After county residents from three areas spoke to county commissioners last month about nuisance dogs, commissioners took steps Tuesday to draft a countywide dog ordinance.

ﾠ

Commissioner David Fleming said he researched several dog ordinances from other West Virginia counties. Fleming said he is most concerned with noise and trespassing issues, but would like to allow legal hunting, training, law enforcement and farming activities including dogs.

ﾠ

Other county ordinances include fines and jail time, as well as authorizing the sheriffﾒs department to confiscate dogs. Other ordinances also address dogs wearing collars with tags that state the dog has had required vaccinations and that the owner has paid taxes and applicable fees.

ﾠ

ﾓYou have to impose some liability on the dog owner,ﾔ said county commission president Martin Saffer.

ﾠ

Fleming will prepare the draft for the next meeting.

ﾠ

Flemingﾒs residence questioned

ﾠ

Former county commissioner Norman Alderman took the county commission to task after his appointment on Tuesdayﾒs published agenda was changed Friday.

ﾠ

Aldermanﾒs agenda item was ﾓrequest verification of personal residence of Pocahontas County Commissioner David Fleming.ﾔ

ﾠ

That agenda item, which was published on Thursday, disappeared when a new agenda was distributed Friday.

ﾠ

Alderman appeared anyway, statutes in hand.

ﾠ

He first addressed the agenda change, noting that the Open Meetings Act, commonly called the Sunshine Law, states that matters which come up after the deadline for the agenda must be held over to the next meeting unless the matter is an emergency that requires official action. The law also states that in those emergency situations, both the agenda and the minutes of the meeting must explain the ﾓfacts and circumstances of the emergency.ﾔ

ﾠ

Violations of the Open Meetings Act are punishable by fines up to $500 for a first offense.

ﾠ

Alderman told commissioners heﾒd be watching future agendas for inappropriate changes.

ﾠ

While the law is explicit in its requirements for additions to an agenda, it is silent on the subject of removing agenda items.

ﾠ

The county commission promulgated its own rules based on the Open Meetings Act in the 1990s. Those rules should have addressed when its agenda is published and who can place and remove agenda items.

ﾠ

ﾠ

Saffer said Tuesday afternoon that any county commissioner, any elected official or any member of the public may place an item on the agenda; however, he said, items placed by the public may not require a vote of the county commission.

ﾠ

Aldermanﾒs curiosity about Flemingﾒs residence was not satisfied by either the northern district county commissioner or the county commission president.

ﾠ

Saffer told Alderman he had many avenues to communicate with Fleming, including e-mail and the US Postal Service.

ﾠ

ﾓI want to visit him at his house,ﾔ Alderman said.

ﾠ

ﾓYouﾒre not invited,ﾔ a stone-faced Fleming responded.

ﾠ

Saffer told Alderman that all three commissioners reside in the district from which they were elected.

ﾠ

ﾓI donﾒt know where he lives,ﾔ Alderman said, pointing at Fleming, and noting that he assumed Fleming did not live in the Green Bank district.

ﾠ

ﾠ

ﾓYou can assume what you like,ﾔ Fleming said. ﾓYour approach is out of line.ﾔ

ﾠ

Fleming, who was recently divorced, later said he lives on Sheets Road in Green Bank.

ﾠ

Commission makes black fly spraying inquiry

ﾠ

Commissioners heard about black fly spraying from Gary Gibson, of the West Virginia Department of Agriculture.

ﾠ

Gibson said the Department of Environmental Protection began spraying for black flies in the 1980s, since that time the DOA has been in charge.

ﾠ

Spraying on the Greenbrier River was a result of complaints his department received from Pocahontas County, Gibson said. Tourist areas, such as Watoga State Park, had been the source of many complaints, he said, while other complaints had come from the Minnehaha Springs area.

ﾠ

State Black Fly Control Coordinator Betsey Reeder said the bacteria used to kill black fly larvae is specific to black flies, but if over applied may kill midges, another small fly. The bacteria, Bti, is being dumped about one gallon per mile, and will not eradicate black flies, but only restrict population growth.

ﾠ

ﾓBlack flies are good indicators of clean water,ﾔ she said.

ﾠ

The program is funded annually with about $400,000 and extends as far south as Mercer County.

ﾠ

This year, the Greenbrier Riverﾒs application of Bti was extended north to Clover Lick.

ﾠ

Saffer said he hoped the lines of communication would remain open and that the county commission would be able to indicate whether it believes Pocahontas County needs to have black fly spraying in the future.

ﾠ

Slaty Fork residents donﾒt like proposed tower

ﾠ

Slaty Fork residents and business owners Gil Willis and Tom Shipley asked the commission to comment on a proposed communications tower on Sharps Knob.

Willis said he saw the legal advertisement in this newspaper about the tower, which would add 70 feet to the existing 170 foot tower already on Sharps Knob. The higher tower would require a flashing red light, Willis said.

ﾠ

Willis said if the tower would do more than the existing tower, it would be of some benefit, but the larger structure will only be a relay tower for the State Police and the US Forest Service and will not be used for 9-1-1 emergencies.

ﾠ

ﾓThey have no customers for this tower,ﾔ Shipley said. ﾓItﾒs a ﾑbuild it and they will comeﾒ scenario.ﾔ

ﾠ

Further, Shipley said, the tower is to be constructed on Forest Service property and the Forest Management Plan allows only a 170 foot tower.

ﾠ

The proposed tower is part of a state-recommended broadband project, according to Fleming, but the legal advertisement did not include that information.

ﾠ

Any tower more than 200 feet tall will require approval by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which could take some time. Pocahontas County is the center of a federally mandated quiet zone because of the observatoryﾒs studies of radio waves from outer space.

ﾠ

ﾠ

Saffer said he would like to have an explanation from the proponent of the tower, apparently RPM Engineers in Charleston. The legal advertisement, which ran June 10, calls for a 400 foot tower.

ﾠ

ﾓThe people have a right to know whatﾒs being planned and if itﾒs for our benefit,ﾔ Saffer said.

ﾠ

The commission president said he would write a letter to the applicant and send copies to other entities, including the Monongahela National Forest Service Supervisor Clyde Thompson.

ﾠ

Commissioner Reta Griffith was not at Tuesdayﾒs meeting because she attended a County Commissionerﾒs Association meeting in Charleston.

ﾠ

In other business, commissioners:

ﾠ

ﾕheard from Roger Griffith, Dean of New River Community and Technical College about plans for the One Room University. While the opportunity for college classes in Pocahontas County is still in the planning stages, Griffith said, with dataﾠ provided by county coordinator Jay Miller, classes could begin as early as 2011.

ﾠ

ﾓWe have to make sure we can sustain it,ﾔ Griffith said.

ﾠ

Saffer called the move the key to personal and economic success in Pocahontas County.

ﾠ

ﾕreceived an invitation from David Litsey, of Snowshoe, to attend a Snowshoe Property Owners Council public forum on David Rigby's alternative sewage solution for the Snowshoe area on August 14 at 2 p.m. at Mountain Lodge.

ﾠ

ﾕappointed Debbie Goodwin, of Slaty Fork, to the county libraries board; David Cain, of Marlinton, to the Farmland Protection Board; and Jerry Ramos to the Parks and Recreation Board.

ﾠ

ﾕapproved a resolution necessary to apply for $20,000 from the Governor's Community Participation Grant (GCPG) program for repairs to the 4-H camp in Thornwood.

ﾠ

ﾕapproved a resolution necessary to apply for $5,000 from the GCPG program for construction of a pavilion to provide shade at the county animal shelter.

ﾠ

ﾠ

ﾠ

ﾕapproved a partnership with the Town of Marlinton for a CodeRED Emergency Notification System that would allow mass telephone calling in case of emergencies.

ﾠ

The commission will meet again in regular session August 17.

ﾠ