Pocahontas Commission Approves Contractor Bid for Broadband Project

At a special commission meeting on July 8^th, the Pocahontas County Commissioners opened two bids received for the construction of the Appalachian Regional Commission’s (ARC) Broadband Grant Project. One was from the New River Electrical Company in the amount of $2,307,597.76 while the other was from Quanta Telecommunications Solutions LLC (Quanta) in the amount of $1,800,000.00. They did not award either bid at the time because the project’s engineering firm Thompson and Litton needed to review the details of both bids to ensure the bids met all of the requirements.

At the July 15^th Pocahontas County regular meeting, Region 4’s Amanda Smarr reported to the commission that both bids did meet the required specifications. She also advised the commissioners that the project’s law firm still had some questions about the project and whether the winning bidder would be willing to meet those legal obligations if any are identified by the lawyers. She did OK for the commissioners to approve one of the bids, and if for some reason another requirement was needed for the construction, and if the winning bidder refuses to comply with that, the bid approval can then be revisited by the commission. She said it is highly unlikely that will happen because if any requirements need to be added, they will be very minor.

The commissioners then awarded the bid to the lowest bidder, Quanta, with the understanding that possible minor requirements could be added by the project’s law firm.

The commissioners also discussed possible courthouse improvements which could be implemented with their $100,000 Courthouse Facilities Improvement Grant. Possibilities mentioned were: paving the parking lot, putting in a parking lot on the property they bought next to the courthouse, putting a handicapped ramp at the front on the courthouse near the road, fixing the pavement there, replacing the gutters on the courthouse, floors in the basement, and the carpets. The commissioners took no action on which of these to do, but requested estimates on them, to help them make that determination.

The commissioners also approved issuing the WV Goes Purple Proclamation, which sets September as Recovery Awareness and Hope Month.

They also approved the following:

• A budget revision and resolution for the Unencumbered Balance for the current year. It was explained that the estimated carryover from last fiscal year was one million dollars more than they had projected, and this revision will account for that.
• A resolution to approve the receipt of $22,651.00 from the Court Security Grant, and signing the grant documents,
• A one-year contract with MindEase Solutions for the Day Report Center in the amount of $29,500 for providing classes and therapy.
• Resolution #9 of the Thornwood Waterline Extension Project, which is for invoice payments of $4,685.75 from that grant.
• Resolution # 15 of the ARC Broadband Grant, which authorizes payments from that grant of $13,678.86 to Frontier Communications to make their poles ready for the project, and of $991.79, which is an administrative payment to Region 4.
• The appointments to the Farmland Protection Board of Pamala Burns as the County Resident Member, and Greg Hamons as the Farmer Member of the Greenbrier Soil Conservation District.
• To enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Rapid Extraction Module Group. Charles Evans explained this is a mutual aid agreement regarding search and rescue in the county.
• A contract with Securitech LLC for camera surveillance systems in the Family Court at a cost of $4,219.00 and in the old jail building for $13,380.84. The discussion for this was held in Executive Session.

The commissioners also went into Executive Session to discuss the EMS Authority’s recommendations for, and possible appointment of an EMS Director, however took no action on this after returning to open session.