ELKINS — The Randolph County Commission has unanimously approved the transfer of a K-9, with the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office, that will eventually go to the Elkins Police Department.

Tyler Knotts, the dog’s trainer, recently left the Sheriff’s Office for a position with the EPD. Officials said the K-9, Twix, needed to go along with Knotts, who is the dog’s trainer and handler.

Sheriff Rob Elbon told the Commission at a previous meeting that Twix was a “one-owner, one-trainer dog.”

Commission President David Kesling said the dog will be returned to the vendor it was purchased from and later join the Elkins Police Department.

“With us losing our officer Tyler Knotts to the City of Elkins, the transferring of the dog will go with him,” Kesling said. “The transferring of the dog will go with him, but we are not going to transfer the dog directly to the City of Elkins. Twix will go back to the original vendor, and then the original vendor will take care of the paperwork to get it taken care of, then transfer him to the city.”

Kesling added that Knotts started his job with the Elkins Police Department this week, and that the dog will remain at Knotts’ house until it is released to the City of Elkins.

The Randolph County Sheriff’s Office still has another K-9, Nikki, within the department. Elbon previously said the county will be looking to replace Twix, who is a Belgian Malinois from Germany, with another dog.

During Thursday night’s Elkins City Council meeting at the Phil Gainer Community Center, Elkins Mayor Jerry Marco welcomed Knotts and Twix to the Elkins City Police Department.

“We’d like to welcome our new officer. Tyler Knotts has joined the force,” Marco said. “He’s also a certified officer, so we’re getting closer to having a full department for the first time ever, I believe. And he is bringing his K-9 Twix with him, so we’d like to welcome them.”

The next Randolph County Commission meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 4 at 1:30 p.m. at the Commission Annex.