SUMMARY
I. Introduction
   Clay County consists of 344 square miles in the very center of West Virginia. Most of the County is steep mountain ranges providing vistas with beautiful views. The area is a mecca for naturalists and others who enjoy the wildlife, wildflowers, and other creations of nature.
   The County is fortunate to contain a large section of the Elk River. This river is the only river in West Virginia that begins and ends within the State borders. The river provides flat water boating, fishing, and other recreational activities. The new Elk River Rail-Trail follows the river through Clay County.
   According to the 2000 census, there were over 10,000 residents in the County. By 2010, farm closures; reduction in coal, oil, and gas production; and lack of employment reduced the population in the County by 10%. This has resulted in the loss of numerous retail and service businesses. This trend continues and has created serious deficiency in operating funds for the County and its Municipalities.
   The average County per capita income in 2020 was $18,545 with a media household income of $25,154. 23.3% of the population live in poverty.1
   The massive flood on the Elk River in 2016 did extensive damage to the County leaving damaged and dilapidated building, much siltation, an abundance of trash, and destruction of vegetation along the river. Clay County continues to recover from this natural disaster.
   This Strategic Plan has been developed to provide a comprehensive picture of the many areas that must be encompassed to restore quality of life and economic development in the County. All of the tasks are intertwined and cannot successfully be done in sequence. Parallel projects must be active at any given time to reach success. This plan proposes a five year program and should be reviewed and updated each year.
   The current Federal spending provides an opportunity for the County to initiate the required programs. All of the programs can commence with an instilled optimistic attitude.
II. Preparing the baseline functions and business needs for the County
A. Clean-up our County and its assets
1 Source – US Census – 2021 Update


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  There are many damaged, dilapidated, and abandon structures in the County. These provide an unsafe environment, promotes poor health conditions, and becomes a home for
rats, mice and other pests. The County needs to subscribe to the WVU Bad Buildings Program.
  This is a self-supporting program to bring properties and buildings up to State Code for health and safety concerns as well as to improve the visual impression of the County. It is a long term program which may require several years to reach an acceptable plateau but will
eventually provide a tool which will maintain standards set by the County.  The program requires a coordinator which can be a volunteer, existing employee, or a new employment position for the County. A volunteer committee determines when and how a property fits into the program and the Sheriff’s department provides the actual enforcement.
  Two new County ordinances are required for the program. One is the formal acceptance of the West Virginia minimum building requirements. The second provides the County Commission the authority to have the program and sets certain parameters.
  The Elk River also needs a major clean-up. Tires, appliances, plastic items, bottles &
cans, and other foreign items need to be gathered and removed from the river and its banks.
This can be accomplished by volunteers if appropriate resources are provided. This includes
boats or other floating devices to load the collected objects onto; with trucks/trailers at key
locations to accept the collection and to transport the items to designated disposal areas.
   It is estimated that as many as half of the resident structures/trailers along the river
are dumping their gray water directly into the river. This includes failed septic systems at
some locations. The results of this issue are hazards of e-coli in swimming and in
contaminating the fish in the river. The sources need to be identified and eliminated. This is
a responsibility of the County Sanitarian. Volunteer help with water testing can accomplish
this improvement.
B. Marketing the County
   The new County website does a very good job of identifying the County offices and
the key administrative personnel. Contact information, hours of operation, etc. are included
on the website. However, it is not designed as a marketing tool for the County. We need a
website that contains event calendars with explanations of the events, historic County dates,
and other reasons non-residents should visit the County. Lots of pictures, current news etc.
The information should be updated weekly if not daily.
   How do non-residents know where Clay County is and what it offers the visitor? The
County needs an up-to-date brochure which can be distributed to highway rest stops, lodging
facilities, and other key visitor outlets to inform the public what our county offers. It should
be updated annually or when reprinting is needed. The design of the brochure could be
provided at no charge by student marketing projects at WV Universities or by any resident
with a marketing background.

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   Other public media venues should be utilized to market the County such as Facebook.
Also, news releases such as a river clean-up, apple festival, and other events should be sent
to as many news sources as possible. This includes local newspapers, TV stations, Radio
stations, and related organizations. Submitting announcements before the events to these
same sources will help market the County, improve attendance, and encourage media
coverage.
  The roads in the County have a person traveling towards every point of the compass to get to their destination. Visitors can feel lost and confused. Creating many custom signs will make it more comfortable for the visitor to access the county. The signs should be unique so that they are associated with our county. Billboards should also provide welcoming signs for visitors. This will be a good use of the BDA billboard in Wallback and other locations that can be acquired.
   A marketing team should be established and equipped to attend events and distribute information for the County. They should have the ability to set up a booth at the State Fair,
regional festivals, appropriate conferences, and other events to provide information about
the County and promote its events. This team would also distribute brochures and information to restaurants, lodging facilities, rest areas, airport, and other visitor frequented
locations.
  The County is an ideal destination for retirees both as a resident and for visitation. The natural resources in the County will provide a mecca for nature lovers viewing; photographing; and studying the faunas, flora, geology, and history that exists here. Local
real-estate companies should be given related brochures and other information.
   Many group sport activities are well suited for the County. Marathons, bike rides,
kayak/canoe runs, sport car rallies, motorcycle rallies, GPS/compass orienteering, and other
addictive activities are well suited to the County. These can be organized by our residents or
solicited to related organizations.
  Geocaching2 is an individual, couple, or family outdoor recreation function that brings visitors into an area. It is challenging and fun. The County is an ideal place to establish
geocaching sites. This can be done inexpensively and works well as a marketing tool for the
county.
  III. Develop program to make the County more inviting
Establish welcome signage with landscaping at every major entrance to the County.
These can be designed through student projects or by the Parks and Recreation Committee.
The Committee should also be responsible for the maintenance of these welcome projects.
• Route 4 at Duck
• Route 4 at Clendenin
2 For more information - https://www.activeoutdoors.info/geocaching-with-a-gps/
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• Route 16 at I-79
• Route 16 at Bentree
• Route 36 at Wallback
  Develop a driving tour within the County’s perimeters with maps, historical stops,
scenic vistas, stops at sites of folk tales, and will route visitors past appropriate retail
businesses.
  Construct kiosks at appropriate locations with pictures, maps, emergency phone numbers, etc. These may also contain retail advertising to create maintenance revenue for the kiosks.
  These projects will have significant impact on visitors and provide a sense of future return for them. They also provide landmarks for directions to various industries and businesses in the County.
   IV. Commercial land acquisition
  A tract of land to hold an annual county fair, large festivals, major events, and others
is absent in the County. There are no properties suitable for large businesses with infrastructure including access, water, sewer, electric, and broadband.  There is currently substantial opportunity to obtain grant money for the purchase of land for community and business use. The County must be proactive to obtain these grants as these funds will not be available for a long period of time.  An effort to solicit donated land from property owners to the County should be ongoing. A campaign should be staged to educate landowners in the benefits of donating their property and the simplicity of the process. These acquisitions can be developed for appropriate use by the County and/or leased for other commercial use. State property tax sales should be monitored and negotiated for acquisition for public use in the County.
   V. Infrastructure development
  There are no sewage treatment facilities in the County other than the Town of Clay. Many properties along the Elk River and other steams currently dump their gray water directly into the streams. Extensive pollution keeps e-coli levels high and inhibits swimming and consumption of fish from the streams. The County should take advantage of the current access to grant money to expedite a county-wide engineering plan for sewer lines, lift stations, and treatment sites. The study will be required in order to apply for implementation funds in the future.
  This also applies to expansion of water treatment and distribution systems for the County. Much of the current piping is obsolete, undersized for needed volume, and

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inadequate for maintaining proper pressure. An engineering plan for this will also be
required for future expansion of this infrastructure item. Access to broadband is currently propagating in the southern part of the County. However, the northern section, above the town of Clay, has not even had an engineering study performed for this utility. This affects the many students in the northern area as well as general family and business access. Broadband access is a priority function by the Federal government making grant funds easily available. This issue should be a county priority. To bring manufacturing, distributing, and other logistic enterprises to the County, we must assure transportation routes are in good condition. Constant pressure should be applied to the Department of Highways to upgrade key roads to assure access for large trucks. Not only is road quality important but structure and maneuverability are concerns for major industries.
   VI. Preparing resources to support economic development
   As work begins on the County improvements and tourism increases, more and more supporting retail businesses will be needed. Lodging facilities, food venues, equipment rentals, supply chains, etc. will be needed locally. These will also be sought by tourist and new residents including grocery stores, construction contractors, repair services, and outfitters. Similarly, new businesses and industrial corporations will have need of unique support services.
   Housing developers will be needed for both single family and apartment type housing as employees and their families as well as permanent residents when they commence moving
into the County. As these businesses start working, lumber, concrete, roofing, plumbing,
electrical, and other trade businesses will come. Business locations and infrastructure must
be in place when these companies arrive.
   As the County grows and becomes more attractive to new residents, there will be a steady increase in needs such as law enforcement, medical & dental services, emergency services, and other services which will happen automatically but will need funds for additional equipment and personnel. The county school system will be required to update curriculum to prepare students for the jobs in the local industries. This includes construction trades for the county’s expansion. The school system should be advised of this projected need. They also need to be prepared for additional K-12 schools as workforce increases.
   VII. Conclusion
   There are many projects exposed in this document. The first impression is, “There is no way these needs can be met”. That is only true if no one tries. Everything is possible if a
unified effort is made to obtain funding, responsibilities are assigned to appropriate people,

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and volunteers are recruited where needed. There are many resources available and knowledgeable experts available to assist the effort.  Remember:  There are grants that don’t require matching funds.There are grants that can be used as matching funds.  There are other sources of funding for matching funds. If the County will move forward with as many projects as possible, it will be a success.  We understand that all projects may not get off the ground during the five-year plan and some projects may take years to complete. But doing nothing is the worst decision.
   VIII. Restatement of Purpose
   This five-year Strategic Plan is provided to start the process of bringing Clay County
up to today’s accepted standards, restore quality of life, and stabilize the economic status of
its residents and their government.
IX. Summarize
A. Do the things that can be accomplished easily.
B. Select the projects that are most important and most likely to obtain grant funding.
C. Submit applications for as many grants as we can.
D. Don’t stop the effort as all things are possible if you believe in them.
Don’t forget the “Ant and the Rubber Tree”!