The Wood County Resiliency Center had its grand opening ceremony Tuesday. Over 130 people attended, took tours and got to see what was in the building. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

PARKERSBURG — The community came out Tuesday to see the possibilities of what the new Wood County Resiliency Center could be.

Over 130 people attended the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony held at the building in downtown Parkersburg.

The center was a four-year project that cost over $13 million from money supplied to the community through the American Recovery Act, Wood County Commission President Blair Couch said.

“They gave us a lot of money to do good,” he said. “We really considered the pandemic and what it meant to us.”

At the time, with social distancing measures in place, the county could not conduct criminal trials which Couch commented “justice delayed is justice unserved.” That was one of the reasons the center was constructed.

Local officials, including Wood County Commissioners Robert Tebay, Blair Couch and Jimmy Colombo cut the ribbon at the grand opening of the Wood County Resiliency Center on Tuesday. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

“I hope everyone gets a good look at what is inside this building,” Couch said. “We spent a year planning this building with a year’s worth of meetings, very public, to make sure this building could do a lot.”

People got to view the large meeting/ball room, the three smaller breakout meeting rooms, the kitchen, the holding cells for trials, the room that will house the backup 911 center, the garage area where the county maintenance department will be and more.

Architect Adam Krason of ZMM Architects & Engineers of Charleston, who led the design work and oversaw the construction of the building, talked about the process that went into designing the building.

“The Wood County Resiliency Center presented some unique problems to solve,” Krason said.

There were issues related to the foundation of the former jail facility that had to be dealt with, limited space for construction equipment and developing a look with the various aesthetics around the downtown area.

West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey, who is the former State Auditor, spoke at the grand opening of the Wood County Resiliency Center on Tuesday. McCuskey was in charge of making sure communities knew how they could spend money provided by the federal government through the American Recovery Act. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

“The biggest challenge we were asked to address was to provide an extremely high level of flexibility,” Krason said. “The goal was to design a building that functions daily as a facility that can serve the citizens of Wood County by providing much needed meeting space while also being able to respond to future adverse events.

“During the pandemic public buildings were repurposed throughout West Virginia for testing and emergency health care.”

From 2010-2020, West Virginia experienced 11 extreme weather events that cost the state over $2 billion in damages from flooding, storm damage and industrial fires, he said.

“Public buildings that can be used for emergency shelters, food/cleaning supply distribution as well as testing and emergency health care are a critical need for our communities,” Krason said. “Public buildings are infrastructure too.”

West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey, who is the former State Auditor, traveled around the state and explained to communities how the federal money could be used when the federal money was first made available.

Architect Adam Krason of ZMM Architects & Engineers of Charleston, who led the design work and oversaw the construction of the new Wood County Resiliency Center, talked about the process that went into designing the building during the grand opening ceremony on Tuesday. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

“We could not allow this money to be spent on things that were fleeting,” McCuskey said, who attended Tuesday’s event. “We begged and pleaded with local governments to make this money turn into actual infrastructure.”

He talked about making West Virginia attractive to young families who want to live somewhere with West Virginia’s values.

“That starts and ends with us rebuilding our communities,” McCuskey said. “That is to make them to look and shine like people expect them to.

“These are the type of projects that enable us to sell West Virginia and our values to the rest of the world.”

Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce commended the building and its potential to bring people downtown.

Wood County Commission President Blair Couch talked Tuesday about what went into the planning and construction of the Wood County Resiliency Center during the center’s grand opening. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

“It is a beautiful building and very nice,” he said. “I am supportive of anything that is going to bring folks into downtown to the hotels and restaurants.”

Betty Camp, of Parkersburg, said she was very impressed with the building overall in how it was planned out and built, but she feels it is not what the people of the county expected.

“I don’t think people were expecting an event center,” she said. “Someone is going to have to pay for all of this and keep all of this up. That sounds like county taxes to me. No one is bankrolling this for us.”

She wants to see more about how it will be maintained, that cost and what it will be used for. There was talk of it being able to shelter people in emergencies. Camp pointed to the last bout of cold weather and said people were not at the center.

“I think there needs to be a lot of clarification about this place,” she said. “Clarity is just lacking in this whole thing.

Wood County Compliance Officer Levi Brady spoke to people who toured the Wood County Resiliency Center on Tuesday about the meeting rooms available there. He was in one that could accommodate around 50 people. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

“I am sure it will be used for some good purposes, I don’t think it was clear to the people what this was.”

Greater Parkersburg-Wood County Convention and Visitors Bureau President and CEO Mark Lewis said the center will allow them to get into different markets in being able to promote the area, markets that they previously didn’t have the capacity to do.

“This adds an extra dimension to the size of conferences and meetings that we can host here in Parkersburg,” he said. “I am excited about it. It is a beautiful facility and I am looking forward to getting some of those groups that we have not been able to bring in.”

There have been groups that have requested proposals from different areas listing what they have available to be considered for an event. In the past, they did not have the space locally and Lewis has had to put those aside.

“Now, I think we can start sending in proposals and start bringing in some of those groups,” he said. “I am hoping we can get some of those larger conferences and events that we haven’t had the capacity for in the past.”

People gathered in the main meeting/ball room for the opening ceremony and ribbon cutting and got to sample offerings from the center’s preferred caterers list, including The Blennerhassett Hotel, Valley Catering, Stomp-N-Grounds Coffees and Grand Pointe Conference Center.

Resiliency Center Director Sydney Weber said the event Tuesday was a good example of the community coming together to support the center with the turnout of people.

“It was about finally cutting that ribbon, opening up the facility and being ready to work together,” she said.

The kitchen at the Wood County Resiliency Center. People were able to tour the facility Tuesday as part of its grand opening ceremony. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

The drive-through bay at the Wood County Resiliency Center. Officials said organizations would be able to do food and vaccine distribution in times of emergency through this space. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

Wood County Commissioner Jimmy Colombo talks to people Tuesday at the Wood County Resiliency Center as the public got a chance to see what was available at the center during its grand opening. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)

The Wood County Resiliency Center had its grand opening ceremony Tuesday. Over 130 people attended, took tours and got to see what was in the building. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)