LEWISBURG (WVDN) – The meeting of the Greenbrier County Commission for June 28 was held in the Commission room at the Greenbrier County Courthouse with all members present along with county attorney Britt Ludwig.
The commission tackled a slate of items that ranged from personnel to opioid settlement funds.
Among the items approved was the County clerk’s office’s part-time rehire of Shirley Adwell to temporarily help with office duties.
Attorney Britt Ludwig presented the settlement with Endo/Par, one of the parties involved in the opioid litigation, that has been drafted by the state attorney general. The commission voted to sign and cooperate with the state drafted settlement. Since Endo/Par, only one of the defendants involved in the action, has declared bankruptcy there is a timeliness necessary if Greenbrier County wishes to be a part of the settlement.
The corporations named in the bankruptcy are Enduro Health Solutions Inc., Enduro Pharmaceuticals, and Par Pharmaceuticals Inc.
This settlement with these defendants amounts to $26 million in restitution, of which a little more than $23.9 million will be divided among the litigants as previously determined portions of the total.
There are several other entities involved in the suit, and the state attorney general will draft settlements with them as well. Hopefully the other defendants in this action will pay larger settlements and not go into bankruptcy.
In other business, several county departments have upcoming turnover due to terms expiring. The county commission voted to accept all the committee members that had expressed desire to remain another term.
They approved reappointment of Debbie Parker to the Greenbrier Valley Economic Development committee. There was no response at this date from the two members of the planning board whose terms are up. The board of zoning appeals will have the reappointment of Jack Tuckwiller and Jann Holwick.
In Arts and Recreation members Jason Osborn and Rick Harper have expressed they do not want to serve another term, so two positions will be open there as well as one vacancy on the Building Commission.
Jack Connolly and Bob Martin will continue another term on farmland preservation, as will Deborah Philips on the airport authority, Dreama Mace on the board of health and Lucy Refsland on the solid waste authority.
The county commissioners expressed their gratitude to these individuals, and all the board members, for accepting these non-paying community service positions. It was voted to accept the reinstatement of all boards members who were willing to serve another term.
Open positions will be advertised and filled by appointment of the Greenbrier County Commission.
There is going to be a change to the county building code. No motions of votes were made at this commission meeting. The source of this change is the 2018 International Building Code, adopted by the state fire marshal and therefore part of the Greenbrier County Building Code due to the practice of the county following the state in building code framework.
A published intent to adopt would give local contractors a 30-day timeframe to prepare for the changes.
The rule 87CSR4 will be available in the building and zoning office of the courthouse, published on the website of the commission and also online at the secretary of state website.
The update to the building code will go into effect on Aug. 1.
The commission also announced that the county arts and recreation grants have been chosen. The full amount of funds is about $60,000 more than average, the commission said, totaling $437,900.87 derived from bed tax funds.
The 27 applications received totaled $543,448.94. Of those, 26 were approved. In some instances, the grant amount will be adjusted by the commission.
The complete list of the grantees was available at the time of this writing.
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