By Peggy Mackenzie
The Greenbrier County Commission quickly processed various matters of business during Tuesday morning’s brief meeting. The first items to consider were two FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant asbestos testing bids as the first phase to demolish eight structures in a designated slum blight area. Greenbrier Environmental Group’s bid, at $450 per structure, came to $3,600 overall, and Marcum Insulation’s bid amounted to $400 per structure at a total of $3,200. The FEMA bids will be sent to the online security office for a qualification check and then the winning bid will move to the next phase in the program to demo the abandoned dwellings.
The Commissioners opened several more bids to load, haul and compact an unused pile of gravel from the Greenbrier Valley Airport to the SportsPlex for use on roadways and parking areas. Lynch Construction’s bid totaled $94,287.74; the Greenbrier Excavating and Paving bid came to $147,469.83; Baldwin Excavation’s bid was $176,158.50; Valley Rebuilders’ was $99,823.15 and, All Construction’s “winning bid,” as remarked by Commissioner Mike McClung, was $51,162. The bids are “fluid,” said Commissioner Lowell Rose, based on whether or not the estimated 16,777 tons of gravel at the airport will cover the needs of the SportsPlex.
The Commission agreed to the transfer of a decommissioned County Sheriff’s Office cruiser to supplement the police department in Rupert. “There will be no need of an auction,” Sheriff Bruce Sloan said. The sale of the high-mileage vehicle will benefit the department with increased revenues, and serve the needs of the Town of Rupert to boot.
Also on the agenda were the names of two new county employees: Valerie Nicole Ott will fill a vacancy in the County Assessor’s Office, and Vicky Shuff will serve as a full time therapist at the Day Report Center. The backgrounds for both women were properly reviewed and approved for hire. The consideration to hire a new Home Confinement Officer was cancelled.
The Commissioners signed an updated Memorandum of Understanding with the West Virginia Supreme Court to pay the county a monthly rental fee of $2,700 (at $12/sq ft) to house the Greenbrier County Family Court in its new location next to the courthouse on North Court Street. Rose explained the Supreme Court pays the county and the county, in turn, pays the owner of the building.
A draft deed and resolution for the purchase of the Ludwig Farm on Hearnville Road, a 57.88 acre tract, by the Farmland Protection Bureau was approved.
As noted by Commissioner Tammy Shifflett-Tincher, the First Responders’ Light Parade tribute to all first responders in recognition of those lost on 9/11, nineteen years ago, will be held on Friday, September 11 at the West Virginia fairgrounds, where at 5:30 p.m. first responder and fire department equipment will be on display, as well as the police department’s K-9 units. At 7 p.m. the parade will pass through Lewisburg, turn around at Bob Evans, and return to the fairgrounds.
