Business

Wood County Commission increases mileage reimbursement rate

Interviews for 911 director post could begin this week

PARKERSBURG -- Wood County Commissioners on Monday voted to increase employees' mileage reimbursement to match the state's and discussed upcoming interviews for a new 911 director.

Effective Jan. 1 of this year, state of West Virginia employees are reimbursed 65.5 cents per mile when they use their personal vehicles for business travel. Wood County's rate is 53.5 cents.

"We haven't raised ours since 2017," county Administrator Marty Seufer said.

Officials said county employees do not seek mileage reimbursements often, with sheriff's deputies using cruisers and assessor's employees taking department vehicles to attend training. But Seufer said some workers have pointed out that the county's rate is lower than the state's when they do turn in mileage.

"(It) makes sense if we match the state's mileage," Commissioner Bob Tebay said.

The amount the county paid in mileage reimbursements in 2022 was not immediately available, but County Clerk Joe Gonzales said he did not expect the increase in the rate to have a big impact. Commissioners passed the change unanimously.

Commissioner Jimmy Colombo said the county has received six or seven applications for the Wood County 911 director post. He and Seufer plan to start interviews this week after reviewing the qualifications for the position with Sheriff Rick Woodyard, who has served as 911 director since 2014.

Woodyard was appointed sheriff in 2021 and was elected last year to complete the remainder of the term through 2024. He announced in January he intended to step down as 911 director to fully concentrate on his duties as sheriff.

In other business, Seufer told commissioners he is looking into replacing the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system in the Judge Black Annex, hopefully with the help of grant funding from the state.

"It's not going to be cheap, but the amount of money we're spending … to fix it is ridiculous," he said.

The commissioners also agreed to Coroner Mike St. Clair's request to replace a 2000 model car his office uses with a 2017 Ford Focus recently retired by the sheriff's department.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.