Tucker County Clerk Sherry Simmons receives a Records Management and Preservation Grant in Charleston in March. The $9,409 will be used to digitize plat books and restore, rebind and encapsulate land books. Pictured are Senator Dave Sypolt, R-Preston; Simmons; Governor Earl Ray Tomblin; and Senator Bob Williams, D-Taylor.
CHARLESTON – Governor Earl Ray Tomblin announced the awarding of $708,875 in grant funds to recipients in 41 West Virginia counties in mid-March. Funding was allocated in the form of State Development Grants, Survey and Planning Grants, and Records Management and Preservation Grants, and three of those grants totaling $31,009 were granted to projects in Tucker County.
“The Mountain State is full of records, archives, and landmark structures that play an important role in defining our state’s history,” Tomblin said. “Together, this grant funding will help enhance access to public records and maintain historic infrastructure around the state – ensuring stories of West Virginia’s past are preserved and able to be passed down for generations to come.”
The Records Management and Preservation Grant Program is administered through the Records Management and Preservation Board and includes projects to improve management, storage conditions, access, and preservation of public records held in county offices. Funding for the grants program comes from filing fees collected by county clerks and deposited in the special Public Records and Preservation Account.
The Tucker County Commission was one of the recipients of Records Management and Preservation Grants, for $9,409 to digitize plat books, and to restore, rebind and encapsulate the assessor’s copies of land books in the county clerk’s office. Tucker County Clerk Sherry Simmons traveled to Charleston on March 18 for a reception and grant awards ceremony in the Governor’s Office.
Simmons said the announcement of the award was made by Director Joseph Geiger Jr., of the Division of Culture and History. She said the digitized plat cabinets and restoration, rebinding and encapsulating of land books will improve the management and preservation of the records for the benefit of all Tucker County residents.
“Our plats record documents of the earliest land holders in the rural areas of our county,” Simmons said. “Maps show the development of our county’s cities, towns and unincorporated communities.”
Simmons was commended for her efforts to enhance access to Tucker County’s public records. The improvements will provide better government service to constituents interested in the business and historical transactions of county government.
“A variety of county plats were chosen to be rehabbed because of their frequent use and fragile condition,” Simmons said. “They are widely used by the public for local deed work, history and genealogy. We assist persons seeking the origin of street names and trace neighborhoods that were once farmland or heavily forested lands, which are now homeowner associations, towns or developments.”
Simmons said converting records into an electronic format through document imaging creates options. Public records are now available for search and retrieval by the general population.
“It is a labor of love when I write a grant,” Simmons said. Records management is a key driver of operational efficiency and offers significant business benefits. Implementing an effective records management program with digitizing records creates more value from a county government information asset while mitigating the risks associated with litigation, research, and disaster. I will continue the records preservation for the betterment of Tucker County.”
Other grants received for Tucker County projects were through the State Development Grant Program. It is for the rehabilitation of properties that are either listed on the National Register of Historic Places or are contributing properties in a historic district or/and archaeological development of a site listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The funding source for this grant program is appropriated by the West Virginia Legislature, through lottery funds. Recipients of these grants include the Alpine Heritage Preservation, $12,600 to assist with truss repair on the Cottrill’s Opera House in Thomas and W. Blaine McVicker, $9,000, to assist with the roof on the Duncan Funeral Home in Davis.
