One of the topics of last Friday’s Braxton County Commission meeting was a presentation by Chad Morrison, Executive Director of Mountaineer Food Bank. The CEO told the Commission about the steadily increasing demand for MFB’s services and their struggle to meet that demand. He said that expansion was underway at the Gassaway based facility which is estimated to cost $28 million. Morrison outlined the various funding sources that were either in place or nearing finalization. He went on to request that the Commission provide a letter of support to accompany the loan application to the USDA for the final piece of the financing. A motion by Larry Clifton affirmed the Commission’s support.
Gary Crutchfield and Kenny Summers addressed the Commission regarding the building of a structure on the site of the old Burnsville VFD station house. Crutchfield stated that the department hoped to build a building on the former site to be used as a warming station in times of inclement weather as well as serve the department in other ways. He stated that the BVFD had earmarked $40,000 of their funds for the project that is estimated to cost $135,000. The representative added that in order to apply for grant funding they were going to have to do an environmental assessment of the site and they needed the Commission’s help to find a firm to conduct the survey as well as covering the cost. Commission president Lisa Godwin told the pair that the Braxton County Development Authority had a Brownfield grant that might fund the survey which they had conducted on other properties in Braxton County. She added that she would provide the necessary contact information to allow the fire department to discuss the matter with the appropriate people.
The meeting began with Dwayne Vandev-ender requesting to hire Caley Brown as a part-time employee in the Prosecuting Attorney’s office. He explained that Brown would be paid $12.00 per hour with no county benefits. The request was granted on a motion by Melvin Gum.
Marie Lockard of Braxton County Testing Services presented the Commission with her agency’s activity report for the month of June. That report revealed that the center had conducted 264 drug screenings during the period.
In other business the short form settlements were presented as submitted by the Fiduciary Supervisor.
A motion by Melvin Gum approved the correction of erroneous assessments for: David & Lois Teets, Joshua Rollyson, Herbert & Judith Floyd, Steve Lough Life, Michael & Jason Westfall, James Greathouse, Ronnie & Cynthiana Stout, Homer & Louetta Gibson, Cheryl Currence, Linda Damico, Rebecca Weese, Shawn Johnson, Richard Posey, Herbert & Rebecca Cogar.
Four purchase orders came before the Commission for consideration. All were approved via separate motions. They included: $900 to Motorola Solutions Inc. for an SSA Class for Certificate to Operate 9-1-1 CAD for Tyler Long; $825 was allocated to Johnson Controls to conduct a 5-year internal pipe inspection on the wet system at the 9-1-1 center; the final two purchase orders were to Pletcher Motors totally $4,676.28. The amount will repair collision damage to the Sheriff’s Departments 2019 Chevy Silverado.
Following a brief discussion Larry Clifton made a motion to accept the lowest bid to perform electrical work at the old Telephone building the Commission recently purchased to accommodate storage of the County Clerk’s electronic voting machines. Huffman Electric of Clarksburg submitted that low bid of $2,900.
The Commission approved a budget revision submitted by the County Clerk.
Two separate motions, submitted by Larry Clifton, approved the county and EMS bills for payment and the minutes of the Commission’s July 7 and July 12 meetings.
The meeting adjourned at 9:28 a.m. The next regular meeting of the Braxton County Commission will convene on August 4 at 9:00 a.m.
