Thursday, November 06, 2008
Mingo County Commission To hold Special Meeting Monday. Public Invited.
The public is invited to a meeting Monday evening to discuss a proposal to build a water and sewage system for the Twin Branch Motorsports Complex, it was announced at the regular meeting of the Mingo County Commission.Bids were opened Wednesday morning by companies hoping to install infrastructure for the complex, a project the Commission has been working on for at least three years. The lowest bid, coming in at just under $2.5 million, came from S&E Clearing, a Mingo County company headquartered in Varney.However, that bid has not been officially accepted. Commission President John Mark Hubbard said the project's engineering firm, E.L. Robinson, will be at next week's meeting to confirm that all requirements are met in the bid contract from S&E Clearing.
“We hope to award that bid,” Hubbard said. “We think we have everything resolved.” The project is being financed by funds from the West Virginia Development Office and the US Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration. The stipulations of that funding call for the Complex to begin construction by the end of 2008.Hubbard said the MCC is helping the project in at every opportunity. “We are doing everything we can humanly, can possibly do,” he said. “I feel confidant that we will leave no stone unturned.” Commissioner Greg “Hootie” Smith agreed. “We are excited,” he added.In other news on the Twin Branch project, Leigh Ann Ray, Grant Coordinator for the county, requested permission from the MCC to contact American Electric Power to begin the process of getting power to the Complex location. The MCC granted that request.In matters concerning another long standing endeavor by the MCC, the Dingess water project became $200,000 more expensive for the county. The Commission received a request from Rural Utilities Services (RUS), one source of funding for the project, which will provide water for 580 families in the county. The company asked that a $200,000 loan made to the Public Service Department by the county be made into a grant. Ray explained although the federal fiscal year began Oct. 1, a federal budget has not been passed. The USDA, which is helping fund the Dingess project, has not obtained funding. If the MCC would agree to make the loan a grant, that would take $200,000 from the amount the USDA is giving the county through RUS. Such a financial maneuver would keep the project on schedule.The Commissioners were not eager to accept the proposal, but felt they had little choice in the matter. “That money has already been paid. In the good faith of the project,” President Hubbard said, “once the budget is approved by congress, we would be allowed to ask for that money back. If they chose not to do so [return the funds], then the next project of the Commission that uses RUS funding, we would be credited the $200,000 that this county has already paid. But in no way will the Commission do anything to jeopardize that project.”In other business conducted at the meeting, Commissioners agreed to allow staff members of the Upward Bound program to attend training in Florida. Financing for that trip will come from Upward Bounds own funds. MCC members agreed to donate $2500 to Shepherd of the Hills Mission toward providing Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for for the needy and to work with the town of Gilbert and the Gilbert Volunteer Fire Department to pay for a new roof for the firehouse.
Story Written By Julia Goad of The Williamson Daily News.
“We hope to award that bid,” Hubbard said. “We think we have everything resolved.” The project is being financed by funds from the West Virginia Development Office and the US Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration. The stipulations of that funding call for the Complex to begin construction by the end of 2008.Hubbard said the MCC is helping the project in at every opportunity. “We are doing everything we can humanly, can possibly do,” he said. “I feel confidant that we will leave no stone unturned.” Commissioner Greg “Hootie” Smith agreed. “We are excited,” he added.In other news on the Twin Branch project, Leigh Ann Ray, Grant Coordinator for the county, requested permission from the MCC to contact American Electric Power to begin the process of getting power to the Complex location. The MCC granted that request.In matters concerning another long standing endeavor by the MCC, the Dingess water project became $200,000 more expensive for the county. The Commission received a request from Rural Utilities Services (RUS), one source of funding for the project, which will provide water for 580 families in the county. The company asked that a $200,000 loan made to the Public Service Department by the county be made into a grant. Ray explained although the federal fiscal year began Oct. 1, a federal budget has not been passed. The USDA, which is helping fund the Dingess project, has not obtained funding. If the MCC would agree to make the loan a grant, that would take $200,000 from the amount the USDA is giving the county through RUS. Such a financial maneuver would keep the project on schedule.The Commissioners were not eager to accept the proposal, but felt they had little choice in the matter. “That money has already been paid. In the good faith of the project,” President Hubbard said, “once the budget is approved by congress, we would be allowed to ask for that money back. If they chose not to do so [return the funds], then the next project of the Commission that uses RUS funding, we would be credited the $200,000 that this county has already paid. But in no way will the Commission do anything to jeopardize that project.”In other business conducted at the meeting, Commissioners agreed to allow staff members of the Upward Bound program to attend training in Florida. Financing for that trip will come from Upward Bounds own funds. MCC members agreed to donate $2500 to Shepherd of the Hills Mission toward providing Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners for for the needy and to work with the town of Gilbert and the Gilbert Volunteer Fire Department to pay for a new roof for the firehouse.
Story Written By Julia Goad of The Williamson Daily News.
# posted by Joe Kinzer @ 12:34 PM 
