ELKINS — The Randolph County Commission approved a pair of funding requests from two separate organizations during its regular meeting this week.

The first item on the agenda was a funding request from the Beverly Fire Department for its annual 2025 Fireman’s Festival. The event is scheduled to run July 19 through July 26, and will include many of the features as in years past, including free activities for children, a parade, and entertainment.

Commissioners David Kesling, Cris Siler and Chris See unanimously agreed to provide the Beverly Fire Department with $2,500 for this year’s event. The money will be taken from the county budget’s hotel-motel tax line item.

“This money will help for the events they have that are free to the community,” Kesling said. “We have been helping the Beverly Fire Department with this for several years now and we are happy to help with funding again this year.”

Next on the agenda was a funding request from the West Virginia Special Olympics of Randolph County. The Commission agreed to give the organization $2,500. That money will also come from the hotel-motel tax line item of the county budget.

“We received a letter for the Randolph Special Olympics and they are looking for us to help with funding their olympic athletes,” Kesling said. “It is to help improve the quality of life for the athletes and help them achieve a sense of pride. We’ve done this, I know, for several years now and we are happy to help out.”

The Randolph County Commission’s next regular meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 3 at 1:30 p.m.

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The Randolph County Commission agreed to not renew a lease agreement with the Masonic Lodge for parking behind its facility, which is located between the James F. Cain Courthouse Annex and the Weese Annex.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on the amount of parking in that lot the past several months,” Kesling said. “Like today, there were just four cars parked there. Since we now have a lease with the old IGA parking lot, I feel that we do not need to renew the lease with them. It will lead to $6,000 in savings for the county.”

Kesling added that the Commission had to give the Masonic Lodge a 60-day notice that they were not renewing the lease agreement, which was slated to end in July. He and See voted to not renew the agreement. Siler recused himself due to being a member of the Masonic Lodge.