Bids Opened for Emergency Response Vehicle
The Wetzel County Commission met for its final meeting of the year on Wednesday, Dec. 27. It was also the last day for Wetzel County Commissioner Don Mason, who received an award on behalf of Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin for his many years of service to Wetzel County.
In business matters, a motion passed accepting a bid on the public stream access, located at the 4-H grounds in the amount of $44,073.62. Klug Excavating will be doing the work over the next few months and plan to be finished around April or May.
The commission also agreed to accept a bid in the amount of $15,900 from Treemendous Tree Trimming to remove about 44 trees around the animal shelter that could potentially fall and cause structural damage. The job is estimated to last two to three weeks.
In a previous meeting, the commission opened bids for the mobile emergency command/ communications vehicle. There was only one bid presented to the commissioners from Farber Specialty Vehicles, located in Reynoldsburg Ohio, in the amount of $267,243. The commission agreed to accept the bid , and the vehicle should take around four months to build.
In another matter, the commission agreed to to grant vacation days to a couple of different employees. They also approved a motion to donate $6,000 to the West Virginia Route 2/Interstate 68 Authority. A motion also passed to donate $1,000 to the Hundred Area PRIDE organization and $1,000 to Artslink.
County Prosecutor Tim Haught visited the commissioners to discuss a few of the upcoming changes that he and his staff will be administering. Haught explained that there is a forward movement in technology, and soon most court documents will be converted to an online database, for both ease of access and to reduce the amount of stored paper documents. This will free up space and allow for quick access to other court cases, important documents, and necessary evidence used to build a case. Haught stated that his office goes through too many color toner cartridges for their printers, so he brought in a quote for a color copier, which also has scanning and faxing capabilities. Haught feels that the copier will pay for itself in time. The commission agreed to issue a new lease with Haught, which will include a $50 a month increase to cover the cost of the copier.
Haught also went over some of the security issues of his office with the commissioners. Haught will be purchasing new locks for the doors on the front of his office and brought forth a quote to the commissioners from Camel Technologies. The locking system will come along with a security camera focused on the entrance. The commissioners passed a motion to enter a sales agreement with Camel Technologies in the amount of $2,907 dollars upon receiving an invoice for the security items.