Commission President Art Kirkendoll discussed the proposed sale of Verizon Communications to a new company called Frontier. Kirkendoll said the commission recently received a letter from Communications Works asking for the commission to denounce the sale and he agreed with their concerns.
"We had our legal council look at it," he said, noting it expressed worries by both workers and the general public about the sale due to possible job losses and change in quality of service.
"People were satisfied with Verizon," Kirkendoll said, explaining that over the years the company's service had improved dramatically and that he understood the worries of customers. "I asked the council to make some tweaks to the statement and we will sign this proclamation because we are concerned about jobs and quality of service. We have the primary concerns of 38,000 people in our county on our mind."
Kirkendoll then discussed the county's new initiative to go after ramshackle, dilapidated buildings and said he was pleased to learn the owners of some of many dilapidated structures have started tearing them down.
"We have a lot of caveats to go through, but we are ahead of the curve from other counties,"Kirkendoll said, adding that the process would not be a quick one as there are still over 200 such structures in the county. He pointed out that there were other hurdles, such as some buildings which had multiple out of state owners.
"We worked on our ordinance to deal with them all," he said. "If we are going to be a tourism destination county we have to keep our county cleaned up. We have made a lot of progress and the county is cleaner now than it was ten years ago, but we have further to go. We have to clean this problem up to protect our investment in tourism."
The commission also agreed to support an upcoming community event as sponsors after President Diana Barnett of the Kiwanis Club of Logan asked for financial support for the upcoming Harlem Ambassadors vs Logan All-Stars basketball game.
Barnett noted that the Kiwanis hadn't done a major fundraiser in a long time and that other than the Pancake Day breakfast that most of Kiwanis charitable donations and events had been supported by the businesses many Kiwanians work at. She pointed to the recent Bicycle Safety Rodeo where well over a hundred kids showed up for a fun and safe time as an example of Kiwanis community activity.
Barnett said the Kiwanis club would like to return to doing bigger events to become more visible in the community again and asked for the commission's support in the form of a sponsorship for the event, which will still require $4,400.
Barnett said any amount the commission could assist with would be appreciated.
Kirkendoll discussed making an initial $500 sponsorship now to be followed later to assist by another $3,400, which was approved.
Barnett said the club will also need a roster of former star basketball players to go up against the professional exhibition team on March 15.
"We will need a roster of about 20 past basketball stars," she said.
Kirkendoll quipped that it would be a good idea to have Logan County Circuit Judge Roger Bryant and his emergency services crew handy with plenty of oxygen tanks, Icy Hot and Ben Gay ointment for the former athletes.
"I have another request," Barnett asked the commissioners, who are known to have been standout athletes themselves in their prime. "Can you play?"
"I broke my arm the last time I played," said legendary coach Willie Akers, who is also a county commissioner.
In other county commission news:
• The commission discussed a request from the Logan High School basketball boosters for travel, meals and warm ups for the girls basketball team which was taken under advisement for possible approval at a later date.
• The commission discussed a letter from the Sharples Fire Department about a final lease payment.
"We'll give them the money and make the final payment," Kirkendoll said.
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