Shari Johnson/Publisher
Crystal Laughlin Mersh set up The 1982 Foundation in August of 2021. A mere 7 months ago. Since that time there have been countless emails, more than a few public meetings, multiple questions both asked and answered, a few contentious conversations and many productive conversations. I recently followed an email thread between a few of the characters in play. I thought this to be important for the same reason I feel it’s important to cover any news in Calhoun County. It’s relative to a changing community and will be historically significant when the final decisions are made.
The characters in play are:
- Crystal Laughlin Mersh, President of The 1982 Foundation
- Michael Hicks, Calhoun County Commission President
- Kevin Helmick, Calhoun County Commissioner
- Matthew Walker, Calhoun County Commissioner
- Nigel Jeffries, Prosecuting Attorney
- Jeffrey D. Taylor, Attorney
- Patrick Morrisey, WV Attorney General
- Doug Buffington, Chief Deputy West Virginia Attorney General
- John Gray, Deputy West Virginia Attorney General
- Mitch Carmichael, Director of the Economic Development Authority
- and You, the citizens of Calhoun County
In the beginning process there were emails about the legality of The 1982 Foundation being a 501c3 and what their intentions were in the community. That all seemed to get cleared up relatively quickly. The 1982 Foundation is indeed a 501c3. (correction The Foundation’s 501c3 was filed with the irs in dec and is pending with the irs….the state approval has already been granted) As for their intentions and community interest, for those who participated in their community events, they are of the opinion that The Foundation wanted to be a community focused, service providing and economic boosting organization. The 1982 Foundation is a Non-Profit, and the Calhoun County Community Center will hopefully be a profitable venture that can feed into supporting the non-profit side, which brings this story to the contentious part.
The Calhoun Commission has expressed to have an open mind regarding the conveyance, but have failed to move forward on the matter. Following a request for Calhoun’s Prosecuting Attorney Nigel Jeffries to provide an opinion on the conveyance, Jeffries promptly responded with a letter on November 4th, 2021 (read full letter here)
In that letter Jeffries provided both code and discussion as to the question of the County Commission regarding conveyance to a ”private purchaser” without a public auction.
There was no additional question as to “any other viable solutions” to allow the conveyance of the property to happen.
Former resident and attorney, Jeffrey D. Taylor, wrote the Calhoun County Commission in a letter dated March 11, 2022, regarding the matter following conversations that he had with Patrick Morrisey, WV Attorney General Doug Buffington, Chief Deputy West Virginia Attorney General John Gray, Deputy West Virginia Attorney General and Mitch Carmichael, Director of the Economic Development Authority. From those conversations, Taylor was of the opinion that the property could be conveyed to the 1982 Foundation in the following manner:
“West Virginia Code 7-3-3 (b)(2) expressly permits a County Commission to sell or dispose of county owned property to the State of West Virginia or to another political subdivision. Accordingly, the Calhoun County Commission is permitted to convey (by sale or gift) the property in question to the State of West Virginia. The conveyance of the property from this would be to the West Virginia Economic Development Authority. This proposed conveyance would have to be reviewed and approved for acceptance by the West Virginia Board of Public Works. The economic development authority could then convey the property back to the 1982 Foundation, Inc. with the approval of Governor and the West Virginia Board of Public Works.”
No comment was made by the Calhoun County Commission as to whether or not they would look further into Taylor’s recommendation.
New Information added:
Correspondence from Prosecuting attorney Nigel Jeffries, sent to Attorney Jeffrey Taylor and Crystal Mersh:
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This matter is not only about the conveyance of the Wayne Underwood field, it also relates to community awareness that is at a high in Calhoun County. Through the community’s concern for the Wayne Underwood Field, they’ve become aware of the allowance of elected officials to be unaccountable to anyone for many years. Much of their decision making has occurred with little knowledge to most citizens. Not that it was being concealed, but rather, complacency in the community was the norm. Citizens had settled into the notion that positive change was not going to happen and there was little to nothing they could do about it.
But even so, things happened. Calhoun began to get attention from State officials, chatter was heard throughout the community that positive things were happening. Public meetings began to be attended, there is an excitement and most will attribute that to a lesson from Mrs. Mersh in socioeconomics. Community (social) conversations can change the economy.
This is certainly a developing story. Another lesson being learned is that you are never too young or old to get involved in the decisions of county government.
Video Created by ”Raising Houners”
The link to Mr Jeffries letter does not work.