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County OKs jail renovations

ELKINS — The Randolph County Commission voted Thursday to re-line and repair gutters at the county jail to continue the facility’s improvement project.

Sheriff Mark T. Brady previously explained much of the damage to the facility was sustained because of issues that prevent the gutters from draining properly, which has led to leaks inside the building and interior walls.

“Once we began to take all of the stuff that was in the rooms out, we saw the severity of the leaks that were happening at the jail,” Commissioner Mark Scott said. “It has destroyed some windowsills — when you get a heavy rain, in some spots, the walls still leak with water on the inside of the building.”

Knowing this, the county cannot go any further with construction or renovations until the leaking issues are repaired, Scott said.

Several contractors were contacted about the project and Reliable Roofing of Elkins offered the best price, $7,462, Scott noted.

“What it is for is to clean out the gutters, because what we’re having is the gutters are getting backed up with water, and what that does is, of course, fills the gutters up,” Scott said. “When you have leaky gutters, it just spills back into the building.

“In addition, they will install a new rubber membrane using a bonding adhesive. They will terminate the outside of the drip edge and tape it in,” he added. “They’re going to terminate the metal flashing under the roof and into the gutters, so the water will come down instead of backing up as it is doing now and instead will go straight into the gutters.”

Scott said he believes the total cost of the project is a “fair price” considering all that will be done.

He noted the contractors will also be installing new metal eve tubes.

Commissioner Chris See said this project is something that has needed to be done for several years.

The Randolph County Jail, which has only temporarily held inmates awaiting court hearings for the past 12 years, has recently been undergoing the beginning stage of a potential multi-year project to remodel the facility.

The Randolph County Sheriff’s Office, including the court security officers it employs, along with a Department of Corrections inmate work crew and North Central Community Corrections program participants are working on demolition of the building, much of which has been destroyed by the water damage.

Currently the facility is only used to house inmates from area jails who come to Elkins for court hearings. Brady noted there are no plans for the future to house inmates at the jail full-time.

However, in the future, county officials may look at attempting to have the building recognized as a historical landmark.

Also during Thursday’s regular meeting:

• Commissioners voted unanimously to approve a $4,000 funding request from the Beverly Volunteer Fire Department to assist with the funding of the Beverly Fireman’s Festival. The festival is scheduled to begin Saturday with events going on throughout the week and ending July 29. Assistant Chief Andy Burns said that all events are free to the public.

• A $5,000 funding request from the Randolph County Fair was approved.

• Two individuals were approved as temporary provisional deputies for the RCSO.

“As the Commission is aware of, we’re four deputies short right now going into the summer,” Brady said.

To combat this issue, Elmer Canfield III and Nicholas Caynor were both hired as temporary provisional deputies at a rate of $20 per hour as a non-benefited position.

Brady added that the office’s call volume has been increasing recently. To date, the RCSO has received nearly 4,000 calls this year.

“We’re doing that with basically eight deputies right now, so we’re very short-handed and need some extra help,” Brady said.

Both Brady and Scott noted the level of experience of each of the hirees.

Brady said Canfield is a retired certified West Virginia law enforcement officer from the Elkins Police Department. Caynor recently served with the Buckhannon Police Department, and has nearly 10 years of law enforcement experience as a certified West Virginia law enforcement officer.

• The status of 911 employee Molly Greenhouse was changed from part-time to full-time after a unanimous vote by the Commissioners. The change in status will increase her pay to $11.94 per hour in addition to full county benefits effective Thursday. Greenhouse will be placed on a 90-day probationary period.

Commissioners also voted unanimously to approve the hiring of Edward Shiflett to prepare the county’s financial statement for the end of fiscal year 2017.

The next regularly scheduled County Commission meeting will be at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 3.

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