(Photo Illustration - Money Matters - MetroCreativeConnection)

PARKERSBURG — Wood County Commissioners want local community centers to look at grants and other funding to try to make repairs on their buildings, officials discussed during Monday’s commission meeting.

Officials with the Waverly Activity Center (the former Waverly Elementary School) recently appeared before the commission looking for the county’s support to do a $100,000 roof replacement on their building. Officials had said they are not looking for one group or organization to fund the whole project. They wanted to see what they could get. They have held fundraisers and more to pay for the roof project.

Commission President Blair Couch said he saw the community building in Mineral Wells was trying to raise money to make repairs as well. There are also community centers in Williamstown, Vienna, Waverly, Kanawha, Boaz, Washington Bottom and Lubeck.

“If we help Waverly, the others will follow and we will have a line at the door,” Couch said he wanted to see them look at other options as well.

Waverly had over $8,000 to go towards the project, President for the Waverly Activity Center/Waverly Volunteer Fire Department Chip Umstot said in a phone interview after the meeting.

“We are always applying for grants,” Umstot said, adding some grants are specific in nature and have certain timelines that have to be met.

“With a roof project, it is an all or nothing deal,” he said.

County officials talked about how the West Virginia First Foundation is distributing funding from the opioid settlements. Since many of these facilities conduct education, training and other services they could be eligible for that funding.

Umstot said their building is also used by the area SWAT teams and K-9 units for training since the building is a former school and that has provided a true school setting officers can train in.

“Everyone utilizes this facility because it is a school environment,” Umstot said.

He talked about how many organizations are in need of funding and there is not as much available.

The reason the roof needs to be replaced immediately is their insurance provider has told them they needed a new roof or they would be dropped and have to find new insurance coverage, Umstot said. They have until late August to fix the roof.

Couch said he had some questions about the West Virginia First Foundation, a nonprofit foundation tasked with distributing three-quarters of the state’s more than $1 billion in opioid settlement funds.

Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce was elected to be this region’s representative on the West Virginia First Foundation for District 3. Couch believed there was supposed to be a panel made up of local people in each region meeting to offer recommendations to the region’s representative. He was not sure if that had happened.

Joyce has said in the past he was meeting with officials throughout the region gathering information and suggestions. District 3 is made up of Wood, Tyler, Pleasants, Ritchie, Wirt, Calhoun, Roane and Jackson counties.

Joyce did not return a phone message left for him on Monday.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com