Community Block Grant Application To Demolish Tannery Buildings

The first public hearing for the Community Block Grant application to have the buildings at the former Howes Tannery in Frank demolished was held at the January 20^th Pocahontas County Commission meeting. Jamie Baker of Region 4 explained that a similar grant application for this was denied last year, however there are good indications that if refiled this year, it will likely be approved this fall. The deadline for filing for this $250,000 grant is March 31^st.

During the public meeting several members of the Northern Pocahontas Historical Society Association (NPHSA,) including Judith Fuller and John Simmons, brought up that they still wanted to save the former Howes Tannery Office Building, and are working with the WV State Historical Preservation Office to try and get it listed on the National Registry of Historic Buildings.

Commission President John Rebinski commented that the building’s interior and roof require very expensive repairs that the commission, which owns the building, is unable to afford. He mentioned that this issue was discussed several years ago at commission meetings, and they gave the Historical society (NPHSA) time to try and find a financial way and a purpose to keep the building, but nothing ever came if it. In his opinion, if we can get the funds to demolish it, we should. That would protect the county from the liabilities of owning an abandoned building that is in poor condition and is often entered by vandals and others. He said demolishing it will also free up space for new development.

John Simmons, who at one time worked for Howes in that building, said he still has an emotional attachment to it.  While acknowledging the damage to the interior, he said the exterior structure remains solid, so he would like to see it remain, if for no other reason than as a historic monument to the tannery. He also mentioned the potential sludge flooding that could occur if the Greenbrier River floods the old tannery sludge site. And he said that if the office building is demolished, the rubble left by that, as well as the rubble from the other buildings being demolished at the tannery site should be placed along the Greenbrier River’s bank to help prevent that.

Rebinski said since it would take up to a year before the grant funds would be available, so the historical society (NPHSA) still has time to figure out how the building can be repaired and put to good use.

Region 4’s Amy Truesdale added that while the asbestos has been removed from the other tannery buildings, it has not been removed from the Office Building, so until that is done, it cannot be demolished under the grant anyway.

The commissioners approved moving forward with the grant application, since it will cover demolishing the other buildings there.

The commissioners also approved draw request #16 for $1,276.40 to pay invoices for the EPA cleanup project at the tannery.

Region 4’s Amanda Smarr asked for approval of Draw Request #24 for the Pocahontas County ARC Broadband Project, Commissioner Jamie Walker questioned to whom the requested $55,000 in pole invoices were being paid, and he wants to make sure we are not paying twice for the same poles to be upgraded to receive our fiber.  Project Engineer Josh Jarrel said of the 950 poles needed for our project, only 40 are owned by Frontier and the rest are owned by Mon Power, with a few of those being jointly owned by both companies. It was explained that these invoices are to pay for inspection and adjustments to utility poles by the utility companies. He also said we are still exploring legal action or working with the WV Public Service Commission’s Rapid Response Remediation process against Frontier for laying their fiber on locations on poles that we paid to have upgraded for our fiber, but Mon Power has assured us that we will incur no additional charge for this.

The commissioners passed a motion to pay these invoices with a contingency that our project engineers check to ensure that we are not paying for the same pole work we already paid for, and that they check a sample of these poles to ensure they are now really ready to receive our fiber.

The commissioners also:

• Passed Resolution # 13 for the PMH HVAC Project in the amount of $146,810.72. Donna Ward of Region 4 said this project is almost complete.
• Approved for the CVB to apply for a $5,000 America250 Mural Grant which would use local artists and art students to paint the mural in the county.
• They put off until the February 3^rd commission meeting, actually transferring the $250,000 from their Federal American Rescue Act Grant to the Pocahontas Historical Society Association (NPHSA,) as they had agreed to do several years ago. Ritchie Bennett of the historic society NPHSA told the commissioners that they have found a building in Durban near the RR Depot for their museum and tourist information center. They have been offered the building for $150,000 and will use the other $100,000 to make repairs and upgrades such as making it meet American Disabilities Act requirements.