BECKLEY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – The Raleigh County Commission convened for their Regular Session Tuesday which saw discussion of a number of projects in the works, new county employees and more.
Following the initial prayer and recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, exonerations were approved and budget revisions discussed. Tuesday’s session saw review of but a single budget revision which came in the form of a line item transfer from the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
This would see $2,000 taken from retirement and moved to travel, $6,000 from professional services into maintenance and equipment repair, and $12,000 from retirement into software; totalling in a $20,000 budget revision which would ultimately be approved by the commission.
A new employee for the Raleigh County Day Reporting Center, Mr. Rodney Sorrell, was approved during the meeting as well. Center Director James Miller presented the case for the new hire before the commission, pointing out the qualifications and experience Sorrell brought to the role, stating
“I’d like to present Mr. Rodney Sorrell. Rodney applied for the added Case Manager position. Rodney is a masters level social worker. He’s invested seven years of his life to be prepared for this and he’s been working with our clients for almost three years.He’s.Intimately familiar with our clients, they know his face. He’s going to be a wonderful addition to our program. He broadly passed the background check, he passed the pre appointment drug screen, and he is the perfect person for this job. I would I have money in my budget to pay him and I would present Mr. Sorrell for hiring.”
“Rodney, good to have you,” exclaimed Raleigh County Commission President Dave Tolliver upon approval of the motion.
Next, the commission recognized the Shady Spring Tigers Volleyball team as runners up in the 2022 State WV Volleyball Championship Tournament Class AAA before proceeding to consideration of a pair of projects, the first of which was the Clear Fork Rail Trail Project.
This consideration, which did see approval, will cover the next seven miles of the project, including the renovation of a 245 foot trail, the demolition of the existing Trestle Trail, access signage, and relating appurtenances. The total cost of phase two for the project is said to be $7,421,356.
Opening of bids for phase two of this project will occur at the Raleigh County Commission Chambers on February 21st at 10:00am, with a pre-bid meeting set for February 2nd, 11:00am at Whitesville Fire Department.
The next consideration was for the Ellison Ridge Water Project, which is to include funding from the Raleigh County Commission, Summers County Commission, Mercer County Commission, an WGA Economic Enhancement Grant, a West Virginia Drinking Water Treatment Revolving Fund Principal Forgiveness Grant, a Drinking Water Treatment Revolving Fund Loan, and a USDA Grant among others.
The total cost of this project will purportedly be $4,981,000, and the project will serve many new customers as well as offering improved service including fire protection and necessary upgrades for the Route 19 area. These will include roughly 35,000 linear feet of eight inch pipe, 120 linear feet of 12 inch spacing, 34 water meters, fire hydrants, lead detection meters, a booster station tie-in to Beckley Water Company, and one water storage tank – the size of which has yet to be determined. These upgraded systems are to run through the Cool Ridge Public Service District as per the motion, which was approved by the commission.
A proposed intergovernmental agreement between the City of Beckley, the Raleigh County Commission, and the Raleigh County Solid Waste Authority, which is said to be an annually recurring arrangement, was approved Tuesday as well.
Consideration of wifi upgrade at the Judicial Annex for an additional $3992.11 with a total project cost of $7718.17 was approved along with the 2022 fiscal year 2022 WV Homeland Security Grant for $20,000 for the Stop the Bleed program, the monthly COSAP report, and the revised 2023 Board of Review and Equalization schedule.
The appointment of Shelby Linville to the Raleigh County Building Code Appeals Board for a term expiring 1/17/2028 was approved just prior to the conclusion of the session.
It was announced prior to adjournment that there would be a schedule change for the next meeting of the Raleigh County Commission, which originally was slated to occur on Tuesday, February 7, 2023. As the county commissioners will be in a conference meeting in Charleston on this day, the next Regular Session of the county commission will take place one week later, February 14, 2023.
Additional LOOTPRESS coverage for the Raleigh County area can be found here.
