By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
Among the business heard, the Commissioners were given an update from Tucker County Sheriff Jacob “Jake” Kopec. The date for the Tucker County Tax Sale has also been set. “For the month of April we had one felony arrest,” Kopec said. “We had one person arrested for felony charges, one misdemeanor, one person arrested for misdemeanor charges, one misdemeanor sedation. Hazardous moving violations, two. Other traffic violations ticked issued, 13. Hazardous moving violations warning issued, 51. Other traffic violations warnings issued, 66. We had seven motorist assists. We had one vehicle crash, which generated an accident report. Felony cases fielded resulting in a police report were, two. Misdemeanor cases fielded resulting in a police report would be four. Other contraband confiscated, zero. One domestic violence petition served. As far as job tasks completed, 364. Calls for service either for 911 or walk-in resulting in police action, 152 and a mileage report puts the total miles traveled by the department vehicles patrolling 7,898. That’s the most we’ve ever traveled…So, that’s where the gasoline goes.”
Tucker County Commissioner Mike Rosenau said that the mileage is also where the protection to the community comes from. “Well, that’s where the protection goes, too,” Rosenau said. “People sees a police vehicle, you know, to me it’s really a deterrent. Possibly, if I was thinking of doing something shady, I would think twice just seeing a sheriff’s vehicle go by. Thank you for that.”
Kopec also said he likes to stay in touch with the local municipalities while on patrol. “And I went around yesterday and some of the municipal areas that have mayors, like Thomas and Davis, that have folks in the offices, I like to stop there and check with them to see if there is anything that their towns need. I stopped in and talked to Thomas yesterday, last week I talked to Davis. They’re doing fine. They had a couple of little concerns, but they wanted to thank us. They’ve seen a lot more police up there all the time, set up there with patrols.”
Kopec also informed the Commission that the date for the Tucker County Tax Sale has been set. “We do have one thing to report,” Kopec said. “We’ve received yesterday information on the tax sale. That will be June 27.” Kopec also said this year there has been extensive changes to the WV code regarding the tax sale. “So that’s going to be in June. So, if people haven’t paid their taxes for the year prior. Their property will be sold on the courthouse steps and its different now. There’s not going to be any 18-month grace period. Its sold. Once someone is able to obtain a deed for the property, they can immediately start applying for a deed for the property. The process usually takes a month to two months. That property is that person’s.”
Kopec also said that due to the change in the law regarding the time needed for a deed to transfer from the tax sale, the counties are seeing much higher bids on tax sale properties. Kopec attributed this to the more final nature of the sale the law has created. Kopec said that Boone County just had their sale and it was $300,000 more than before the new law went into effect. “What’s been reported is there’s been a lot higher amount of money being bid because people can now own a property a lot sooner,” Kopec said. “This could also be harmful to the public because, well I don’t want to say harmful, but people sometimes hesitate to think they have that 18 month grace period to pay off their taxes and they could be caught off guard this year because they’re not going to have that 18 month grace period…For the last year and a half, I’ve been doing my best to inform the public.”
Tucker County Commissioner Fred Davis commented on delinquent home owners in the Canaan Valley area. “Usually when they put in the paper who didn’t pay their taxes, most of it is in Canaan Valley,” Davis said. “And those people don’t live around here and they don’t know the law in West Virginia. How many of those homes will be lost because they don’t have that grace period?”
The Tucker County Commission will next meet Wednesday, May 24th at 6pm at the Tucker County Courthouse Courtroom.