By Chelsea Blair
Tuesday’s regular Greenbrier County Commission meeting began with approving a total of $49,960.78 in Arts and Recreation funds. The town of Alderson requested $13,530 for the Fourth of July festivities reimbursement, $1,310 was requested by Alderson Main Street for the cost of music at The Market and Strawberry Festival, Central Greenbrier Little League requested $6,505.60 for turface line in the White Sulphur Springs batting cages, LZ Rainelle requested $6,200 to cover programming costs for an event, The Town of Rainelle Pool requested $2,103.16 for back ordered pool supplies they just received, and the Ronceverte River Festival requested $10,400 to be reimbursed for the 2024 festival. Also, the Meadow River Trail requested $3,389.03 for Greenbrier Environmental Consultant services which was partially reimbursed by TAP and AML grants, and $6,522.99 was requested for the fourth quarter Library program for Alderson and Rainelle. All arts and recreation transfers were approved.
The next item on the agenda was the consideration of two bids for the purchase and installment of a new generator for the White Sulphur Springs EMS, funded through a FEMA grant. The current generator was damaged during the 2016 flood when being replaced with the National Guard’s generator. A member of the White Sulphur Springs EMS explained that it is vital for the largest EMS facility in the county to have backup power. The bids opened were from Greenbrier Communications INC for $74,500 and Backup Power LLC for $86,400. No bids were awarded during the meeting as they need to be compared, and more is required with the state and FEMA.
Commissioners then considered a resolution for the Greenbrier County PSD #2 waterline extension project from Sam Black to Asbury for payment to Thrasher Group and Region 4 Planning and Development. The resolution would allow funding to cover payment for design and engineering fees, permitting fees, and other miscellaneous work that has been required for the project to Thrasher Group in the amount of $425,000, administrative costs of $1,964.93 to Region 4, and a retainage of $42,696.40 being held. The total amount of payment being sent to the PSC for final review on Tuesday was $384,268.44. Commission President Tammy Shifflett-Tincher added that this project has been sent to the Public Service Commission for final review.
Consideration of approval of a resolution to the Homeland Security Grant Program for ballistic plates and carriers for the Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Department and SWAT team was the next item discussed. A member of the department and SWAT team explained that the gear is crucial to keeping the officers safe and the current ballistic plates are far out of date, posing severe risk against operators when they go into certain situations. The gear chosen will cost $7,420 and is what is known as level 4 protection by the National Institution of Justice, being one of the highest levels of threat protection. The resolution was approved and will be sent by the commission with the grant request.
The commissioners then considered a grant agreement and resolution for the Community Corrections Grant for Battered Intervention Prevention Training (BIPP) applied for by the Greenbrier County Day Report program. The grant is through the Justice and Community Services and was presented to the commission by Laura Legg. This resolution just simply confirmed the grant award of $2,985, and was approved.
The next item of consideration was a grant application and resolution for 2024-2025 Victim of Crime Advocate grant to the Greenbrier County Prosecutors office and Sherriff’s Department. Brittany Ennis, Victim Advocate for the Sherriff’s Department, and Shelly McClung, the new Victim Service Coordinator at the Prosecutors Office, presented the resolution to the commissioners. They explained that the grant is needed to be able to help serve victims in the county regularly every year. The grant comes from the Federal Government to the State to be distributed among all counties. It is due July 10 and was approved by the commission pending a completed application by all departments from the Prosecutor and Sheriff’s offices.
The last item on the agenda was a consideration of award allocations for the 2024-2025 Arts and Recreation grant program. Tincher thanked Kelly Banton for doing all the work, putting the information together, and processing all the Arts and Recreation grants throughout the year. A total of 33 applications were sent this year with a total of $558,700.89 in grants that were eligible and met all the requirements for the program. $453,563.62 in grants was considered for the approval pending other information requested by the commission that has not yet been received and another $65,312.80 of grant funds are pending while the commission has reviewed all the information. Local grants cover all parts of the county for different groups and non-profit organizations that meet the state code. Each applicant will receive confirmation of the award and the guidelines on their uses and how they can spend the funding based on restrictions in the state code. The motion was approved unanimously.
Before the meeting came to an end, Commissioner Lowell Rose stated that he has been in contact with the company delivering the new generator to the courthouse, which is due to arrive Friday morning and be set within a week or so. He added that the delivery may cause a disruption as they will shut down part of the street. Commissioner Tincher added that the elevators are not working properly at this time and urges those who have disabilities and need access to an elevator to call in advance to be accommodated.