff consider working holidays and have the Deputies shift days be transferred to a non-holiday. Sheriff Knight stated that he had worked many holidays and that his current hours were equivalent to two employees and he needed to be with his family as well.

The Commissioners determined that the WV State Auditors office would be contacted with regard to the wage question to determine how Deputy Stevens should be paid.

The County Commissioners appointed the following people to the LEPC Board: