By Stephen Smoot
“Holy Father, thank You for this past season that we got to celebrate,” prayed Harrison County Commissioner Patsy Trecost as he gave the customary invocation for the opening of the first regular meeting of 2026.
Initially, the Commission got start of the year matters out of the way. Trecost nominated 2025 Harrison County Commission President Susan Thomas to reprise the role for 2026 and she was approved. During the discussion about renewing the 2025 schedule of meetings in toto, Commissioner David Hinkle suggested that on the opening day of the Italian Heritage Festival that the Harrison County Courthouse close at 11 a.m. instead of 12 noon.
He suggested that would provide an hour for county employees to “clear out” before the official opening of the Festival at noon.
Next came discussion of Board appointments for 2025 and Commissioner Trecost made a motion to keep them the same in 2026. Commissioner Hinkle voted against when brought for a vote. Upon hearing Trecost inquire as to why, Hinkle responded that “I think you two know my opinion on one of us not serving on the Corporation Board. To me, that’s important that we fund that and I think a Commissioner should stay on that and not an outside person.”
Kennedy Roberts came to speak to the Commission as a representative of the office of United States Representative Riley Moore. He came to share the Congressman’s proposed funding for projects across the state, “including projects for Harrison County.” While not “at the finish line” yet, as Roberts described, he shared that they had “cleared another significant hurdle over the weekend.”
He added that requests for congressionally directed spending proposals would open in the next six weeks. Roberts additionally pointed out that the office had helped West Virginians get back about $4.3 million owed to them by the federal government.
Payroll change requests, that usually refer to those entering or leaving a County job, also brought discussion. Hinkle asked about the large number of resignations at once. County Administrator Laura Pysz-Laulis responded that some referred to retirement or other reasons over the course of a year.
One proposed hire brought from Hinkle some ire, that of a Parks and Recreation “recreation specialist.” Hinkle objected, stating his reasoning as that he had never received budgetary and planning information from the agency that he had requested. Thomas replied that she had met with the new director and explained that she was now satisfied that certain “variables:” that raised questions previously were no longer an issue.
Hinkle asked who had placed the new hire on the agenda; Pysz-Laulis had placed it there.
“As a Commissioner, I’m being sidestepped by you and the Commission on this one,” stated Hinkle. He then said that has had asked about the need for the new position, asked “the new person running Parks and recreation to give us a plan on what’s going on. I haven’t seen it.”
He then said “Harrison County is the number one place to come to work because we don’t care what the end product is, but we want to have lots of employees.”
Later, Hinkle suggested that new hires from Commission and other county elected officials introduce themselves to the Commission upon hire “to give us a chance to welcome them.”
After the votes to approve payroll changes came a special funding request from a student organization at Robert C. Byrd High School. Juliana Jules Haddox came on behalf of the high school’s youth leadership organization. She described the group as “a student led organization dedicated to promoting civic engagement, leadership development, and public service.”
She described the organization’s participation in the Youth in Government program, a simulated experience that students can undertake in a circuit court or at the State Capitol sitting as a mock legislature. Haddox came to request help to defer the $400 per person cost for the event. Hinkle pointed out that since the student group did not have an official IRS non profit status that the County could not directly comply.
He asked County Attorney Trey Simmerman if the County Commission could give the funding to the Harrison County Board of Education to pass it along to them using their own approved protocols. Simmerman stated “that was going to be my suggestion.” While hearing Commissioners’ praise of their program, they also heard of the approval of the request.
Commissioners then got a chance to speak to the new director of County Parks and Recreation, Kim Malekjo. She described the transition, coming in after the retirement of long-time director Mike Book, endeavoring to reassure the Commission about her first months on the job. She also praised her staff, saying it “goes above and beyond” and “we have very good things on the horizon.”