Commissioners Divert ARP Money to Town of Marlinton for Hospital Sewer Project

At their July 1^st meeting, the Pocahontas county Commissioners heard from Region 4’s Casandra Lawson about the Hospital Wastewater Project funding. Lawson said that the county Public Service District (PSD) is no longer interested in being involved in that sewer project. The project, when complete, would provide sewer service to PMH, Marlinton Middle School and the State Police Barracks. She said that the Town of Marlinton is willing to replace the PSD in taking over the lead on the project. Lawson said that the County Commission has already committed a half-a-million dollars from their American Rescue Plan grant money to the PSD for the project, and she now needs them to divert that money to the Town of Marlinton so that the project can continue. The commissioners passed a motion to do that, after Commission President John Rebinski explained that the commission gave the money to the project, not to the PSD.

Lawson also said there are other issues with the project. Those include the need for additional funding for the project, and the very tight timeline to spend that ARP money before the deadline to use the ARP money runs out in December of 2026. She said that that time limit is actually very tight when it comes to a complicated project like this. She said “just in case” the commissioners should also think about other possible uses for that money if it becomes impossible to use it for this project before the deadline.

Fred Hypes, from Thrasher, the project’s engineering firm, said he believes they can compress what would normally be a year and a half’s bureaucratic and other processes down to ninety days, especially since they have worked closely with Marlinton before, and they are not starting from scratch on the project, but he said they need to start on this right away. Mayor Sam Felton of Marlinton said the Town Council has the approval for this set on the agenda for their next meeting. Hypes said Marlinton, with the commission’s help, will also need to come-up with additional funding, since even the $500,000 was not the total cost, and that total cost has risen because of inflation, from 1.3 million dollars to 1.7 million dollars. He said the state may also provide additional funding, since water and sewer projects are a priority with them.

Rebinski pointed out that the commission had already bought the site for the treatment plant for the project.

Also at the meeting, the commissioners agreed to advertise the position for Director of Emergency Management and 911 by publishing the vacant position in the Pocahontas Times on July 10^th and 17^th, scheduling applicant interviews before an appointed interview committee, and then voting on their recommendations at their August 5^th regular meeting. This position became vacant because of Mike O’Brien’s resignation from that position.

Additionally, the commissioners took the following actions:

• Agreed to pay Resolution #10 of the Clean-up Grant on a portion of the county-owned Frank Tannery site in Frank, WV.  This will pay an invoice of $2,880 from the contractor, and a $1,232 invoice from the Greenbrier Valley Economic Development Corporation (GVEDC.) Amy Truesdale also outlined what is next with this project. She said they are waiting to see if the EPA will approve the ground water deviation, and if they do, they will not need additional water sampling.
• They approved the payment of the final budget adjustment invoices of $65,864.50 from the Broadband Study Grant, which will close out that grant.
• They approved Assessor Jonny Pritt’s request to hire Ashley Bussard as a part-time employee of the Assessor’s office at $14.50 per hour starting July 2^nd.
• They renewed the annual support contract with Global Technologies to maintain the county’s information technology (IT) equipment.
• They authorized the County Clerk’s Office to begin the process of administratively closing estates that have been open for 3 years or more, as authorized by state code. It was explained that parties to those estates, including creditors, can object to the closures.
• They authorized a budget revision and resolution for the Coal Severance Unencumbered balance since it brought in $7,900 more then anticipated in the FY 2025-2026 budget.

Any other items on the meeting agenda that were not enumerated here had no action taken on them.