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ELKINS – The Randolph County Commission appointed Kenna Barger on Wednesday to fill the County Commissioner seat that was vacated after the recent passing of Chris See.
See, who passed away on June 28 after a brief illness, was serving after being elected for a third time in 2022. He was selected as Commission President four times during his 18 years of service.
“West Virginia Code 310-7 says that any vacancy in the office of County Commissioner or Clerk of the county shall be filled by the appointed County Commissioners,” Commission President David Kesling said during Wednesday’s meeting.
“The appointee of the office of County Commissioner must reside in the Magisterial District in which no other of the County Commission or Council resides, and the appointee has to be from the District Chris (See) was elected in and also be from the same political party.”
Kesling said that code states that if the Commission can not decide on a replacement within 30 days, the county executive committee of the same political party would submit a list for the Commission to chose from. See was a democrat and was elected as a representative from the Tygart District.
“We have announced at previous meetings and it was also on the front page of the paper (The Inter-Mountain) that we were looking for people who were interested in serving on the Commission,” Kesling said. “It is to fulfill Commissioner See’s expired term, which runs through the end of December.
“We had a few names that were submitted to us and we talked to those individuals. We’ve narrowed it down to one individual in particular and today I’d like to announce our appointment to fill Chris See’s seat, although there is nobody who can take the place of Chris See. This person is willing to step up to work for the remaining term, the five months. We have an election coming up in November between a Democrat and a Republican to fill the next six years of that seat.”
Kesling made a motion to approve Barger, who resides in Beverly, to fill the unexpired term of See on the County Commission. Fellow Commissioner Cris Siler seconded the motion.
“She (Kenna) will be sworn in at our next County Commission meeting,” Kesling said. “That will give her time to get acclimated and we will have a swearing-in ceremony at that meeting.”
The next Randolph County Commission meeting will be Aug. 6 at 1:30 p.m.