By Stephen Smoot
“Father, You offer us faith. You offer us Love. You offer us hope – freely Lord,” prayed Harrison County Commissioner Patsy Trecost during the traditional invocation.
Commissioners first heard from Stephen Fishner, representing the “Amicis” musical group. He shared that they enjoy promoting West Virginia during their performances outside the state. Recently, they accepted an invitation to perform in New York City by the Columbus Citizen Foundation. Amicis played as their house band during a radio show.
Fishner related that he had heard praise of Clarksburg’s Robinson Grand Theater by a musical performer present.
“We were the first West Virginia band to play on that stage,” he noted.
Commissioners next approved and read a proclamation for “West Virginia Goes Purple,” an organizational movement that seeks to use the color purple as a symbol for drug recovery. During observational periods, those who support the movement can display purple in any fashion they wish to demonstrate support or raise awareness.
Harrison County Commission President Susan Thomas read the document aloud, which stated that it “celebrates those in recovery for their strength and perseverance.”
Next came a series of special funding requests from the Commission. The first came from the area’s Civil Air Patrol. Acting Captain Sam Harold came with Cadet Lieutenant John Farnsworth and Cadet master Sergeant Matthew Farnsworth. Both of the Farnsworths participate in the Clarksburg Composite Squadron.
Harold shared that “Civil Air Patrol is primarily an emergency services and search and rescue organization, but developing the next generation of aerospace skills and excellence represents another key aspect of their mission.
Cadet programs foster leadership skills, character development, and aerospace education for students between the ages of 13 and 18. Across West Virginia, 14 such programs benefit local communities. Harold related that the state had supported these programs to the amount of $7,500 a piece, but that budget had seen cuts this year that dropped that amount to $5,000.
Commissioners approved the $1,500 request. They went on to grant $3,000 to the Italian heritage festival and also $3,000 for the fundraising fair put on by the Johnstown CEOS. The 71st annual fair will take place on Sept 12 and 13 and include live music, a bake sale, and much more.
Commissioners then debated with the County Administrator, Laura Pysz-Laulis, over a proposed hire for human resources work. The agenda for Aug 6 featured an item concerning a possible hire for those tasks, but Trecost questioned the need.
Thomas responded that “she’s inundated with HR . . . that’s why the request was made.” Trecost responded with “that’s the job she took.”
Pysz-Laulis explained that a new HR staff person would “take care of worker issues, whether it be workman’s comp tying me down, FMLA (Family and Medical leave Act) paperwork, training for HR, they can work on training for our department heads, supervisory skills,” she listed, but then also added “procurement and requisitions.”
She emphasized that if she had an HR staff person to handle these issues, “I can work on tasks that have been voted on that I need to accomplish.” She went on to shared that “especially with an HR issue, I have to stop what I’m doing right then and there.”
Trecost repeated “that’s the job you took, Laura.”
Pysz-Laulis reiterated in response that “I’d like to be able to work on some of these things that have been voted on,” to which Trecost stated that one of his concerns lay in adding to salary expenses.
“I don’t disagree with Commissioner Trecost. I just hope now that the work gets done,” observed Thomas as she and Commissioner David Hinkle voted in favor of the proposal. Thomas then said “I didn’t agree to that unless they were doing requisitions and procurement. I agree with him (Trecost) to a certain extent.”
Later in the meeting, Commissioners debated another proposed hire, this time of a deputy director for the Harrison County Office of Emergency Management and 911 service. Pysz-Laulis explained that the arrangement would allow the incumbent director to train her replacement so that she could retire. Hiring a new director upon her retirement would represent “a lot of responsibility to put on a person. At least let them get trained.”
This time, Hinkle raised questions as to the utility of hiring additional personnel, but said “I would just prefer we hire a new director if that’s the case” and put the former director in subordinate role as an advisor and mentor. He also mentioned that the County could hire an experienced OEM director when needed so “they wouldn’t have to learn anything.”
Trecost suggested “don’t do anything at all” and that the current director “does a fine job” and opposed “adding again today to our fine line.” All three commissioners declined to vote to hire a deputy director for OEM. “We’ve got assistants for assistant for assistants,” stated Trecost in frustration.
Commissioners then got to put their official stamp of approval to the merger of water operations between Summit Park Public Service District and the Clarksburg Water Board. Representatives from CWB explained that “this is not a rescue operation. They’ve done a fine job. The problem is one of scale.”
Larger operations have the capacity to spread costs across a much larger base of customers, reducing the pain felt by individual households or businesses.
Summit Park PSD faced mounting issues in its system, including water loss rates that ranged between 32 and almost 40 percent last spring. “The utility needs capital improvements,” noted CWB’s representation. The deal requires the assent of the West Virginia Public Service Commission for final approval.
Thomas confirmed “this is just for the water?” Harrison County attorney Trey Simmerman confirmed that and stated that sewer system consolidation would appear on the next County Commission meeting agenda.
Hinkle asked “did the Board of Summit Park dissolve?” Simmerman said “that’s up to the County Commission,” but added that they will have nothing to do since the CWB will assume ownership of all PSD property. Simmerman noted that Summit Park PSD carried no debt at the time of the merger, meaning CWB would assume no financial burden in that fashion.
“That’s great!” exclaimed Hinkle. Thomas followed with “I’m glad today is here” and told those involved “good job, guys.”
