A leave of absence for a county leader to work in the House of Delegates for two months was approved during the Greenbrier County Commission meeting on Tuesday, January 11.
Greenbrier County Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Mike Honaker submitted a letter requesting a temporary leave of absence from his position.
“Mike was appointed by the governor to the House [of Delegates] seat [filled by] Barry Bruce,” explained Commission President Lowell Rose. “Barry had some health issues and resigned from that position. As he is in that position for two months, he’s still going to be working for the county, taking care of his duties, and looking after emergency management and 911. He has requested a leave of absence.”
Rose also read Honaker’s letter to the commission out loud.
“I am requesting a leave of absence without pay to attend the 2022 Legislative Session in the West Virginia House of Delegates from January 12, 2022, to March 12, 2022. As previously discussed, … I am going to continue to manage the day to day operations of the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and 911 Center. I will avail myself to recall to Greenbrier County in the event of any emergency or unusual event during this leave of absence. I have also discussed this matter with our supervisors and employees. The employees of the agency are aware they may call me anytime, whether by phone or email, regardless of time of day or day of the week. As always, I will keep you apprised of any unusual incidents that may require your attention. I greatly appreciate your thoughtful consideration of this matter.”
A motion was made by Commissioner Mike McClung to approve the leave. The commission then approved the motion.
“We appreciate Mike and all the work he does for us,” Rose said.
In other business:
– As is typically at the start of the year, the commission selected a commission president from the three commissioners. Rose was approved to continue serving in the position as he did last year.
– A former assistant prosecutor in the Greenbrier County Prosecutor’s Office, Britt Ludwig, was hired by the commission to serve as a Legal Adviser for the county. Tincher explained “this is a position that the county has looked at for several years and considered. … Right now, the Legal Adviser for the county is our prosecuting attorney, who also deals with all of our other issues that the prosecuting attorney’s office handles. We are limited with availability. …. We don’t really have a title for this person yet because it’s going to be numerous, numerous items that they will cover, but it will be a hire who is going to fall strictly under the county commission.”
– Rose was authorized to sign a resolution authorizing the financing of a Route 92 Water Tank project for the City of White Sulphur Springs, using funds from the Greenbrier County TIF District. Rose explained “this includes a landline routing tank site, … needed easements … from a couple of people, purchasing … the land up Route 92. The reason for doing this [is that] in one of our TIF projects, we took the waterline up Big Draft Road then crossed … and tied into the line on Route 92. When they did that, they discovered the line was installed maybe 20 years ago and does not have adequate pressure. If they had a house fire, they would’ve have the pressure to [hook] the trucks up to the fire hydrants. We need a tank up there [to] boost the pressure.”
– A resolution was approved by the commission “in order to alleviate flooding problems in Greenbrier County.” As explained by the resolution, read by Rose, “the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program application will be submitted to the state Hazard Mitigation Program. It must be noted that Greenbrier County’s priorities for selection reflect those of the state and are as following: [number one], occupied substantially and/or repetitively damaged structures in the floodway, [number two], occupied substantially and/or flooded structures in the 100 year flood plain, [number three] occupied substantially or repetitively damaged structures in the 500 year flood plain, number four, acquisition … to permanently remove populations, health, and safety risks in areas of documented hazards, number five, elevation and mitigation reconstruction will be an additional mitigation strategy for the SFHA flood plains, … [and] number six, mitigation projects will reduce risk to the heavily used public areas. We, the Greenbrier County Commission, … do hereby support the emergency management director and authorized agents to manage the hazard mitigation grant program.”
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