Although county commissioners came to no substantive conclusions regarding planningﾗor not planningﾗthe three devoted nearly an hour of discussion Tuesday on the topic that raises the hackles of some county residents.

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Commission president Martin Saffer said he is ready to relinquish comprehensive planning in favor of working on smaller projects that can have some positive impact on county residents. Saffer mentioned a One Room University where county residents can obtain a degree while still living here, increasing job opportunities and trying to abate the growing drug abuse problem.

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While last weekﾒs dinner meeting at the Pocahontas County Opera House was well-attended, Saffer said, planningﾒs foes spoke clearly that the idea of comprehensive planning is not acceptable, largely because of the land use planning facet.

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ﾓLand use action and discussion is not favored,ﾔ Saffer said. ﾓI need to be responsive to the will of the people.ﾔ

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Saffer said the new goal is to ﾓplan by doing instead of plan by planning.ﾔ

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The commission president said infrastructure for high speed internet, college classes raising the public conscience on water resources and local foods are all issues most people in the county can support.

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ﾓIf we talk among ourselves, these pieces will fit together,ﾔ he said. ﾓIﾒd rather accomplish something.ﾔ

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Saffer did say that if the countyﾒs finances are negatively influenced by the lack of a comprehensive plan at some point the county commission will have to ﾓtighten up our belt and rethink it.ﾔ

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Commissioner David Fleming was not so easily swayed by the public opinion espoused at the public meeting, nor was he willing to concede to Safferﾒs idea of piecemeal planning.

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Fleming said he is still in favor of some form of planning and may still champion the cause of comprehensive planning, because he said, some people in Pocahontas County still want the commissioners to lead in that direction.

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ﾓI think the planning to plan idea is still good for the county,ﾔ he said. ﾓIﾒd like to see the commission do it. This is an opportunity to engage the community in spite of our concerns and our fears about all that could go wrong.

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ﾓWe have the responsibility to take the risk, even as we work on broadband and local foods,ﾔ he continued. ﾓThe stuff thatﾒs not so easy, thatﾒs for us to take on, too. I feel a little discouraged that weﾒre looking at yet another opportunity to lead and weﾒre about to squander it. I have the responsibility to champion a good idea even when the majority is not with me.ﾔ

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Commissioner Reta Griffith, who has never favored the idea of comprehensive planning, said she wants to see more ﾓpublic outcryﾔ for planning than sheﾒs seen so far, noting that the people in favor of planning who have approached the commission have done so by invitation.

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Those who oppose planning have shown up of their own accord.

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ﾓPlanning is going to have to come from the grassroots level,ﾔ she said.

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Griffith suggested to Fleming that he have public meetings in the county for people who favor planning. That move, she said, will generate the names and the numbers of people who favor the concept. The central district commissioner said the majority of the people who talk to her want her to work on infrastructure and jobs.

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Marlinton mayor Dennis Driscoll said he still believed in the idea of planning because of providing services like law enforcement and fire protection.

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ﾓWeﾒve got to look forward,ﾔ Driscoll said.

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Driscoll, a Rhode Island native, said people in his former community were having the same argument when he lived there. And then it became a bedroom community for Providence. While no one wanted zoning in the beginning, 20 years later, everyone did, he said, because growth overworked the infrastructure and caused the town to build new schools.

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The mayor noted that with new regulations for firefighters, 96 hours of training, will put a huge strain on the countyﾒs volunteer departments. Driscoll said the county needs to look ahead to determine its needs.

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County coordinator Jay Miller had some dire predictions for a Pocahontas County without a plan.

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Miller said the county should be planning how to lessen the threat of the ﾓsteady erosion of its tax base,ﾔ along with the steadily declining population, particularly the portion of the population with jobs.

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The unemployment rate in May was 16.1 percent, Miller noted, theﾠ highest in the state.

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ﾓUnless we keep the jobs weﾒve got and then separately work on conditions that create additional jobs, weﾒre going to continue a downward slide in our population and our workforce,ﾔ he said, pointing out that those circumstances will negatively affect the tax receipts and the ﾓcountyﾒs ability to maintain its identity.

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ﾓThatﾒs the reason some notion of a comprehensive plan should be present in the minds of county officials and everybody else.ﾔ

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Griffith said that the county would have to change its collective mind about other things in order to have jobs.

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ﾓIf weﾒre going to provide jobs, weﾒre going to have to say yes to something whether itﾒs gas or whether itﾒs wind or whether itﾒs sewer,ﾔ she said.

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Griffith also pointed out that the unemployment rate was so high in May because Snowshoe Mountain Resort had done its seasonal layoffs. She also made the conjecture that if the county could provide the resortﾒs infrastructure needs, it perhaps would not have to layoff staff for long periods of time, thus improving the unemployment rate.

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That oblique reference was likely to the decade-long battle over the proposed wastewater treatment plant that would serve Snowshoe Mountain Resort. The resort had proposed to build its own treatment plant, but agreed to a regional plant after surrounding landowners protested that the plant would use all the wasteload allocation for the Elk River.

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A regional plant planned for the Sharp Farm in Slaty Fork was bombarded with negative public sentiment when a member of the Sharp Family, Tom Shipley, protested the location.

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The Public Service Districtﾒs proposal moved the plant to Site 7, the original location of Snowshoeﾒs plant. But time took its toll with costs and rates and Snowshoe homeowners began to protest the plantﾒs cost to them.

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Now on the Public Service District Board, Shipley is sifting through other proposals and the plant is not yet under construction.

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In other business, the commission:

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ﾕhired James McLaughlin as a part-time courthouse maintenance employee.

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ﾕheard from Child Youth Advocate Center director Monica Acord about the need for better forensic equipment when interviewing children who are victims of child abuse and child sexual abuse. Acord said the CYAC now has a VISTA volunteer and an office in the Snowshoe Career Center. The commission wants to hear from the prosecuting attorney and the sheriff about how they can contribute from their budgets to make the $3,000 contribution.

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ﾕread a proclamation honoring United States Senator Robert C. Byrd, who died last week at 92.

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ﾕapproved a budget resolution for the unencumbered balance of the coal severance tax fund.

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another way of making board appointments, including having a written notice from people interested in board seats.

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The commission meets again in regular session July 20.

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