Don and Samantha Smith of the WV Press Association attended Wednesday’s county commission meeting to extend commissioners and their designees a formal invitation to attend the annual summer convention.
The annual convention will be held on a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in August in Canaan Valley. D. Smith stated that the association has a membership of 81 newspapers, and they are anticipating approximately 250 guests to attend the convention, including some legislators. Smith stated, “We will be encouraging those in attendance to get out and tour the county.” It is hoped that the beauty of our county will inspire stories that reporters will take with them and print in their local publications.
Roxanne Tuesing attended the meeting to read a letter on behalf of the Lewis A. Johnson Medical Center, the Tucker County VA Community Outreach Clinic and Tucker County Senior Citizens Inc. inviting the commissioners to the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the new Community Veterans Outreach Clinic to be held on July 7, 2014 beginning at 1p.m. Tuesing stated that a reception will be held in the senior center building following the ribbon cutting.
In other business, Karen Linton spoke on behalf of the Tucker County Parks and Recreation Board regarding the Hotel/Motel Grant application process. Linton stated that a copy of the requirements is sent with each application and that the reason most do not qualify is because they do not meet state code for recreational facilities or historic sites. The West Virginia code states that any recreational facility must be owned by a county or municipality and fall within the definition of recreational facility. To be considered as a historical site, the structure must be on eight the US National Register of Historic Places or have been designated a historic site by a local Historic Landmark Commission. Linton added, “People ask, why everything on the mountain is or why is everything in Parsons? I feel the projects were pretty well distributed this year. We did four countywide projects, five on the mountain, and three in the Parsons, Hambleton, Hendricks and St. George area.”
The commissioners had some questions about the process, but wanted input on the code from prosecuting attorney, Ray LaMora, who was unable to attend. The commissioners asked Linton, if some applications that did not qualify could be revisited if changes were made or definitions were met at a later date. Linton stated that that could be possible.
The request by the Tucker County Senior Center for use of the Health Department space garnered no action at this meeting.
Commissioners entered into executive session to discuss county property and personnel. Upon returning to regular session it was announced that no decisions had been made. There was no further discussion on these matters.
In commissioner reports, Lowell Moore stated that there seemed to be work going on in the Industrial park, Rosenau added that he has seen a large amount of gravel in that area and Diane Hinkle stated that the Tucker County Planning Commission would be discussing Public Transportation at an upcoming meeting.
The next regular meeting of the Tucker County Commission will be on Wednesday, July 9, 2014 at 9 a.m. in the Tucker County Courthouse Courtroom.