At the regular County Commission meeting held on March 26, the commissioners agreed to give $50,000 to the Hamrick Public Service Commission for their project to upgrade their Water Plant, extend water to Location Road residents, and replace and repair failing hydrants and water lines.
These funds will come from the Coal Severance Reallocation Fund. It needs to be said that this fund, by law, can only be used for infrastructure projects. Michael Helmick, of the Hamrick PSD thanked the commissioners and stated that this would allow them to start the engineering process and become classed as “shovel ready”.
Commissioner Lowell Moore stated, “Tucker County has forty-five points from Region VII to designate to proposed projects in the county and we are giving the Hamrick PSD’s project 25 of them. We really want to show our support.”
The other points were designated as follows; five to the Thomas sewer system improvement; five to the Canaan Valley sewer system improvement; five to Pulp Mill Bottom storm water drainage system improvement; five to the Davis water system improvement.
Audrey Stevenson speaking for the Alpine Heritage Preservation requested funding in the amount of $1,983 for the Cottrill Opera House renovations.
The opera house has been generating a lot of interest and the preservation group would like to be able to capitalize on that interest. Bare Glass Media has expressed interest in holding some screenings in the theatre and they would like to work with the Tucker County Board of Education to possibly bring students into the theatre for the screenings.
The requested funds would promote accessibility to the upstairs of the opera house by providing a safe pathway for supervised tours of the upstairs of the theatre.
The commissioners agreed to take this request under consideration.
Stephanie Burns and seven students of HOSA (Health Occupation Services of America) presented a funding request of $4,000 to help send ten students to the National Convention in Orlando, Fla. this year the last week of June. Because of the distance, they will fly this year instead of driving. The funds requested will be used to assist with travel expenses and lodging.
The commissioners agreed to take this request under consideration. “We want to help,” said Moore. “We are proud of our kids in this county.”
The commission approved a resolution authorizing commission President Michael Rosenau to act on its behalf and enter into a contractual agreement with the Division of Justice and Community Services to receive and administer grant funds.
The board gave county clerk, Sherry Simmons approval to submit a preliminary budget to the auditor, and approval to accept a $16,000 grant to complete the shelving in the vaults.
In other business the commissioners accepted the official order for the Tucker County Board of Education Levy to be placed on the ballot.
Dr. Eddie Campbell said, “I would like to thank Sherry Simmons for the amount of time she put in at the Secretary of State’s office in Charleston and has continued to do over the last week for us. I express my thanks to her, but I want to make sure that all the folks understand the amount of work and time she has put in to this.” Campbell continued, “I probably owe her an apology for my lack of expertise in this particular field. She has been a God send to us at the school system to be able to make this a reality. We couldn’t be where we are right now if not for the work that Sherry did in the last few days.”
The commissioners approved the hiring of poll workers as presented by Sherry Simmons, county clerk, and agreed to place Henry Thompson, part-time worker at the animal shelter, into a new payroll account.
The next commission meeting will be on Wednesday, April 9 at 9 a.m. in the Tucker County Courthouse Courtroom