By Gary Lee Stuber
Two gentlemen from ZMM Architectural Firm, Adam Krason and Nathaniel Spencer, gave a presentation before the Clay County Commission during their latest meeting regarding an update of the redesign of the interior of the county’s Judicial Annex. Following the flood of 2016 some redesign was necessary, and they felt ready to present changes to the commission before the board would jointly join them in a presentation to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals who must finalize the design changes.
They provided two boards: an overhead view of the original design and a second board of proposed changes. Among the changes suggested was the addition of a very private door that would allow for the sudden exit of a judge. Sheriff King reminded them of the special door for the Sheriff, and they remembered and agreed to add that to the designs. There was another proposed change that needed returned to original specs where a clerk’s office was requested beyond the file room that could be locked, and yet the file room remains open. Otherwise the commission appeared happy with the design. Final approval would of course be up to the Supreme Court.
Commissioners Joyce Johnson and Connie Kinder were present and Commissioner David Schoolcraft was present by phone. They approved routine business such as wills, testaments, administrators and executor assignments. But when it came to paying bills, Commission Kinder noted that the county owed a $3 million dollar jail bill. Last month alone, the bill was $63,091.70. The prior month was $75,000 and the month before that was $59,000, at rates of $1,961.40 per month per person or $65.30 per person per day. As crime rises, so does the debt. Presently the county cannot pay this bill. They can only pay a pittance against it.
The commission accepted the resignation of Gary Drake from the Clay County PSD Board and the appointment of Morgan Triplett as the Triplett Ridge replacement. They approved the appointment of Marjorie Mullins to the Library Board term ending June 2029. They approved removing Maria Moles and Jeremy Cantrell from the BDA Board.
They approved the purchase of a big commercial mower for the purposes of cutting grass at Spread Park and at Maysel Park. It will be kept by Parks and Recreation at the Maysel Park location. They also added Logan’s Towing to the County 911 Rotation Schedule. They are based in Widen, and rotation began on Wednesday, May 15.
The commission approved a resolution allowing the county’s 911 employees to join the Emergency Medical Services Retirement System. Clay is one of three remaining counties that had not as yet made this move, mandated by the State Legislature in 2023 with a deadline coming up on May 31st of this year.
The commission cancelled the second regular County Commission meeting at the end of the month due to it falling on the Memorial Day holiday. The next meeting will be on June 10. Commissioner David Schoolcraft suggested that county payroll should go out that previous Friday so that employees would not have to wait through the holiday. They all agreed to pay utilities and payroll early.
Terry Martin gave an update on the Big Otter/Nebo water project. He ran a legal ad last Wednesday, they are working on easements and cleared it environmentally. It will be ready to go to bid in July or August for construction.
Commissioner Kinder announced that she was at the last CAEZ board meeting where she sits, and they are finally getting ready to sell the old Mount Hope commercial property to an owner of the adjacent property for $86,000.
Sheriff King then announced that his department may possibly be getting a canine unit. They have grant money and someone who will pick up the rest of the cost. A dog that would be attached to the county, a vehicle would be equipped for special transportation, training for the dog and a Sheriff Deputy are in the works. The sheriff was inquiring about liability insurance. Commission Schoolcraft and Joyce Johnson said that was probably covered under policies of the court, but would check into to it for him. Deputy Traub would be the officer trained for canine care and handling. Training would begin in June so the sheriff was trying to get all this finalized quickly. This could be a game changer, Sheriff King said, when it comes to drug interdiction. This would be a first for Clay County.
Commissioner Kinder announced she attended a meeting with the Ohio Valley Workforce where they announced they had set aside $360,000 for Clay County exclusively that the state has created a summer program that will take 20 youth, 15 of which were seniors this year. They are going to send them out to CMI2 at Lizemores to train them in survival skills and more. And there is the potential that following the summer program, that up to 15 students could get job offers to become full time employees at CMI2.