Clay
County
Commission met in regular session Feb 12th beginning at 10am.
All three
elected folks, Connie Workman, Greg Fitzwater, and Fran
King, were
back in the saddle up front and more than a dozen sat in the
peanut gallery.
It's
official.
They plan to float an Excess Levy during the May 12th Primary
Election.
If passed, the new hole in your wallet will be used to fund
the Sheriff's
Dept with an emphasis on starting evening patrols.
The
final
payment was made for the now completed Pack Fork wawa line
extension.
Last
month
leadership approved an absolutely meaningless Sanctuary County
vote. Having
to do with gun rights, that vote had no teeth and says nothing
more, maybe
less, than our absolute right to own guns under the West
Virginia Constitution.
This
time
around, number 16 on the agenda, was the vote reading, "
resolution regarding
the Opioid Epidemic." Other than noting the drug problems are
a public
nuisance, nothing more.
Going on
five
years now, there is a group working to improve internet
service in County
Clay. That three county regional effort has now been consumed
into a larger
body called Regional Optical Communications, Inc. That
group, ROC,
has a meeting next week (26th I think) but that meeting is
closed to the
public.
911 Dispatch Director Becky Pritt
For those running for office
or otherwise
think the Commissioners show up for a public meeting twice a
month,
draw their $$$, and nothing more. Wrong. During discussion time,
Commissioner
Kinder spoke on attending a WVU Extension Service and a Mid Ohio
Valley
meeting earlier this month. Fitz did his part by attending the
BDA meeting
Feb 10th.
Fran King was not piking off
either.
King brought everyone up to date on serious repairs needed out
at Clay
County Park and the Swimming Pool. Including the Park needing a
facelift,
plans are under way to build a new softball field there and
storage building
s at both places.
Choo Choo man, Dustin Fitzwater
Then came the trash talk. This
topic
was brought forward by Dustin Fitzwater. The gist of it was:
Clayberry
has tons of litter along the roadways and no tourist want to see
that crapola.
Dustin and others think the reason why local Magistrates refuse
to fine
locals is because the minimum fine for such an offense is $2000.
Everybody
was in agreement, if that 2000 figure is outragious in the
amount of penalty.
One guy added, if we're talking
ugly, they also need to talk about cleaning up the backside of
buildings,
homes, along the banks of the Elk River. Commissioner King said
a coat
of paint would go a long ways to improving our look as well as
home owners
doing some clean up on their private property.
Commissioner Fitzwater mentioned that
the annual metal, trash, electronics, tires, Clean Up Day will
be coming
in April this year.
And next to finally, there's a huge
Sycamore
tree near Widen. That tree, maybe the second largest in the
State, sets
on private property. According to the Franster, the land holding
property
owner has now fenced off the tree. Property manager Greg
Welhelm, according
to Ms King, doesn't care a hoot what we think about making the
place a
no trespassing zone.
She also brought up a tax issue as
she
sees it. According to the Gospel of Fran, those large land
owners are given
tax breaks instead of being charged extra for leasing their
holdings out
to hunting clubs. She sees it as rental property which normally
has higher
tax rates.
Finally, according to Greg Fitzwater,
there will be a new river access point completed as soon as the
weather
cooperates this Spring. The long overdue project (behind the 911
center)
is needed so boaters can pull into the downtown area, step out,
and purchase
stuff in downtown Clay.
The meeting was over in 28 minutes.
AW