This site between East Benjamin and Paducah drives in New Martinsville will become a construction site soon as the necessary paperwork is coming together for the building of a new 911 Call Center. (Photo by Bruce Crawford)

The steps have now been properly taken for the Wetzel County Building Commission to issue lease revenue bonds not to exceed $1 million for the purpose of financing the costs of acquiring, constructing, and equipping a new 911 Call Center.

The center will be located on the site of the former Lewis Wetzel Personal Care Home in New Martinsville near Wetzel County Hospital.

While the ordinance approved by the building commission allows for up to $1 million, the aggregate principal amount will be $740,000 to be advanced by WesBanco at an initial rate not to exceed 4.4 percent. The rate is adjusted every five years at a rate equal to the sum of the Five Year Libor Swap plus 1.25 percent. The bonds become mature 20 years after their issuance with payments made quarterly at a current rate of just under $14,000.

In an act of necessary legalities, the County Commission conveyed the property for the building, 2.134 acres, and a right of way to the building commission for the purpose of building and equipping the new 911 Call Center. The building commission will then lease the property back to the county at a cost to meet the bond payments.

“You really have very limited obligation,” Attorney Camden P. Siegrist of Boles Rice McDavid Graff and Love LLP told the building commission. The county will make the payment directly to WesBanco. Comvest, Ltd. is the escrow agent.

The steps were necessary as the County Commission is not legally allowed to acquire long-term debt. The 911 center receives money from mobile phone fees. Wetzel County 911 Executive Director Ed Sapp said their account has already accumulated close to $1 million, from which the remainder of the $1.311 million project will come.

Also, the county commission has approved a contract with RC Contractors to build the center.