The Wetzel County Commission met Tuesday December 28, 2021, at the County Commission office to discuss agenda items. Commission President Lisa Heasley opened the meeting by leading in the Pledge of Allegiance with all commissioners present. Heasley entertained a motion for the December 21st meeting minutes which was granted and given unanimous approval.
Next item on the agenda was Valerie Piko, Program Development Manager for RED (Regional Economic Development) updating the commission on the CityNet Broadband in the county. Piko said, CityNet is planning on starting in January on the broadband for Wetzel County residents. She also requested a resolution be signed by the commission to designate RED to apply for a LED (Local Economic Development) grant to promote the county’s economic development. The commission signed the resolution after approving it.
Commission unanimously approved a request from the New Martinsville Library of $23,000 to complete the costs of repairs by Tri-State Steel for the new steel roof and gutters.
A new holiday schedule for 2022 made by the Supreme Court of WV was approved by a unanimous vote. The 2022 schedule for Wetzel County is, January 17th-Martin Luther King Day, February 21st-President’s Day, May 10th-Primary Election Day, May 30th-Memorial Day, June 17th-Juneteenth Day, June 20th-WV Day, July 4th-Independence Day, September 5th-Labor Day, October 10th-Columbus Day, November 8th-General Election Day, November 11th-Veteran’s Day, November 24-25th-Thanksgiving Day, and December 26th-Christmas Day.
The Commission had a discussion on the safety of the War Memorial Building that is used for Cheernastics. The building has issues with the ceilings and some stairs decaying and the commission is contacting Joe Hanna, Building Inspector to investigate the matter further to see if it is deemed safe for activities being held there.
The commission unanimously approved the renewal of the support contract with Global Science & Technology, Inc. for the IT work for the commission.
The Commission then had a lengthy discussion mainly between commissioners Heasley and Carla McBee on a previous request from Keith Williams for $80,000 to employ two people for the EMS service to handle calls for the Hundred area. Commissioner Carla McBee made a motion to award the money to Johanna Lemasters of the VFD to hire two employees full-time for the coverage in the Hundred and surrounding area for a trial period of one year. Commission President Heasley stronly disagreed and voiced opposition to the request. She stated all county EMS services are dealing with threse issues and Hundred has ful-time people, but they are stationed in Pine Grove three days a week. “We have been having these issues for a while now and I do not feel this will solve the problem and Mr. Williams took their name off the first call list,” said Heasley.
Commissioner Greg Morris seconded the motion. A vote was taken with McBee and Morris voting in the affirmative and Heasley voting against the motion. The vote passed 2-1.
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