PARKERSBURG — SW Resources is looking for help from the Wood County Commission to help fund an air conditioning unit at its warehouse facility.

SW Resources Executive Director Randall Siers appeared be the commission Thursday to make the request for $110,000 through American Recovery Act funding.

The 12,000-square-foot warehouse facility was built in 2017-2018. The business done in that facility, with a company in Marietta, was geared to late winter and early spring. It did not get much use beyond that.

“As businesses have changed over the last five years, we noticed that we need to make some upgrades to the warehouse,” Siers said. “We are using the warehouse year-round now.

“We have 25-30 people working in an un-air-conditioned warehouse. We wanted to see if the commission could help.”

They have brought in portable cooling units, but they needed something a bit more permanent.

Commissioners asked if SW Resources has made a request from the City of Parkersburg. Siers said they have sent a letter to Mayor Tom Joyce and he would check on that.

Commission President Blair Couch suggested they would be open to sharing the costs with the city, possibly each doing around $5,500. Siers said SW Resources could also help fund the project.

“If we could come to some kind of agreement where the city and county could co-fund the majority of it we would put something in it as well,” he said “We would be perfectly happy doing that.”

The commission agreed to have its lawyers reviewing requests for funding through the American Recovery Act and they would get back to Siers.

Business remains good for SW Resources, Siers said. The health of their employees remains good. They have had a few instances of doing contact tracing due to COVID-19, but they have not had a major outbreak in their facility.

“We have had zero days of closure since the pandemic began,” Siers said.

They are working with people wearing masks which is another reason for the request for the county’s help with the air conditioning unit.

“In areas without air conditioning, it is hard to enforce a mask mandate,” Siers said. “We have had days where people are working in 90-95 degree heat.”

The space would be like cooling a large gymnasium, officials said.

Siers said he is always impressed with the work their employees put in every day. When the pandemic hit, they reviewed many options.

“By in large, it was the clients (employees) who drove the decision to stay open,” he said. “They wanted to work.”

In other business, the commission accepted a bid to repair and rebuild the housing holding the bell in the courthouse belltower.

The bid, for $41,000, was from Chime Master of Lancaster, Ohio. The bid includes the yoak, two A-frames, housing bolts, remote ringer and more.

The company will be fabricating the parts and casting new A-frames, said County Administrator Marty Seufer. The new equipment in the bid will allow officials to ring the bell from a lower level in the courthouse.

The bell has had to be secured on wooden planks as the housing holding it is in need of repair. The few instances where the bell has been rung for special occasions someone has gone up into the tower and hit the bell with a mallet.

The bell restoration project would be funded through a Courthouse Facilities Grant from the state of West Virginia.