Pleasants County Commission faces water leak
Trending
ST. MARYS - The Pleasants County Commission met on Wednesday for a special session to address an infrastructure problem and pay a debt owed because of an almost-forgotten West Virginia law.
Before the meeting started, commission President Jay Powell was busily talking on his phone to a private contractor about potentially assisting with a water leak on Java Run Road. Powell said the problem started two weeks ago when a hillside slipped next to the road and caused a water line to rupture and begin leaking.
After the repair of the leak, two more leaks began above the original damaged pipe, affecting the water service of 60 to 70 homes in the county, he said.
Powell said he has been working with the Pleasants County Public Service District while fixing the problems.
"We have a good working relationship," he said.
Commissioner Mike Smith said the potential need of bringing an independent contractor onto the repair was due to the extreme conditions at the leak's location.
"It's the terrain that makes it difficult to work on," Smith said.
A determination whether to use the independent contractor instead of Pleasants County Public Service District crews and a timetable for the completion of the projects were not available at the meeting. Powell will visit the site later to assess the situation and is working to fix the leak as soon as possible.
In other business, the commissioners were met head on by West Virginia's legal past. The commission addressed a complaint from Howard McBrayer that stray dogs had attacked and killed two of his goats. After receiving witness testimony, the magistrate court sent the complaint to the commission for its acceptance. The commission was forced to pay $700 to McBrayer.
The obligation of the commission was forced by West Virginia Code 19-20-15. That section of the code states that the county is to be held liable if any livestock is killed or injured by stray dogs. The animals include sheep, lambs, goats, calves, cattle, swine, show or breeding rabbits, horses, colts and poultry.
After over 10 years on the commission, Powell said he had dealt with many things, but never had to deal with livestock killed by stray dogs.
"It's a first for me in my tenure," he said.
A message for a comment from the Pleasants County PSD about the water leak wasn't immediately available.