Photo: Commissioner Craig Arthur and Chip Westfall, Sound & Light Project
Calhoun County Commissioners Matt Walker, Craig Arthur and Kevin Helmick (via phone) held their June meeting on Wednesday, June 14th, 2023 at 9 a.m.
Commissioner Walker opened the meeting by thanking the 911 staff who had “held down the fort” in the absence of a director until the appointment of Kelley Barr. He acknowledged that progress was made in the county with the Little Kanawha River Clean up, the 1982 Foundation work and the work on the Upper West Fork Park flooding issues.
Chip Westfall was first to address the Commission on behalf of the Sound and Light Project for the Calhoun Middle High School auditorium. He informed the Commission that Deirdre Purdy had been the heart and soul of the fundraiser, and had become very knowledgeable about the technical side of it and holding the companies accountable for which the committee is entrusting for the upgrades. The current income raised for the project is $25,000 total from Calhoun Banks, Minnie Hamilton and the Calhoun Commission, $27,000 from individual citizen donations, Calhoun Schools $10,000, PACF $15,000, and $20,000 from Speaker Roger Hanshaw, Senators Ben Queen and Patrick Martin. The amount needed to complete the first phase of the project is $130,000 for which the school will be provided with a better system than when the school was built according to Westfall. The Sound and Light organizers requested $30,000 from the Calhoun County Commission to complete the project. After this there is still an addition $70-80K to get the project where they want it. The new system will have a safe guarded equipment and operation room and lightening strike protection. Commissioner Helmick said that the Commission needed to aid in keeping the school up to standard and made the motion to provide the $30,000 with a second by Craig Arthur and all three Commissioner’s voting in favor.
An executive session was entered into at 9:10 a.m. and back out of at 9:22 a.m. regarding personnel matters, no action taken.
Kayleigh Kyle of the USDA, Rural partners network, introduced herself to the Commission and provided them with information about what her agency could provide for Calhoun County by dedicating time and resources in rural communities.
Julie Posey of the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation (PACF) also addressed the Commission and provided them material about what the PACF could help with in relation to grants and scholarships.
Sheriff Graham Knight reported to the Commission that Carl Ballengee, Interim Sheriff, was instrumental in preparing his office prior to him being appointed. Many things had been let go according to Knight but with the help of Ballengee and Prosecuting Attorney Nigel Jeffries things were getting back in order. The disarray of the case files will be reorganized with the help of Prosecutor Jeffries who has offered his help and has been in contact with Knight daily. Graham also commended Sheriff office staff Melissa Falls and Trevia Fulks for having been very helpful. They and Sheriff Knight have taken training on the Home Confinement system that is now up to the standards expected by the Calhoun Circuit Court and by the recommendation of the Prosecutor who has said it is a now a legitimate source of sentencing to be utilized. Through the training, Graham and his office staff can monitor home confinements and quickly be notified of violators. The county is being charged by the monitoring company for 12 boxes but do not currently have that many in use. Seven will be returned and removed from the county’s monthly bill. In another effort to save money, Sheriff Knight has stopped the radio installation on the second newly obtained cruiser because he believes there is enough current stock in the Sheriff Department to equip the other car. Jason Wilson of Minnie Hamilton EMS informed the commission and Sheriff that he had just sold an ambulance and had removed the radio from it, offering it to the County for use in the vehicle. The first of the new cruisers should be done next week which now bears “In God we Trust” on the rear of the cruiser. An AED will be installed in the cruiser as soon as it’s purchased. In his closing, Knight complimented the helpfulness of 911 staff and of the West Virginia State Police.
Matt Walker asked Sheriff Knight about the hold on the second car. Knight informed him that he had put a hold on the other sheriff car to get an estimate from a local agency for equipment. He further said that “For the money that was paid we thought it was turn key but that wasn’t the case. Miller was very understanding that the hold was put on.” As far as the additional equipment found in the old jail, the Sheriffs office will use what it can and send the remaining to Cabot Recycling with some equipment to be auctioned. Currently equipment being evaluated are 13 light bars and 9 radios. Joe Tanner attempted to put some radios together that were not very old, but the drives didn’t make it out of the cars that were previously sold, so many will be gotten rid of.
Kelley Barr, newly appointed 911/OES Director reported that the number of calls for each agency were as follows: Arnoldsburg VFD – 7, WVDNR – 3, Grantsville VFD – 10, Minnie Hamilton EMS – 101, Upper West Fork VFD – 7, WV State Police – 89. Barr also reported a smooth transition to her new post. The next 911 Board Meeting will be June 22, 2023 at 5 p.m.
Jason Wilson reported for Minnie Hamilton EMS that there were 13 ALS transports, 26 BLS transports, 2 calls canceled in route, 2 DOA’s, 18 Refusals, 1 Treated and transferred to Aeromedical, 2 calls placed on standby And 67 calls from 911 activity. Wilson said that this had been the busiest month so far with over 9,000 miles put on the ambulances.
Donnie Pitts, President of the Calhoun County Park Board reported that the old play structures had been removed and were in terrible condition. They are now starting the process of installing the playground equipment that had been donated by Sandfork School. The Park will once again be hosting an Independence Day event that will consist of Music, childrens activities and fire works.
Luke Peters of the Mid Ohio Valley Regional Council reported that the Calhoun County Park Bathhouse grant is now with the state for consideration.
Shelia Burch, Director of the Little Kanawha Valley Development Corporation encouraged the Commission to consider the Pioneer Network as a huge resource for local grant funding and to let her know if she could help to put any projects into their portal.
New business on the Commission’s agenda was a motion to accept the transition from EMS to Minnie Hamilton which passed with full Commission Support. Also under new business was the the Dark skies ordinance public hearing announcement which has been scheduled at the Grantsville Volunteer Fire Hall on August 3rd, 2023 at 6 p.m.
Commissioner Walker stated that the 1.2 Million dollars in ARPA funds were now in need of reallocation. Projects such as the water extensions would be looked at but there were considered to be too many time restraints. The mention of Minnie Hamilton for consideration was made but Walker also added that there were a lot of others to be considered and they were not going to make a quick decision.
Commissioner Craig Arthur continues to be in conversation with Speaker Hanshaw who is now in the process of setting up a meeting with the Governor’s Office and Ann Yearling to submit what Calhoun County would like to see accomplished.
Helmick also relayed that he was not ready to make any decisions.
Crystal Mersh of the 1982 Foundation asked the Commission in regards to the allocation of funding if there are certain matches that the Commission was considering as a driving force? “Speaker Hanshaw has bent over backwards to help us and attention to his recommendations should be considered,” she said.
Matt Walker noted that he did think that it is necessary and was aware of the time restraints on the projects.
Mersh also asked how much funding was necessary for the Annamoriah and Munday Road extension projects, which Craig Arthur responded that those projects totaled $3.8 million from an engineering study done in 2023. She plead with the Commission to not allow the opportunity for matching funds to be missed.
Craig Arthur commented on behalf of the Commission that they needed to do a better job at looking at what the County has or needs addressed so that issues such as those faced with the delays in the Norman Ridge project don’t happen again.
A project that commissioner Matt Walker has been involved with is now back into consideration as the DNR and the county work to create two Public stream Access Points.
Walker said that he had been working diligently with Nic Taylor at the DNR and had narrowed two locations down; one being the City of Grantsville at the City Park and the other being a private land owner at Cabot Station. An agreement between the county and DNR is being considered which will put the county in charge of the river access points for 20 years. A Motion to agree to accept the public stream access process between the Calhoun county commission and the WV Department of Natural Resources was made and passed.
A Capitol Asset policy was on the agenda as a result of the State audit recommendation. County Clerk Jean Simers said that it was a basic policy that defines what are capital assets for the county and how they’re categorized. The County will categorize anything purchased over $17,000 and have a list for future audits.
Those in the county who have worked hard for the care of animals and have had a great concern regarding the fact that Calhoun has not had an Animal Shelter available when needed will be happy to hear that the Commission has now approved the purchase of a parcel of land located centrally on Mount Zion for the use of an Animal Shelter. The property is approximately 5 acres with a poll building that can be used for the shelter as well as a house and trailer on the property that could possibly be used. The commission voted and unanimously approved the purchase.
Walker said that he would like to set up a future meeting with parties involved to move forward. Crystal Mersh spoke saying that the Boot Strap Organization had applied for a grant for medication and kennels for an animal shelter.
The Calhoun Solid waste authority’s request for monthly funding to assist until a large grant comes through was for the amount of $3014.40. Motion approved by all three commissioners.
Personnel items on the agenda were addressed with the hiring of Richard Dye as custodian for the courthouse effective in May 2023 and the move of Trinity Yeager from part time to full time at 911. Motion approved.
Two appointments were made for board of authorities, the first being Robin Hughes, appointed to replace Shelia Burch on the Mt. Zion PSD board and for Sharon Pitts to be appointed to the Calhoun Library board. Both appointments were approved.
