By Peggy Mackenzie
The Greenbrier County Commission met on Tuesday morning to a near empty courtroom. The brief meeting included two courthouse upgrade projects. The first was to review four bids to repair the courthouse roof. They included proposed figures for grant funded as well as non-grant funded portions of the repair project. The bids ranged from $144,000 down to $58,975 for the grant-funded portion of the project. The Commission will go over the items included in each bid to determine which roofing company to choose for the job.
The second upgrade begins with the approval to sign a letter of engagement with Sillings Architects of Charleston for a preliminary agreement to a design study for the courthouse ceiling architecture, which will involve replacing antiquated heating and cooling systems with a new HVAC system. Commissioner Lowell Rose said the old system no longer has available parts and must be replaced. The HVAC system will include sprinklers through-out the courthouse structure. Rose said the Commission would like to see if funding in the study would also allow for demolishing the Sheriff’s Office and to building a new structure for the Sheriff and the judges. “But,” he said, “the main objective is the remodel of the courthouse internal HVAC systems.”
In other business:
- A unanimous vote was given to approve the 2020/2021 Fiscal Year budget for the county. Commissioner Tammy Shifflett-Tincher stated the county’s revenues amounted to $13,470,000, while the expenses came to $13,437,000, yielding a scant approximate of $33,000. She also said the levy rate remains the same as it has for many years.
- A list of primary election poll workers was provided by County Clerk Robin Livesay, which was also approved.
- The Commission opted to table signing the child Abuse Prevention Month Proclamation until they could announce when the Children’s Memorial Flag Day Ceremony will be held.
