Jackie Ferrell addressed the Commission on Monday saying he wanted to comment on two items.
"The addressing - I wanted a disclarification just a bit, I mentioned a conflict of interest."
Ferrell reiterated his comments from an earlier commission meeting, saying that he felt there was a conflict of interest in the project, (which has caused some street names and numbers to be redone to avoid similar names - which could confuse or delay emergency services) as the Town of West Logan had not gone along with the renaming and Logan County Commission member Willie Akers' son is Darren Akers, mayor of West Logan.
"If there is a vote, I want Mr. Akers to recuse himself," Ferrell said.
In fact, some confusion existed as to whether or not the town of West Logan was going to rename streets. Some postal employees had been under the impression that the town was changing street names as part of the addressing project, but 911 Coordinator Marilyn Crosby said West Logan had not agreed to any changes.
West Logan Mayor Darren Akers clarified the issue later in the day when asked about the matter.
"The council voted not to, because we have had ours addressed the right way," Darren Akers explained.
County Commission President Art Kirkendoll said Ferrell needed to explain his reasoning, noting a public employee could not decide on a matter they had a personal interest in as Commissioner Akers did not live in West Logan.
Ferrell said Title 158 stated a matter was personal when there was a monetary interest directly or indirectly involved that could influence their vote or could give an appearance of impropriety.
Kirkendoll said there were 55 counties in the state were involved in the addressing project and asked Ferrell to "at least explain what you are going to say."
Ferrell responded to comments made at the last meeting which were in The Logan Banner where Kirkendoll said that the county would rectify an error if it made it.
"There has been nobody who as shown me an error," Kirkendoll answered. "The state put the addressing program into effect and our 911 group put it into action faster than anyone else." Kirkendoll noted that to date, the county had received praise from the state in its prompt response and action.
"Some people's lives have already been saved due to the new 911 addressing," Kirkendoll said, explaining that four people had come forward and credited fast response times of the new system with their life. "That's a pretty good success rate."
Ferrell said he thought it was a good thing in concept and said he was not knocking rural addressing, adding that it had been done years ago in Chapmanville.
Kirkendoll said the town of Chapmanville decided to vote to go along with the state's program and that Ferrell's problem seemed to be with the Chapmanville Town Council.
Ferrell claimed the town had abdicated its' authority to the county.
Legal Council Tom Zamow agreed with Kirkendoll and said Ferrell's gripe was with Chapmanville and he was doing his complaining in the wrong place.
"You need to be in front of the Chapmanville Council with your grievance," Zamow said.
Ferrell said he did go to the Chapmanville Council meeting but - "they were like a deer in the headlights."
Kirkendoll admonished Ferrell about being disrespectful of others during commission meetings.
Ferrell said he also wanted to talk about the proposed annexation of US 119 by the town of Chapmanville.
"I noticed where Logan will probably make applications. They are not annexing territory, they are wanting to annex a road," Ferrell said, claiming such a move was illegal under West Virginia code.
Crosby said the town of Chapmanville decided to go along with the Enhanced 911 project when they voted on the matter in May of 2005. Crosby noted the reason behind the new names and road numbers was to get EMS personnel to a scene faster by making the numbers coincide with mileage on a map and to avoid confusion with similar sounding names. She pointed out that the renamed 10,700 Buffalo Creek Road really is 10.7 miles on that road.
"That is saving valuable time, which is saving lives," she said.
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