Commission to consider hiring county coordinator

Wednesday May 06, 2009
Commission to consider hiring county coordinator
Pamela Pritt
Editor

County commissioners said Tuesday they will consider hiring a county coordinator to be a point person for future economic development projects, distill community ideas and to write grants.

The idea was brought to the commission by a group of residents who support the idea for a coordinator. While the group was appreciative of volunteer undertakings and of the commission’s planning endeavors, they said, in effect, a more concentrated effort is needed to fulfill the county’s future needs.

“There’s been increasing conversation about how to move Pocahontas County forward in terms of education, quality of life issues [and] different initiatives,” said Allen Johnson.

Johnson was the first to acknowledge volunteer efforts, but said that volunteers often have regular jobs, family obligations and other commitments. It’s time to consider a community organizer, he continued.

“We want to spark this conversation,” Johnson said. “The time is ripe to press forward with this.”

Gil Willis noted that the county has a “several million dollar a year tourism industry.”

“We need to join together our local resources,” Willis said. “We have fragments of a lot of great things going on. We need to figure out what our strengths are.”

Willis said the county could get beyond the differences of the past, in addition to planning for the future.

“I’m hoping that you will see a value to this,” he told the commission.

Getting grants written and approved would be one of the advantages of having a coordinator, Mike Holstine told commissioners. Holstine noted that the City of Charleston recently hired two grant writers who have written 90 grants between them.

“A central point of contact is always a way to go about that,” he said. “Pocahontas County needs now a central point of contact for the county commission, the grantors, the citizens.”

Willis said he hoped the coordinator would spend 35 percent of his time in planning, 35 percent in grant writing and the remaining 30 percent in community efforts.

Commissioners were receptive to the idea of a county coordinator, with an eye on the budget.

“We have to look at our future as a business, an enterprise that has got to prosper,” commission president Martin Saffer said. “This is not solely about economic development; it’s about protecting the environment and about new industries, getting on the bandwagon about sustaining our future. [But] the county commission needs to recognize the need for funding.

“Planning is not something we should shirk away from,” he continued. “This person could help us achieve an understanding of planning and what that means.”

Commissioners Reta Griffith and David Fleming were also agreeable to the idea; however, Griffith had a few cautionary words for her fellow commissioners.

A county coordinator position is extremely political, she said, and the success of that person rides on the composition of the county commission. The high stress job could have high turnover, she said.

“I don’t want to sacrifice a good individual to our current politics,” Griffith said. “I don’t want to stand in the way of progress; if you find the right person, you should grab them.”

Commissioners will discuss job description and salary at the next meeting.

Commissioners discuss PSD for Snowshoe
Fleming said he wanted to talk about the formation of a new Public Service District that will serve Snowshoe and/or the Slaty Fork area.

The commissioner suggested a public meeting to “invite the citizenry of the area” for their input.

Two such citizens attended Tuesday’s meeting.

Snowshoe Property Owners Council member Donelle Oxley said it was fair to say that SPOC is in favor of a second PSD because the organization does not believe the current PSD members are listening to them.

“We do not feel that the PSD have listened to what the people say they want done. We do support your efforts to back the Elk Headwaters (Watershed Association),” she said. “If forming a new PSD is the best way to go, then we certainly would support that.”

Oxley said a large majority of homeowners at Snowshoe are not keeping up with this; all they know is they get a bill three-to-five times larger than it was in December. Those are interim rates which will rise if the regional plant is constructed.

Of the homeowners who are aware of the issue, a majority of those are in favor of the commission’s recent efforts, she said.

Fleming said he had suggested blocking funding for the regional plant because he felt a large contingency of the customer base is against building a large, regional facility.

“If the community does want some changes to the current PSD structure, then it falls in our lap,” Fleming said.

Fleming said a current PSD board member’s term is about to expire and he wants to consider other people for the seat.

“At that time, I want to begin looking at finding someone different to serve in that post,” he said. “That could change the balance of things.”

But regardless of membership, Fleming said he thought the Snowshoe/Slaty Fork area should have its own PSD.

Oxley said she agreed.

Tom Shipley brought with him some historical background on the formation of a new PSD in Tucker County.

Shipley said the similarities of the two areas are great.

A Public Service Commission order approved the creation of a new PSD in Tucker County to provide a “new decentralized sewer treatment facility for Canaan Valley,” Shipley said.

The Tucker County commissioners said they believe this is the start of a solution, to allow the people who live in the area to have some control over the situation they live in, Shipley related.

Griffith said the new district would have to have separate boundaries from the current PSD.

When the Pocahontas Public Service District was created in 1996, the towns of Marlinton and Hillsboro and Intrawest properties Snowshoe and Silver Creek were excluded. The sewage treatment plant at Snowshoe was transferred to the PSD this month.

Any other project that you would ever have within the PSD bounds would have to have the same rates as the Snowshoe/Slaty Fork project, Shipley said.

Commissioners will continue to discuss the issue of a second PSD.

“If it’s clear this is what the community wants, then I think we have some pretty heavy lifting to do,” Fleming said.

On a 2-1 vote, commissioners decided to run an advertisement for three weeks to recruit a new member for the PSD. While they would not say that current PSD president Bill Rexrode “need not apply,” Fleming and Saffer are clearly looking for another person to fill that seat.

Griffith said she opposed the motion because “paying for ads with county tax dollars is overkill.”

“It’s part of the ongoing bigger issue,” she said. “I don’t see why we have to pay for an ad to appoint somebody they’ve already been talking to.”

Saffer has said he would consider Shipley for the post.

The PSD pays $50 per month for a six-year term and the applicant cannot live in the municipalities of Marlinton or Hillsboro. The person selected must attend training. Anyone interested in serving may contact the commission at 304-799-6063 or any commissioner individually.

In other business, the commission:

•voted to hire a VISTA volunteer to work for the Pocahontas County Water Resources Task Force and the Elk Headwaters Watershed Association.

•directed that other elected officials be asked to attend the next commission meeting to explain their positions on the courthouse drug abuse policy. Only Circuit Clerk Butch Michael has complied with the commission’s suggestion that all employees be in the random test pool.

•proclaimed May Community Action Month.

•voted to hire an engineer for the final phase of the East Fork Industrial Park cleanup.

The commission will meet again in regular session May 19.