The Wetzel County Commission met on Tuesday morning April 1st for a regular scheduled meeting to discuss agenda items and receive updates on the CityNet broadband project in Wetzel County. Commission president Lisa Heasley was absent. Vice- president Carla McBee called the meeting to order after commissioner Kelly Nelsen led in the Pledge of Allegiance. McBee then turned to Melissa O’Brien from CityNet to provide an update on the broadband internet project in the County.

O’Brien thanked the commission for their past support and donations to help fund the broadband internet project. O’Brien said that 311 customers are already using the new service and in the 113 miles of Wetzel County, there are 1326 possible new customers who could hook to the service. The Thrasher Group is doing the work and has a mid 2026 target completion. date. The CityNet Broadband headquarters is located in Bridgeport, WV.

Wetzel County Sheriff Eric Daugherty, and Chief Tax Deputy Brenda Scheibelhood, were present seeking answers for collecting delinquent taxes owed to the county, in particular from the Oil & Gas companies. Sheriff Daugherty said they have been in contact with Government Recovery Services to collect on the delinquent taxes, but they charge 25 percent of the delinquent taxes they collect for the county. Prosecutor Tim Haught said the Sheriff has the right to collect personal property if the taxes are not paid. He added he didn’t feel the Recovery Service would be beneficial because they do not file lawsuits to obtain the taxes and the county would probably still need to hire an attorney. The commission proposed setting up a special meeting with assessor Scott Lemley and BOE treasurer Jeff Lancaster to further discuss the matter.

Eric Daugherty, also asked for a break room for security officer’s, plus he requested storage space in the Courthouse basement. Prosecutor Haught said he also needs space for witnesses to stay instead of out in the hallways. The commission said that the Sheriff and Prosecutor can decide on how to divide the extra space being 4 rooms.

Jeff Montgomery, a Wetzel County resident spoke to the commission on the Consolidation of the 4 high schools in the county. Montgomery said he would like to see the county take over the old schools and preserve the legacies with plaques, etc of each school and possibly use the schools for other purposes also. The commission thanked Jeff for speaking on behalf of the future consolidation.

The commission approved the meeting minutes of March 18th and March 20th.

Placement of decals on OES truck was approved to be placed on by OES director

The application for EMPG Grant for OES was approved in which the grant would pay 50 percent of directors salaries.

The commission approved to proceed with inspection of building and historical registry requirements for the War Memorial Building with an engineering study to be conducted before work would begin.

Discussion on obtaining a postage machine for the Courthouse was approved by the commission to get quotes to move forward with the machine.

The appointments of board members to the Wetzel County Firefighters Association (The Fire Board) of Barb King, Kelly Nelsen, Gary Glasscock Jr., Robert Smith, Josh Smith, Greg Morris and Logan Hassig were approved.

The approval for tabled funding requests submitted during the budgeting period were as follows, Wetzel/Tyler Chamber of Commerce $20,000, WeCare Food Pantry $15,000, The Helping Hand $40,000 and a $100 donation to Magnolia After Prom Committee. Funding requests for fairs and festivals were tabled till a later meeting.

The discussion regarding dog shelter issues went into executive session.