Pocahontas County Sheriff Called To Durbin Town Council Meeting

Durbin, WV – Pocahontas County Sheriff David Jonese was called to the Durbin Town Council meeting on August 12th. He was responding to a request by town council member John Osborne.

In the past, town council meetings have been somewhat wild and wooly with accusations and recriminations flying fast and furious between council and audience members. At a previous council meeting this summer, town council approved an informal set of rules for proper decorum at the town council meetings.

For the majority of the meeting last week, those guidelines seemed to be working. That is, until the agenda item concerning a fence recently built by Kenny Lehman. Although there’s a question as to whether or not part of the fence lies on town property, the council ultimately decided that no other action is needed regarding the fence. However, this discussion led to a heated discussion concerning enforcement or lack thereof, of the town ordinances.

An argument ensued between Cindy Barkley and council member Paula Dilley over another Durbin resident whose trailer is parked within the town limits in opposition to a town ordinance. As Durbin Mayor Donald Peck tried to bring the meeting back under control, Council member John Osborne asked Barkley to leave. When she refused, Osborne placed a call to the Pocahontas County Sheriffs dept. Sheriff David Jonese responded and didn’t mince words when he spoke to the council members.

“You all are supposed to be adults and leaders of the town right?” says Jonese “Can we not sit here and have a meeting without doing this and having this crying and carrying on and acting like a bunch of children here? Let’s do it the right way, if you’ve got a question raise your hand.”

“I’m not going to keep coming up here because if I do, things are going to get real bad up here at these meetings; people are going to be leaving with me.”

In other business, Council approved a $1000.00 donation to the Durbin Library building fund. Judy Fuller gave the council an update on the progress of the new library.

“The library board has told us that if we have $75,000.00 in the account they will let us put the [concrete] pad up and walls; that would get it under roof. We are about $10,000.00 short only and we’re really working hard to try to fill that gap.”

Fuller says they are hoping to have the library under roof before winter sets in. She thanks the Council for the contribution and says blueprints for the library/community center are available at the temporary headquarters for the Durbin library next to Kinders Market.

Council approved a motion to allow Jason Bauserman and Sons to begin work on the town office building. Bauserman gave a list of repairs needed including tearing off old siding, repairing any damage found underneath and replacing it with Hardie board that he purchased with town money. Bauserman estimates the work will cost around $2000.00.

Mark Smith told council members that he and his wife Thelma have a requested a copy of the minutes for the May 2010 council meeting under the Freedom of Information Act. Smith says they have yet to receive the information from town recorder Paul Ransom. Ransom and his wife Gloria, who is also a town council member, were absent from the meeting Thursday night.

The next meeting of the Durbin TC will be Monday, Sept 6th.