Pine Grove Seeks Rent From Seniors
The Pine Grove Town Council wants to meet with Wetzel County Committee on Aging Director Mary Ash concerning payment for use of the lower level of the Byrd Center.
According to the town, the WCCA does not pay any rent for use of the space, however Family Service pays rent for use of the kitchen. The senior center is open five days per week.
“The people of Pine Grove are paying the bill for them,” said Councilman Bob Adams. “Now there’s something wrong. We have asked that lady and asked that lady to come out here and talk with us.”
The town indicted they would be willing to meet with Ash during the day if an evening council meeting is a hardship for her.
Councilman John Johnston said he has heard the WCCA would be willing to take area seniors by van to New Martinsville and do away with the local center.
“We don’t want to shut the seniors down,” noted Mayor Dave Barr.
Also, Recorder Kimmy Bates said she is receiving complaints about the cleanliness, or lack thereof, of the area. It is not the town’s responsibility to clean that space and currently the senior center does not have a janitor for the area.
In another matter, council agreed to offer rental of the Byrd Center to American Legion Post 81 for Bingo at a cost of $75 per week for six months, with the option to renew three times for a total of two years. That is an increase of $20 per session. The motion passed with Councilman Adams offering the only dissenting vote. “It’s basically $4,000 a year on Monday night,” noted Mayor Barr.
The town received permission to put up “No Parking” signs wherever they want in town, including on state or county routes. The council complained at last month’s meeting about the parking situation on Main Street when services and activities are being held at the Chapel of Victory Church.
Council members noted that the church’s parking lot is empty while the street is full, making it difficult to navigate. “If we put the signs up, maybe they’ll not park there,” said Mayor Dave Barr.
Resident Freda Bates has told the town that she is tickled to death that the lighted snowflakes are up in the town. Councilman Dave Williams had the idea to put up the decorations and town workers painted and rewired the displays. They now need to make some new brackets and then even more will be put on utility poles for the holiday season.
Council directed the town workers to go ahead and treat the town’s roads during inclement weather without waiting on an order from the mayor or council. Also, Mayor Barr said if the town knows it is going to get bad weather, they could leave the town’s cinder truck at the top of the hill with a tarp over the contents, so it could easily go down the town hill and treat the difficult road.
In a related matter, council voted to purchase a joystick for the snow plow at a cost of $150 to be installed by Mike Leek. “We can’t afford it, but we can’t afford not to have it,” said Mayor Barr.
The town will be interviewing three engineering firms–S&S Engineering of Charleston, Thrasher Engineering of Clarksburg, and Swiss Valley Associates of Hannibal–on Thursday for a possible sewage system upgrade.
Finally, the town must redo the process to pull the meter for Martin’s Hardware as the town crew accidentally removed the wrong water meter after they had followed the proper notice procedures last time.
Building owner Rick Barr came before council Monday to tell them of the error, noting that tenant Emily Robinson has no water while the hardware store still does. Ed Martin who owns the store had not reported the error.
“We appreciate that,” said Bates of the new property owner reporting the error.
“If I was Ed Martin, I wouldn’t have told you either,” said Adams.