Commissioners Approve Lease of Ambulance Station in Marlinton

At their October 21^st meeting, the Pocahontas County Commissioners agreed to lease the building at 409 Second Avenue in Marlinton from the Marlinton Volunteer Fire Department. The building will house the paid county ambulance crews who will be providing ambulance coverage to the Southern portion of Pocahontas County, which is similar to that already being provided in the Northern portion of the county. The building provides a bay to house the ambulance, as well as a kitchen and quarters for the crews. The commissioners also authorized to payment of a $1000.00 first monthly rent, beginning on November 1, however the Marlinton Volunteer Fire Department has allowed them to begin using the facility immediately at no additional cost.

Stephen Skinner, the attorney representing the county in its Opioid Litigation lawsuit briefed the commissioners about the current status of that case, however did so remotely and in a closed Executive Session. When they returned to open session, the commissioners did not offer or pass any motions resulting from the meeting, nor did they offer any explanations about the information they received from Skinner.

They also discussed the trail and boardwalk projects at the Handley Campground. Ethan Burgess has completed the first project there -the trail project- and is asking for permission to start on the Boardwalk Project. He has submitted invoices for the projects. Commissioner Thane Ryder questioned whether Burgess has submitted a copy of his contracting license, which Ryder believed the commission had required him to do when they approved the projects at their last meeting. County Clerk Missy Bennett said she examined the minutes of the meeting and the commissioners only asked Burgess for his business license, which was submitted. The commissioners decided to seek the opinion of the WV Secretary of State’s Office as to whether a general business license would suffice, although they also seemed to be inclined to be willing to pay Burgess for the trail work he has already completed. They will wait for that opinion before taking action on either of these. They did, however, pass a motion to use the Hotel Occupancy Tax revenue money they had previously set aside for special commission projects to pay for these when and if they eventually do so.

Joseph VanMeter and Alison Friel of the Pocahontas County High School’s Purple Star Military Club asked the commissioners for, and received, a proclamation of recognition of that club’s mission to recognize and support our county’s active military personnel.

Additionally at the meeting, the commissioners:

• Approved Region 4’s Amanda Smarr’s request for approval of Draw Request #19 from the County Broadband ARC Project Grant in the amount of $5,985.68 to pay legal fees and additional “Make Ready” utility pole charges.
• Approved providing a letter of support for the Town of Marlinton’s ARC Power Grant application to build trailhead parking on the land they just received from the Board of Education near the Wellness Center in town.
• Approved the request from 911 Director Ben Brown to hire Aidan Madison as a part-time Dispatcher at $14.00 per hour with no benefits, to start on November 12 and for Brown to do an in-house budget revision in the amount of $12,100 from one line item in his budget to another one.
• Approved appointing Angela Wilfong to the Pocahontas County 911 Advisory Board.
• Awarded the contract with Woodford Oil to provide the courthouse heating oil from November 1 through October 31, 2026. Their bid, although a day late, was the only one received for this. The price is dependent of the rack price of oil, which today would be $2.368 per gallon. The late bid was allowed under WV rules because it was the only bid received.
• They approved the list of broken items taken to the landfill which had been stored at the ARC Building. These were mostly old copiers and other broken office equipment that had no value, according to Commission President John Rebinski.
• They approved the hiring of Adam Wright as the Animal Control and Home Detention Officer at $20.14 per hour, retroactive to October 20^th. They had verbally agreed to this at their last meeting, but later realized they had not actually voted on it then.