By Stephen Smoot
The Harrison County Commission convened last week and discussed, for the most part, the removal of public nuisances and also heard information on the county rail trail network
Patsy Trecost led the commission’s invocation, which asked God to bless all first responders, then those in attendance recited the Pledge of Allegiance.
Commissioners then reviewed bills due and briefly discussed an effort by Laura Pysz-Laulis, Harrison County Administrator, to clean up county credit card bills. The proposal was to use county commission funds to pay off other agency credit card debts, a total of just over $71,000. The county commission would be reimbursed and local government agencies would be responsible for obtaining their own credit cards and taking care of payments.
Susan Thomas, Harrison County Commission president, noted that “we’ve known this has been a problem for a while.” Although Commissioners David Hinkle and Trecost passed the plan, Thomas voted against it.
Commissioners then tackled two nuisance issues brought to its attention by Danny Hamrick, Harrison County Code Officer. The first case involved a residential structure in Mount Clare with complaints dating back to August of 2022. Reasons for the request were stated as “dilapidated structure” and “overgrown vegetation.”
The owners stated a desire to renovate the structure, but explained that health issues had proved challenging. Hinkle made a motion to give the owners 60 days to clear overgrown vegetation from the property.
Another set of property owners, this time of a structure in Good Hope, shared that their goal lay in demolition and that they had secured some estimates on the work. Commissioners also gave them 60 days to address issues on the property.
Commissioners then turned to consideration of the annual report of the Clarksburg-Harrison Housing Authority. Pysz-Laulis explained that “they’ve done an amazing job helping people out.” They operate three different locations,