By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
The Commission passed a resolution supporting and funding with matching funds the Local Economic Development Grant Program. Tucker County Commission President Mike Rosenau read the resolution into the record at the Commission’s meeting.
The resolution outlined the availability through the state of $31,818 in grant funding for Economic Development. The grant also required matching funds from the Tucker County Commission. “Whereas the West Virginia Department of Economic Development through the efforts of the Legislators of the State of West Virginia is again making funding available in the amount of $31,818 to be matched with local funding from the Tucker County Commission through the Local Economic Development Grant Program,” Rosenau read.
The resolution allowed the County to apply for the Local Economic Grant Program funds for fiscal year 2024. The funding, if approved, will be utilized to assist in economic development in Tucker County. The resolution also designated the Tucker County Economic Development Authority as representatives in accordance with grant guidelines and requirements. The resolution was unanimously approved in a motion made by Rosenau.
The Tucker County Commission also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Regional Task Force. The MOU signed was in regards to the opioid settlement funding. The MOU involves six counties in the area: Randolph, Tucker, Upshur, Lewis and Barbour. “This Memorandum of Understanding is made and entered into between the following political subdivisions: namely Randolph County, Tucker County, Upshur County, Lewis County, Barbour County and referred to as Parties,” Rosenau said.
According to Rosenau, the opioid settlement involves a regional component that the MOU is a part of. Rosenau said that for Tucker County to have a voice in how the regional moneys were distributed, the Commission needed to sign the document. “What this is, the opioid settlement has various things,” Rosenau said. “There’s a regional funding mechanism. So, in order for us to participate in and have a say in where the regional money goes, we need to participate in this.”
According to Rosenau, the MOU has no effect on how local funding is distributed or paid to the County. “It doesn’t affect our local funding coming into our county,” Rosenau said. “Its just the Regional funding with the opioid.” The MOU was approved in a unanimous motion made by Rosenau.
In other business related to the opioid settlement monies, the County Commission established a new bank account for the Opioid fund. While Tucker County Clerk Sherry Simmons said the County had not received any guidelines regarding specifics with the funds, the County was directed to establish the account as a first step towards receipt of the funds. The Commission was also informed by Simmons that a total of three accounts would need to be established. “We have to establish them,” Simmons said. “That is the first step. We have three bank accounts that we need to get processed.”
Also addressed at the meeting, Tucker County Administrator Shiela DeVilder informed the Commission of a recent grant the County had applied for to update the Courthouse HVAC system. “We applied for a grant for the HVAC system,” DeVilder said. “It will be in a phase.”
According to DeVilder, the County received the first phase grant and work on the new system will begin in 2024. “The first phase of it that we applied for, we recently got notified that we were awarded the grant. So, we will be starting that next year for the Courthouse facilities,” DeVilder said. “So, the Courthouse will start on the installation of a new HVAC system.”
In other business, Steve Leyh was appointed to the Region VII Board of Directors by the Commission. The motion was made by Tucker County Commissioner Fred Davis and unanimously approved.
The next meeting of the Tucker County Commission will be held December 13 at 9 a.m. at the Tucker County Courthouse Old Courtroom in Parsons.