By Stephen Smoot
It was a mixed bag of news heard by the Pendleton County Commission, some good and some worrisome as the State of West Virginia’s busted budget continues to have a powerful ripple effect.
Commissioner Roger Dahmer opened with the invocation, praying, “Lord, we know that every day gives us another opportunity to serve.”
After a presentation by Barbara Fortner from Telamon’s Moorefield office and Diana Mitchell submitting a road change name for 911, Rick Gillespie shared an update on the Elk Mountain camera project.
The coordinator of county emergency services reported that the power company had hooked up the site and that Spruce Knob Seneca Rocks Telephone would soon attach fiber. Gillespie stated that the camera could be installed next week “unless there’s a blizzard or something.”
Dayne Davis, along with Sherri Mongold, came to provide an update on recent work conducted by the Seneca Rocks Regional Development Authority.
The SRRDA combined the scope of the Pendleton and Grant county economic development authorities in recent years, giving it a potentially larger impact in terms of obtaining investment, grants, and other inputs for economic development.
Davis briefly discussed Continent 8, a company that has moved into the long vacant data center near Petersburg. Continent 8 is a global operation listed among the top 20 of digitally connected corporations in the world.
He explained that data centers could serve as an attractive option for state economic development. The needs of artificial intelligence will require many more such centers that require vast amounts of electrical power to function. Ashburn, Virginia is one of the top cities on the globe for data center operations, but as an SRRDA meeting speaker shared last year, Commonwealth of Virginia regulations could stymie their construction and also that of the power needed to run them.
Continent 8 has hired three full time staff members with plans to double that soon. They also hired eight security employees for round the clock protection. Davis shared the viewpoint of Jim Linsenmeyer, a State of West Virginia regional economic development official, that Continent 8 has created $50,000 worth of tax revenue.
Davis then shared details of maintenance and upgrades undertaken on structures owned in Pendleton County by SRRDA, including the Shell Two building of the Pendleton County Industrial Park in Upper Tract and the Innovation Hub in Franklin.
Annie Humes then addressed the county commission, but this time as a Mon Forest Towns representative for Seneca Rocks and not interim executive director for the convention and visitors bureau.
Humes shared that Mon Forest Towns could provide Pendleton County an opportunity to have the development of a comprehensive plan paid for and produced by West Virginia University law students. Commissioners had heard a presentation last year concerning the proposal.
Jennifer Taylor-Ide, representing Friends of Beautiful Pendleton County at the meeting, spoke in support, saying, “I think something like this would serve the county” because it could “look down the road a few years and see what this county is going to look like and what do we want it to look like.”
Carl Hevener, Pendleton County Commission president, replied that the commission would set up a meeting to study the proposal more in depth.
Next, Dr. King Seegar addressed the meeting to “thank the commission for making funding available for Energy Express.”
Energy Express is a summer reading program conducted in conjunction with Pendleton County Schools with the support of Experience Learning. Students rising into grades first through fourth can qualify to participate. The program is seeking to fill positions associated with the program with high school students and others.
Seegar explained that the Pendleton County program has been designated a model program.
Mike Alt, training officer for Pendleton County Emergency rescue, gave a sobering report on the sudden disappearance of funds established by statute last year to enhance emergency responder compensation.
At the same time, new onerous regulations have appeared that place unneeded restrictions on how organizations, such as volunteer emergency response units, senior centers, or churches, can operate games such as bingo.
Alt, Gillespie, and commissioners all expressed concern about the sudden lack of funding, especially when monies have been distributed in anticipation of the legally established fund.
This comes at the same time as Alt reporting that state officials have referred to Pendleton County recently as a “poster child” of a jurisdiction that “made something from nothing” in terms of providing a high level of service from entirely volunteer units with very little funding.
