PARKERSBURG — The Wood County Commission will be sending a letter of support to the West Virginia Legislature for the local Oil, Gas and Industrial Historical Association Inc. to help them secure funds for needed expenses.

The association is requesting $200,000 to pay the $150,000 balance due on a loan used to purchase Henderson Hall and a $50,000 loan that was used to develop exhibits and upgrade the Oil and Gas Museum in downtown Parkersburg. The group also operates Burning Springs Park.

“This appropriation would free $25,000 per year that will be used to grow these sites and their economic value to the region,” the association said in a written request.

Paul Hoblitzell III, president of the association, appeared before the commission Thursday.

“We have decided to stay in downtown Parkersburg,” he said. “We are in the process of redoing all of the windows and getting the building tidied up.”

Hoblitzell said they want to do over 90 windows.

County officials said they gave a $25,000 donation for museum windows six or seven years ago. County officials offered to give the association records of that donation.

Representatives from Dominion Gas came in recently and did a work day at the museum, helping with a variety of things, Hoblitzell said.

“It looks really good,” he said.

For both the museum and Henderson Hall, he estimates they have had around 7,000 visitors this year, down about 2,000 from last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Because of COVID-19 all 2020 activities planned to generate revenue for operations of the (association’s assets) were canceled,” the request said. “It is likely that no activities will take place until at least mid-2021.

“The costs of ongoing maintenance and operation, with the burden of debt service, are straining the Association’s ability to meet its mission.”

Part of the operations this year have been covered through money they have from an oil lease which would provide enough money for one year of operations if they had no other money coming in, Hoblitzell said.

Wood County Commissioners Blair Couch and Robert Tebay approved doing the letter. Commissioner Jimmy Colombo was absent from Thursday’s meeting.

“We hope you can get the money,” Couch said.

Hoblitzell said they are seeking letters from other organizations throughout the community to show the support the museum and Henderson Hall have locally.

“Any help will be appreciated,” he said.

In other business, Alexander Vaughan, Field Representative for U.S. Senator Shelly Moore Capito, R-W.Va., visited the commission where officials filled him in on the planned development of a new truck stop facility in Mineral Wells that includes a convenient store, restaurant and more. It also requires the commission to grant a variance to the new owners of the property to allow The Lion’s Den and 77 Sunset Strip to continue operations on the site.

The plan has the support of some local businesses around the site.

“We are all in favor of a new truck stop,” Couch said.

Couch said the concern comes from the adult-oriented businesses on the site and ordinances related to those businesses.

Representatives of the new owners are sending the commission additional information regarding their plans, Couch said. County officials expected they may take up the matter in the next week or so.

The commission conveyed to Vaughan they were in support of additional COVID-19 relief measures, but they have concerns they wanted the senator to be aware of. Many of the points come from the National Association of Counties, calling on federal lawmakers to authorize another COVID-19 relief bill.

The current relief measures expire on Dec. 30 of this year.

“We need direct flexible aid for all of the counties,” Couch said. “We also need to expand the relief we already have.”

State officials have been pushing to get all of the expense records in, he said. The guidance on how counties could spend that money has come from the governor and the federal government.

“If we want to take some of that funding we have received and give it to local food banks then we have to have the receipts back by Dec. 30 or it is non-reimbursable,” Couch said. “The flexibility is key for us with reasonable guardrails set up so COVID funds are tied to public health, economic and community impacts.”

They want the ability to be able to help local agencies, but many are struggling to get the receipts in by Dec. 30.

“Giving them additional leeway would be ideal,” Couch said. “Wood County has received CARES Act money, but it is hard to get that money to local organizations under the CARES Act guidelines.”

Couch said they would like to be able to partner with other local government bodies to get money to local food bank operations to buy food for people who need it and other needs throughout the community.

“All of these things would probably not fall into the CARES Act guidelines right now,” Couch said. “Having flexible federal aid with reasonable guardrails … to help public health, economic and community impact … (rent local theater space to conduct jury trials).

“Those kind of things would not be covered under the CARES Act or after Dec. 30.”

Vaughan said there is a lot of focus in Washington, D.C., on working on a relief package.

In other business:

* The commission recognized DeCarlos Pizza in Vienna for raising $357 for the County’s K-9 Fund.

* The county is sending out its annual letter to all of the agencies which receive funding from the county saying if they do not get a financial statement or an audit statement from the groups by Jan 1, 2021, the county will end up holding any funding they might be getting until the county receives it.

“We have most of them,” County Administrator Marty Seufer said. “We are just having trouble getting a few of them.”

* The commission amended its retention policy on recordings made of the regular commission meetings. The previous policy handled recordings made on tape which would be kept for up to two years. The policy has not been updated since the commission had gone to digital recordings.

Seufer said they have been holding on to all of the recordings since the switch and it is becoming an issue for the IT personnel in regards to storage space on their servers.

Seufer said they are not required to record meetings. They do it so he can write out the official minutes of the meeting.

“Two years is a long time,” he said. “If anything was going to come up in a meeting, it would have come out already.”

* County officials are looking to swear-in the elected officials next week. They would be sworn in with their effective date for starting the new term being Jan. 1, 2021.

Contact Brett Dunlap at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com