The Clay County Commission met for their second regular monthly session Monday June 22, 2026. Two of the commissioners were present: David Schoolcraft and Duane Legg. Commissioner Joyce Johnson, also the president was absent due to illness. The first act of the day was to elect a president, pro tem, so the meeting could continue. Both commissioners still make a quorum so they elected David Schoolcraft for the day. County Clerk Shelia Stone acted as recorder.
The largest part of the meeting was the usual county business, approving: minutes from the previous meeting, bills, purchase orders, budget revisions, erroneous assessments as presented by the Assessor, fiduciary appointments as presented by the County Clerk, including: appointments of administrators, administratrix, last wills and testaments, and affidavits and waivers of final settlements.
They approved the WVCorp Renewal Proposal for 2026-2027 for the County just as they did for the Ambulance Service at the first monthly meeting.
They approved the Assessors 10% of dog taxes collection in the amount of $113.20, and approved putting $50,000 in a 7 month CD for the Ambulance Service.
As far as personnel goes, the commission approved the request of Clarissa Hanshaw to hire Krissie Walton as a part-time employee in the Circuit Clerk’s office. They approved the Ambulance Service request to hire Michael Willis as a full time EMB-B. And they approved the BDA’s request to remove a list of board members, including Laura McGinnis, Terry Smith, Mike Moles, Maria Moles and Michael Shamblin.
The commission reminded those present that the doors of the courthouse would be open next Saturday and the courtyard would be open for the public for Independence Day celebrations on June 27 (A week prior to the actual holiday) and that bathrooms would be available until Fireworks later that night. Vendors, musicians and more will line the streets and of course fireworks will be displayed after dark.
The commission then opened the floor to others and this reporter asked a question. What is the status of the old courthouse?
Commissioner Legg offered this response: “Tomorrow there is a public meeting here for input from the residents of the county and what they would like to see done up there. It has been digitally mapped. It has been surveyed. It has been drawn out. And we are now in the phase of deciding what to do with the building. If we want to redo the interior of it, or what. That is where we are at. Hopefully we will soon start on the necessary things that need done to make it usable for Clay County. It is not a fast process. It can be modified, but to make it useable for more than one floor it has to have an elevator and a fire escape. They have to be added to the outside of the building.”
I offered that the Clay County Historical Society was hoping to turn part of it into a museum and the commissioner gave me an unexpected response.
“The historical society does not own that building,” Commissioner Legg said, “And this is the mindset that has be, and has toclick with everybody. That building has to sustain itself. Clay County citizens cannot be footing the bill to put in a museum, pay the power bill or whatever. What ever goes in that building has to pay for power, has to pay for heating, for water – just like your home.” He mused: “A museum would never generate enough income to pay for it. If you think about it, other than historical artifacts, what is going to generate enough interest to draw people from outside of West Virginia.” As citizens in the room sat quietly absorbing this, he was on a roll, so he continued: “Another instance is the Swinging Bridge down at Elkhurst. There are people who say ‘Oh it would be such a great tourist draw.’ I can’t say that I have ever said, ‘Hey. Let’s drive six hours to go look at a bridge.’ I understand it’s a unique bridge, I’ve driven across it.” And it always comes down to cost. “I don’t know that the amount of money it would take to furbish and maintain that bridge is worth it. At one point is was over 300K to restore that bridge and now it is over a million dollars. And has to be inspected every year. Clay County cannot afford it. We don’t have a 50% tax base, and not something we want to pursue.”
From a purely financial point of view, I have to admit, Clay County cannot afford these: what seem ‘frivolous” things and I would have to agree with him. But.They are more than that. They are a part of history that got all of us here. Somethings, many would want to share with their grandchildren and great grandchildren. The Elkhurst bridge is the same architecture as the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco on a smaller scale. It is only one of two remaining in the entire Eastern United States. It does make perfect financial sense to do nothing and let time and age eat all these things up. Last summer we lost the Henry Clay Hotel to a fire. If we knew that was going to happen would we have tried to stop that, come together to restore it? Or would we just have said, our children don’t need this, it doesn’t matter. Would we have lit the match ourselves to eliminate a problem? These are important issues to think about.
The next regular Clay County Commission meeting is July 14, 2026.