Wood County Commissioners, from left, Robert Tebay, Jimmy Colombo and Blair Couch at a 2025 meeting. (File Photo)

PARKERSBURG — The Wood County Commission is looking for a few more applicants to fill the remaining term of Commissioner Robert Tebay after he steps down in early March.

“We are looking at having a few more applications to consider for commission,” Commission President Blair Couch.

Couch and Commissioner Jimmy Colombo discussed the situation during Thursday’s regular commission meeting. Tebay recently announced that he will be retiring and stepping down from the commission, effective March 5.

Officials said they were hoping to have someone named to the position by March 9, but they actually have 30 days after Tebay steps down to appoint someone to the position. March 5 is a Thursday and the commission wants to have someone appointed the following Monday, March 9.

“We are asking people to send in a letter of interest and resume,” Couch said. “We want interested parties to send us information to serve the unexpired term.”

Commissioners said they have two names that have been submitted to the commission for consideration. A third person expressed interest, but they do not live in the correct magisterial district.

Applicants must live in the 3rd Magisterial District and be a Republican, they said.

The commission was not releasing the names they have at the moment, but they wanted a few more to have a diverse pool of applicants to pull from, Couch said.

The term goes through the end of the year. An election will take place in November and the person who wins that race will take office Jan. 1, 2027 for the full six-year term. The candidates running in the election include Republican Wood County Sheriff Rick Woodyard, Republican Jerrod Gard and Republican Greg Brannon.

Anyone appointed to the seat now would be in office around nine months.

“It is a short-term appointment,” Couch said.

However, there are committees and boards each commissioner sits on so any applicant would need to have the time to attend those as well. Couch said they might look at switching some of those appointments around to better accommodate the incoming commissioner.

“They have to be in a situation to allow that,” Couch said of being able to attend those different meetings.

Couch and Colombo said they would like to be able to narrow it down to the top two contenders and have them come in and discuss the position in an open session.

The county is coming up on its time to formulate the county’s 2026-27 budget and will be hearing budget requests from department heads soon, Colombo said. He is hoping for someone with an understanding of finance to be able to contribute to that process.

Letters and resumes need to be sent to the Wood County Administrator’s Office care of the Wood County Commission at #1 Court Square, Suite 205 Parkersburg, WV 26101 or emailed to County Administrator Marty Seufer at seufer@woodcountywv.com.

In other business, the commission adjourned as the Board of Equalization and Review at 3 p.m. Thursday. Officials said they had no one appear before the commission this year to go over their property assessments. Officials encouraged people to talk to the Assessor’s Office first to see if they could resolve their concerns that way.

In other business, the commission approved Perry and Associates to do the annual countywide financial audit next month.

Wood County Clerk Joe Gonzales said they sent out requests for bids to three firms, Perry and Associates, BHM and Suttle & Stalnaker. Suttle and Stalnaker declined to send in a bid so the county was considering the submitted bids of the other two.

“The bids were close,” Gonzales said, adding the bids were looked at by him, Wood County Administrator Marty Seufer and Wood County Prosecutor Pat Lefebure.

The bid from Perry and Associates was $34,050 and the bid for BHM $30,750.

Couch said BHM had done audits of Mountwood Park in the past but officials gave the nod to Perry and Associates because they have done the county’s audit in the past.

“We have been very successful with them,” Gonzales said. “They know the county’s finances. They have done such a good job for us in the past.”

Officials said Perry and Associates were easy to get a hold of if there were any concerns and they responded quickly.

“I would prefer Perry,” Colombo said. “Their systems are in place. They will not impose any more restrictions on (county personnel) and their patterns are already set.”

Perry has been accessible anytime the county has had questions with personnel coming directly to the office or calling, Gonzales said.

“They are excellent and do an excellent job,” he said.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com