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PARKERSBURG — Wood County Assessor John Kelly will take over as the county’s representative on the Wood County Development Authority.

The Wood County Commission unanimously approved the appointment Thursday.

Commissioner Robert Tebay was originally assigned to be the county’s representative, but another regular meeting he attends conflicts with the development authority meetings.

Kelly said economic development has been something he has had an interest in over the years as well as when he was in the state legislature during his last tenure as a state delegate.

He feels more needs to be done to bring development to Wood County.

“There is a lot of work that needs to be done,” Kelly said.

With his time on Parkersburg City Council and in the Legislature, he feels he has a number of contacts he would be able to utilize.

“I feel like I can help,” he said. “I wanted to see if there was something I can do to turn it around.”

In other business, the commission turned down a single bid from Miller Communications for emergency lights for six vehicles with the Wood County Sheriff’s Department. The bid originally came in for $64,703 and county officials said Sheriff Rick Woodyard was able to get the cost down to $56,781.

Commission President Blair Couch said that still came out to just under $10,000 per vehicle.

“That is still way too much,” he said.

In the past, the county would play $4,000-$5,000 for such work. They are looking at sending the project out to bid again. County officials want to see if someone within the county maintenance department would be able to install the lights and be able to save some money on the final cost.

The county also approved the nominations for the Wood County E-911 Advisory Board, including Shawn Graham, Arnold Green Jr., Beniah Depue, Nathan Forshey, Sean Smith, Gib Jackson and Jack Carr.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com