Greenbrier Valley Economic Development Authority -Open House at Edray Industrial Park

Charlie Sheets, the Pocahontas County Representative to the Greenbrier Valley Economic Development Authority came before the Pocahontas County Commission’s October 4^th meeting to invite both the Commissioners and the general public to an Open House at the Edray Industrial Park on October 19^th.

Mr. Sheets described the open house which begins with a lunch.

“Plan to eat at 12 and have a little program, some introductions, and then we’re going to tour the building” said Sheets. “Because so many people in the area here have never been in the building, it’s like a mystery.”

Sheets pointed out that the 104 acre site contains a completed 30,000 square foot industrial building. The building is divided into two loading docks, two 5000 sq. foot office spaces and two 25,000 manufacturing and storage areas, so it could be used by two manufacturing companies, or the petition could be removed to accommodate one large manufacturing company.

The buildings were completed in 2005, but even to today, have remained unrented, unsold and unutilized for the purpose they were built –to bring industry and jobs to Pocahontas County. Sheets said there is no reason for this, and cited two nearby examples of manufacturing locating to nearby counties. He said that the world’s largest hardwood company, North West Hardwoods, is located in nearby Dailey WV and they ship about 7 million cubic feet of lumber each year from that plant. The second example he cited was one locating in Bath County which will make barrel staves and employ 30 people. Mr. Sheets believes that if people in the County help spread the word about this building being available to buy or rent, perhaps a manufacturing company will open here at the industrial park, as he explains.

“The idea of this open house is you talk to your friends and have your friends talk to somebody in 10 states away, or 3 states away” said Sheets. “And if we turn over enough rocks, maybe we can find some company – somebody that’s interested in creating some jobs for Pocahontas County.”

In other actions, the Commissioners approved the County Financial Statement for the last fiscal year and approved the public sale of two surplus county-owned vehicles at the front door of the Courthouse at 10:00 a.m. on October 4^th. The vehicles are a 2005 black Durango UT and a  and a 2007 black Durango UT .

During the mail items and concerns portion of the meeting the possibility of issuing ID cards to County employees was discussed and the Commissioners wanted to obtain more information about the cost of this.

The Commissioners heard from Jason Bauserman from the County Historical Landmark Commission, Ashton Berdine , the Lands Program Manager of the West Virginia LandTrust, and Hunter Lesser, a Historian and Author from the Rich Mountain Battlefield, who talked about the importance of getting a grant extension from the West Virginia Division of Highways and asking the Commissioners to request a 6 month extension on the grant which could preserve the historical site of Camp Bartow and the Greenbrier River Bridge battleground. The Commissioners voted to request the grant.

There was no report from the Commission’s Attorney, since he was unable to attend this meeting.

The meeting ended with approval of invoices.