Kesling

ELKINS — Randolph County Commission President Dave Kesling said he is pleased with courthouse grounds improvements made this year and is looking forward to even more upgrades in 2026.

“We focused on facility improvements to the Courthouse complex in 2025 and we will do the same going into next year,” Kesling said. “We did a study to see what would it take to keep everything going for the next 25 years, and that was completed this year. So we are going to be working to make sure our facilities are ready to last for that amount of time.”

Along with replacing the sidewalks and roof at the main Courthouse, as well as fixing weather damage to the Lady Justice statue, the Randolph County Commission also received grants in 2025 that will help finance future projects at the Courthouse and other buildings throughout the complex, he said.

“We applied for the courthouse improvement grant and we received $100,000 with that,” Kesling said. “So we are going to be able to replace all of the windows at the main Courthouse.”

Kesling noted the Commission also received an LED grant that will help replace the lights at several Courthouse facilities.

“With that grant we are looking to do a project where we replace all the lighting in the main Courthouse to LEDs,” Kesling said. “In the hallways we are looking to take it back to how it was when the Courthouse was built in the 1900s and put in light fixtures that look like they were from that time frame. Many of the offices have old fluorescent tubing lights, so we are going to replace all of them with LED lights as well.”

Kesling added that he would also like to do some painting next year in the main Courthouse.

“The inside of the Courthouse hasn’t been painted in years, so I would like us to do some painting when we replace the lighting,” Kesling said. “That’s something that really needs to be done while we are doing other upgrades.”

The Commission president said he’s also happy that the Sheriff’s Office currently has the amount of deputies it needs in place, and that he plans on helping get the county’s law enforcement agency the items it needs in 2026.

“We are looking to get the Sheriff’s Office about six new cruisers to replace some of the old ones,” Kesling said. “And we are looking to secure some funding to get the Sheriff’s Office the Starlink communication system, so that they will be able to communicate better throughout the county.

“We are going to continue to focus on anything we can do through grant money, (so) that it doesn’t take away from local tax dollars. We want to do anything we can do to help with the safety and security of not only the residents of Randolph County, but our officers as well.”

Kesling said he couldn’t ask for a better group to work with as the Commission president.

“This past year as president, I’m happy that I had the privilege to work with such a great group of elected officials,” Kesling said. “We all get along very well and when someone needs something, someone is always willing to do what they can to help.”