Commissioners Approve Use of Left-Over Grant Funds to Grade Former BOE Site
When the bid to demolish the former Pocahontas County Board of Education Office Building was approved in May of 2024, the winning bid was from Reclaim Construction of $148,900 and it was well under the bids of the other 3 companies. It was also well under the amount of money for the demolition that was contained in the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) the county received to fund this demolition, which was $245,000. Reclaim Construction completed the demolition last summer, but then the Board of Education asked if they could use the leftover $98,100 to make improvements to the site, such as grading it to eliminate a drop off, removal of gaps, and building a fence to enclose the school playground next to the site.
It took a long time to get a decision from the federal authorities who administer the CDBGs about this, but at the April 15th Pocahontas County Commission meeting, Casandra Lawson of Region 4 requested that the commissioners approve a change to the CDBG Board of Education Demolition Project, which does allow $33,950 of those leftover CDBG funds to be used to grade the site, eliminating the drop off and gaps. Lawson explained that the grant officials did approve that use of funds since they are still part of “demolition” but grant money cannot be used to build anything on the site, including fences. The commissioners approved this.
The commissioners also voted to make an offer to hire Mark Walton as the Head Custodian for the courthouse at $40,000 per year plus benefits.
They also approved a request by Donna Ward of Region 4 for a resolution and a change order for the Pocahontas Memorial hospital HVAC Project. Ward explained that $402,211.16 needs to be spent from the available grant money to pay invoices; plumbing costs; construction costs; administrative fees; and for the cost of units. She also asked them to approve change order #2 from the grant, which allows $87,965.94 of extra unused grant money to be spent on additional pumps, valves and equipment.
Amy Trusdale of the Greenbrier Valley Economic Development Corporation (GVEDC,) asked the commissioners to approve resolution #7 of the EPA Tannery clean-up grant, which is to pay administrative fees of $1,468.00. she also provided a project update:
Truesdale said she just met with a representative of the WV Department of Environmental Protection (DEP,) and they discussed recent water quality sampling at the former tannery in Frank. And they will need to conduct additional sampling to be able to decide what is needed next. She said Kevin Richardson, the Brownsville Manager for the project, and Ross Britain, their toxicologist advised that they should apply to the DEP for a Ground Water Protection Act deviation exemption for the site since the county is an “innocent owner” of the polluted site – meaning they were not responsible for causing the pollution at the former Howes Tannery site.
During commission board updates, Commission President John Rebinski said the EMS Board is finishing the writing of a job description for an EMS Director to run the County Ambulance Service. He said the 911 Board is still working on the Thomastown Communication tower and the one behind Marlinton Middle School.
Commissioner Jamie walker reported that the Health Department has slowed down a lot since COVID, but are working on flu shots and inspecting Bed and Breakfasts. He also said there was one outbreak of Bird Flue in the county in late 2024. Walker said Farmland Protection will be closing on two farms this summer, and another one is delayed by right-of-way issues. The CVB has noted that it was a good winter at Snowshoe, and they are gearing up for the new bike trail to open this spring.
There was no report from Commissioner Thane Ryder since he was absent from the meeting.
The commissioners also took up the following items.
- The commissioners laid the 2025/2026 levy
- They approved Sheriff McCoy’s request to hire one full-time and one part-time Courthouse Security Officers. The full-time officer will be Virginia Deputy, @ $15.00 per hour plus benefits effective May 5th. The part-time will be Robin Robinson @ $15.00 per hour, no benefits, effective immediately.
- They appointed David Armstrong to the Farmland Protection Board.
- They approved the WVCORP insurance proposal for courthouse workers compensation and vehicle insurance the 2025/2026 fiscal year.
- They tabled the haymaking agreements at their East Fork Property until their next meeting since the written agreements are not yet finished.
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