We received the report on the well tests on the mountain to see if there is a local source of water, thereby removing the need to transport water from the valley up to the mountain communities. Good news: there IS a good source of local water! A test well yielded enough water to meet the needs of mountain residents.

Rezoning requests continue to come in from developers who ask the County Commission to take action without holdng a public hearing. This is simply unacceptable. So far, the County Commission is voting to hold public hearings but I remain concerned about the amount of public notice we are providing (less than a week is not acceptable to me).

Finally, the Jefferson County Development Authority is requesting a moratorium on new businesses paying police/fire/emergency services impact fees . This means the costs of providing these services when a new business locates in the county will be shifted to taxpayers. No evidence has been presented to show impact fees are stopping economic growth.

Cmr. Frances Morgan and I supported removing it from the agenda. It was a request from Fred Blackmer and Peter Corum to review a zoning application in Shepherdstown. With the support of Commissioner Patsy Noland, the item was placed on the agenda after the close of business on Tuesday. The Open Meetings guidelines require 2 days of notice; this clearly violated state mandates because only one day notice (Wednesday) was given.
The lack of adequate public notice also violated the Commission’s own agenda policy guidelines.

Legal counsel finally advised the Commission not to discuss the topic as it was a violation of the State Ethics Commission 2 business day rule for amendments to the agenda.

The willingness of members of the County Commission to have items placed on the agenda without proper public notice is deeply troubling.

I put on an agenda item to require department heads to report to the County Commission on their work projects and to show progress on completing them. The Commission was generally favorable to the idea and the County Administrator will prepare t a policy to require this.

A new fee for emergency services is being discussed just to maintain the current level of service. A public hearing on the proposal , still under discussion, is tentatively planned for January.

Unfortunately, in today’s real estate climate, I foresee more of these issues coming before the County Commission.

Discussing long term priorities is a good practice and one I hope continues. Receiving the packet less than a week before a Commission meeting sure makes it hard for me to get up to speed on some very complicated issues. Thinking a few months ahead gives Commissioners and the public a “heads up” as to what will be on the agenda in coming months.

The other part of the budget update concerned the capital outlay account (Fund 246). It now stands at over $7 million. That is the good news. The bad news is that there is no adopted budget for how to use this money. This means on a majority vote of the County Commission all or some of this account could be allocated to a project without any involvement of the public. I again stressed the need for a capital improvement plan so that taxpayers would know what this money will be used for and can have a chance to express their opinions on what projects should receive top priority.

The Commission also voted to lease space for the Prosecuting Attorney on a year by year basis. I voted in support of leasing (NOT BUYING) additional space while we figure out what additional space is needed for judicial offices and county operations. The public must be involved in these decisions as it will require tax dollars