A Meadow River Trail (MRT) repair project, tabled at the last Greenbrier County Commission meeting, pending coordination information from Fayette County, got an update from MRT coordinator Doug Hylton during the Apr. 24 commission meeting.

Federal funds for flood damage projects are provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and require that each county’s repair project be handled separately. However, as far as hiring a project manager to coordinate the repairs, Hylton said, the work needed to be treated as a single project. After consulting with a FEMA representative, he said, the best course of action was determined to turn over the $61,800 in FEMA funds to the Department of Highways (DOH) to manage both Fayette County’s trestle project as well as Greenbrier County’s trail repairs. As a result, the commission no longer has to put out a bid to hire a project manager since the DOH has qualified personnel to handle the job. Chapman Engineering will provide the reporting needed to show FEMA how those monies are spent, “streamlining everything,” Hylton said.

In other business:

• Tom Hayes with the Northern Greenbrier Ambulance Service, a nonprofit organization, requested a building permit fee waiver on an upcoming 32 by 32 foot addition to their Frankford location, which he said, cost $22,000 to purchase. The commission approved waiving the $300 fee, but not the required inspections.
• The commission approved a $5,052 maintenance agreement for a LiveScan electronic fingerprint capture machine in the Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Bruce Sloan said LiveScan uses no ink, is smudge-proof and allows fingerprint access to all enforcement agencies. He said while the agreement is expensive, it is “a worthwhile investment,” given the considerable expense of replacement/repair costs.

Sloan was also approved to hire Brandon McCormick, recently employed as a Monroe County police officer for four years, to fill an existing vacancy on the force. A field deputy was also approved for the Assessor’s Office. Catherine Zeigler will serve as a replacement for an existing position.

• Greenbrier County Arts and Recreation Committee was approved to allocate $450,000 for distribution in the 2018-2019 grant cycle. The same amount has been allocated to the committee for several years.
• The Mountain Transit Authority (MTA) received an annual coal severance allocation of $4,000 for the 2018-2019 year, and provided an announcement of new bus stop signage installations that include bus routes and rates.
• County Clerk Robin Loudermilk once again announced that early voting is now ongoing at the county courthouse and at the Rupert Community Center, open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday – Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on both Saturdays until May 5. The primary election is set for Tuesday, May 8. Commissioner Woody Hanna announced that the next commission meeting will be postponed to Thursday, May 10, at 10 a.m. to accommodate the polls at the courthouse.