By Stephen Smoot
The wheels of government grind slow, even when working to repair one of their own facilities. With Susan Thomas, Harrison County Commission President, absent, both remaining commissioners David Hinkle and Patsy Trecost expressed frustrations with the slow movement of the Courthouse elevator project and worked to get it commenced.
Hinkle ran the meeting and opened by asking Trecost to give his customary invocation. He prayed “Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.”
Attendees then rose to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
Commissioners then addressed the agenda, starting with approving the promotion of 13 staff in 911.
Next, Commissioners heard from the American Red Cross. They came with a funding request and also heard a Proclamation in the organization’s honor read and passed.
Christian Leonard, a Board member with the Allegheny Highlands division, and Michelle Duez, a volunteer, shared the story of Red Cross activities over the past year. Duez started by sharing how much the Red Cross has appreciated support from Harrison County in the past, mostly by the numbers.
Accomplishments mentioned included collecting 1,189 units of “life-saving blood”, conducting 42 blood drives, working on 17 cases with their Armed Forces Program, 400 smoke detectors installed with the assistance of the Nutter Fort Fire Department, 922 finishing first aid courses, 141 completing aquatic safety, and 21 cases where the Red Cross provided direct help to households in Harrison County.
She also shared the date and location of upcoming blood drives, including one at Lincoln High School on May 15.
They requested $5,000 to help to fund disaster cycle services, which was approved. Hinkle added “we appreciate all that you do.” Disaster cycle services refer to what the Red Cross does in response to floods, wildfires, earthquakes, or other disasters.
Next came the proclamation for American Red Cross month, read by Laura Pysz-Laulis, Harrison County Administrator. It started by “recognizing the compassionate acts of people in Harrison County” who, among many others, are “bringing out the best in humanity in times of crisis. The proclamation overall was passed “in honor of their remarkable service.”
After approving the appointment of Cassandra Vanhorn to the Centra Bus Board, Commissioners tackled the first discussion related to restoring proper elevator service in the Courthouse.
Discussion first examined the question of a resolution to apply for a 2026 State Development Grant through the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture, and History. If awarded, the grant would pay 50 percent toward the cost of the elevators without a limit on how much the Commission may request.
The resolution had a placeholder amount of $500,000, which comes to approximately half of the highest bid in hand.
Hinkle asked, “do we have any kind of feeling on how they’ve performed in the past awarding something like this?”
The answer to his query stated that while Harrison County has not applied for a grant of this nature from this agency before, Harrison County Courthouse meets the criteria for the grant. These include location in a historical district and improving public access to the structure.
Hinkle also learned that, if approved, the grant could reimburse monies spent before July 1 when the grant would be disbursed. Also, $100,000 already received in grant funding for the project could be used in the 50 percent match.
Hinkle and Trecost engaged in some debate over how to proceed. “Is there a budget you want to put on here, Patsy, or is it open-ended,” asked Hinkle.
Trecost indicated that he wanted to move forward to restore optimal access as quickly as possible. He said to an official in the room “whatever he wants to do, for the record, I want you to get it done.”
Hinkle explained that he was concerned about undefined costs, saying “what I’m worried about, Patsy, is when they say ‘additional work required’ by trades and code. That scares me.” He also stated that “I’ve been a proponent of getting this done.”
After more conversation, Hinkle said that he would prefer to discuss the matter further “one on one,” adding “I don’t think we need to air that out in public.”
Commissioners went on to discuss other aspects of the project, including the proposed timeline which would possibly put final installation at the close of 2025. Hinkle closed discussion by saying to officials “if there’s anything Patsy and I can do to help, please let us know.”
Pysz-Laulis shared in her administrator’s report that she had received budget requirements from all County elected officials and that a meeting would be coming up to discuss.
Trecost and Pysz-Laulis also expressed disappointment in what they saw as the insufficient performance of the Courthouse cleaning crew.
