Tammy O’Dell of AmeriCorp was one of the first to address the County Commission at their regular meeting last Friday, May 6. O’Dell explained that her group had a program called LOCKSS (Lock Out Crime Keeps Seniors Safe) to provide lockboxes to senior citizens and veterans at no cost. The intent is to protect prescription medications from thievery and reduce access to small children. She further asked the Commission to fund the purchase of 100 of the devices, which she displayed to the Commissioners, at a cost of $1,500. O’Dell assured the Commission that the boxes they fund would only be distributed in Braxton County. After hearing the presentation Melvin Gum made a motion to authorize the expenditure.
Sheriff Lou DellaMea requested permission to hire Leigh Ann Copen as a part-time Tax Office employee. She is to be paid $10.50 per hour with no county benefits. Larry Clifton made a motion to approve the Sheriff’s request.
OES, 9-1-1, EMS Director John Hoffman provided an oral report of his agencies’ activities for the month of April. He also discusses the death of Gassaway Firefighter John Forbush and the preparations of his memorial service.
In other actions, the Commission approved the probate appointments for the month of April as presented.
Several purchase orders were approved via separate motions. They include purchase of a Rug Doctor Pro for the Courthouse from Walmart costing $649.99; Continental Fire & Safety – training foam for OES $595.00; Department of Justice, $3,000 Academy training for Deputies Pickens and Jordan; 2 POs to Mid-State Chevrolet to repair two Sheriff’s cruisers in the amounts of $1,750.11 and $1667.00; Frontier Communications, $5,783.06; Wilson Amplifiers, $2,799.93 for cell phone boosters for law enforcement cruisers.
Larry Clifton made two motions which approved internal budget revisions for both the Assessor and Sheriff.
It was also Clifton who made a motion to pay a $200 membership fee to Civil War Trails to cover costs of a historic sign coming into Sutton.
County Clerk Sue Rutherford requested permission to use the County Credit Card to cover costs of a Seminar and rooms for two people at Oglebay Resort in Wheeling. The fee is $500 the reservations total $516. The request was approved.
Following a brief discussion, the Commission approved the hiring of two individuals to work as security officers at the Courthouse Annex. Separate motion approved Floyd Cunningham and Howard Carpenter. Both will be paid $15 per hour with no county benefits.
Under the topic of old business, two matters received action. Following a brief discussion Larry Clifton made a motion to allocate $3,500 to Central WV Outreach to be used toward their new roof. The second matter was a motion to approve Option 2 of the multi-county broadband expansion plan.
Following a review, the county and EMS invoices were approved for payment. A separate motion approved the minutes of the April 15, April 19 and April 25 Commission meetings.
Being no further business on the agenda, the meeting adjourned at 9:35 a.m. The next regular meeting of the Braxton County Commission will be on May 20 beginning at 9:00 A.M.
Devoted to Braxton County, West Virginia