By Stephen Smoot
Work continues at the former Franklin Elementary School as the county prepares to move a number of offices from the community building up to the new General Services Center. At a changed meeting time, 9 a.m. last Thursday, Pendleton County commissioners heard an update on who would get to move into their new digs first.
An undercurrent to the entire proceeding came from the impending winter storm predicted to bring substantial snow and bitter cold to the region starting Saturday.
“We serve You Lord by serving others,” shared Roger Dahmer, commissioner, during his delivery of the customary invocation. All then rose to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
Rick Gillespie, Pendleton County Emergency Services coordinator, shared the progress on the General Services Center. He started by stating that the “update on our space is that we’re ready to move in. We (Office of Emergency Management) will move in the next couple of weeks, action and weather permitting.”
He added that the Pendleton County Public Service District Office, forestry and wildlife, South Branch Day Report, and the West Virginia University Extension Service will also be among the first slate of offices to relocate. “We need to identify more funding” to perform more renovations “to bring more up.” Women’s Infants and Children and the Department of Natural Resources Police will remain in the community building for the time being.
WVU Extension and Day Report will eventually have classroom space designed specifically for them, but until the “next round of funding” can accommodate, they will use existing classrooms as they are.
At the conclusion of discussion of the Pendleton GSC, Karen Pitsenbarger, county administrator, shared that work on the courthouse annex, specifically bricklaying, had slowed down due to weather conditions. Inside work, however, continued apace.
Darren Taylor from South Branch Day Report was present to provide an update from his program that covers Pendleton, Hardy, and Hampshire counties. He stated, “We appreciate you working with us on this” and noted that they were specifically granted space with outside access to help with their clients.
Taylor then provided information on the progress of Day Report, sharing that they served 265 individuals in the three counties in the past year. Of those, 116 were “diverted from incarceration, saving counties a good bit of money on their jail bill,” approximately $1 million in savings for each county.
He noted also that Day Report had seen a sharp rise in Child Protective Services related cases, just under 20 recently. Taylor added that earlier in the decade, they shared a single CPS case with the probation office. A lot of the work, he noted, goes “to help reunify families.” Day Report helps clients through “parenting classes, life skills, help with anger management issues,” said Taylor. “That’s where the money goes that you send us,” he added.
The update came along with the request for the county commission, as Pendleton, Hardy, and Hampshire all do, to provide $20,000 to help support operations. He stated that he had 17 staff members, “but that doesn’t cover what we need.” One full time and one part time staff person work out of the Franklin facility.
Taylor then returned to the subject of the General Services Center to share the advantages of the new location for them. He explained that some of his clients walked a distance to the office they had been using. “We are looking forward to the move to the new building,” Taylor told commissioners, adding that it’s “a better space for people.”
From there, he shared that they received a $250,000 grant from the West Virginia First Foundation that will help to provide programs for a youth services division. That will focus on truancy, juvenile probation, and other matters related to children and violations of the law. With truancy currently only addressed by juvenile probation which offers “no real treatment” options, Taylor expects that future services will help with the problems.
