By Stephen Smoot
Water stayed on the minds of the Pendleton County Commission in last week’s meeting as the region slipped into a federally defined severe drought condition. Commissioner Roger Dahmer’s opening prayer included a plea, “Lord, we pray for a healing rain.”
In the first meeting for July, commissioners heard a proposal for a water study. The study would give an assessment of Pendleton County water resources and population development, then also suggest efficient ways to use them through system expansions.
Rick Gillespie, Pendleton County Emergency Management coordinator, expressed the “need for public water out there” in the area of the emergency management office, West Virginia State Police barracks, Pendleton County Schools bus garage and surrounding areas.
A number of area offices and agencies have submitted letters of support to Governor Jim Justice to partly or fully fund the study. These include Pendleton 911, the United States Forest Service, and others. Pendleton County Schools and the Seneca Rocks Regional Development Authority were also approached about providing one. County commissioners agreed to give a letter as well.
Karen Pitsenbarger, Pendleton County administrator, recently sent out a Request for Proposal to gather information about the potential cost of the study, but results will not be back in time to be part of the letters of support package. Gillespie suggested that the county rely on the cost of similar studies for similar reasons in the region.
Commissioners decided to approve a letter of support requesting $200,000 after suggestions that it was approximate to what the study should cost.
Next, commissioners recognized Annie Humes, representing Mon Forest Towns. She brought Katherine Garvey, director of West Virginia University’s Land Use and Sustainable Development Law Clinic. Prior to her position at WVU, Garvey worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region VII in the National Agricultural Compliance Assistance Center and with the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, according to her website biography.
A $150,000 grant for planning purposes was awarded. A press release from WVU states that “part of this funding will support development of individualized comprehensive plans for Cowen, Durbin, Franklin, and potentially Pendleton County, Petersburg, and Richwood.”
“Preferably, Pendleton County would have a plan and Franklin would assent to it,” Garvey suggested. She added that the county should also create “a planning commission . . . with 10 to 15 members.” The commission would need to create it by ordinance. The clinic already assisted Richwood and Marlinton’s comprehensive plan creation.
Garvey and Gillespie both noted that comprehensive plans have a disaster response component. “From our standpoint, when it comes to disaster mitigation . . . something like this is a key component of the recovery side.”
If the county creates a planning commission, all final decisions on the plan and other issues would be made by the commission itself.
Gillespie also noted that a plan is “walking in step with the water study on a county master plan of where we are to where we’re headed.”
In other business, commissioners approved the Treasure Mountain Festival committee’s request to use the community building and other county properties “as they do every year,” Pitsenbarger noted. They also approved the appointment of Jessica Hoover, new West Virginia University extension agent, to the Farmland Protection Board at the request of executive director, Matt Monroe.
Commissioners also passed a policy allowing for emergency ballot commissioners to bring ballots to voters in the hospital or living in a nursing home for 30 days or less prior to the election. In such a case, the general procedure is that the county selects emergency ballot commissioners, one from each party, then send them out on Election Day to give the individuals affected an opportunity to vote.
At the end of the meeting, Gillespie provided an update on emergency management efforts to place a traffic camera on West Virginia Route 28 at Elk Mountain where it intersects with Forest Road 128. The main barrier to installation lies in the emergency management office gaining permission from the U.S. Forest Service, since it would sit on their land.
The camera would cycle at 30 second intervals between aiming north on WV 28, south on WV 28, and up FR 128. Should the USFS take too long, or deny the request, the back up plan is to find “a willing private landowner” who will host the camera.
