In considering a lease agreement, the Greenbrier County Commission adjourned the Tuesday night meeting for a 20 minute executive session to discuss options with Laura Legg, executive director of the Day Report Center and Home Confinement, and Ronceverte property owner Steve Morgan.
Upon returning to the courtroom, the commission moved to approve a lease agreement between the county and T-Todd Properties to relocate the Day Report Center to downtown Ronceverte in the building across from Rudy’s Corner Cafe.
Legg said the two-story building, which used to house the First National Bank, is well-preserved, has plenty of parking, handicap access, an elevator and 2,000 more square feet of space than their current location on Davis-Stuart Road. The Day Report generates “a tremendous amount of traffic,” Legg said, “with lots of comings and goings. This should be an economic boost for Ronceverte.” She said she expects that Day Report clients will also become a helpful part of the community.
The time line for the move is expected to be late August or early September after renovations are completed.
In other business:
- In a presentation by Debbie Anderson, program coordinator with the Human Resource Development Foundation (HRDF) and Nick Stout, supervisor, the commission was approached with a request for assistance with their HRDF stream bed conservation efforts in Charmco.
Anderson said for the past several months she has been coordinating a crew of 18 laborers with clearing the creeks and streams and the Greenbrier River of debris caused by the floods of last year. HRDF received a grant for these much needed efforts to hire laborers through Workforce West Virginia. The program offers the workers assistance with resumes and training, as well as several months employment, provided that they qualify by being without work for seven weeks or more. Working with chainsaws and weed eaters, they clear piles of dead trees, trash and other flood debris from the creek beds. The wood is chipped or burned, but the trash, once collected and bagged, must go to the Solid Waste Authority landfill.
The conservation efforts of the HRDF are helping all 16 West Virginia counties affected by the floods. “The streams look terrible, just terrible,” Anderson said, who oversees HRDF efforts in three counties.
Anderson said Charmco, as an unincorporated area, unlike Rupert, Ronceverte or Rainelle, each with public works departments, has no municipal government and so no transport equipment. Thus, she was requesting assistance from the county to transport the bags of trash from a designated area in Charmco to the landfill. The commission was sympathetic and desirous to help, but does not possess a dump truck to offer. Instead, Commission President Woody Hanna said he would draw up a list of possible agencies with the needed equipment and see if he could get them to transport the debris.
Anderson also asked the commission to pay the landfill’s tipping fee.
- WVU Extension Office was approved to hire Tiffany Loudermilk as as an extension service agent.
- Executive Director Al Whitaker with the 911 Center, had three new hires on his list for the center: Lane Seldomridge, Todd Fowler and Marisa Dunbar were all approved by the commission.
- The Sears House, located on the north side of the county courthouse is in need of exterior repairs. The commission agreed to advertise for bids to either repaint or to install vinyl siding to the historic structure.
- In a 2-1 vote, with Commissioner Mike McClung opposing, the contract agreement with the Greenbrier Humane Society for their 2017/2018 services overseeing the Greenbrier County Animal Shelter was approved.
