Jim Hamric

PARKERSBURG — The Wood County Commission has named Jim Hamric to fill the seat vacated by the retirement of Robert Tebay.

Hamric was chosen and approved to finish out the unexpired term Monday by Commissioners Blair Couch and Jimmy Colombo from among seven candidates who expressed interest in the position. Hamric, who was not at the meeting, accepted the appointment.

Hamric, a former assistant principal and athletic director at Parkersburg High School, will be filling the remainder of the term of Tebay, who retired and stepped down from the position last Thursday. The term will last until Dec. 31, 2026.

“Jim has been involved with education in the county for years,” Colombo said. “He has a tremendously strong administrative background in working with money.

“He is a very sound human being.”

Hamric is scheduled to be sworn in at 9:30 a.m. Thursday during the regular commission meeting.

Colombo said he felt Hamric offered the perspective of someone who has worked with school budgets and understood the dynamics of how tax money is divided among the county and the schools.

“He might give us a better insight into the processes they do,” he said.

Hamric, a Mineral Wells resident, was the assistant principal and the director of athletics from 1999 to 2006 at PHS, where he managed an annual athletic budget of approximately $150,000 across 19 sports program; supervised and evaluated 77 coaches and 10 additional staff members, as well as directing purchasing, compliance, scheduling and fiscal allocation. He also worked as a teacher, coach and part-time administrator with Roane County Schools from 1969 to 1997 and served as an assistant principal for two years at Braxton County High School.

Hamric said Monday he was “proud and humbled to be named to such a prestigious position.

“I feel I am somewhat qualified because I have worked with kids and parents my whole life as a coach, athletic director, an assistant principal and a principal,” he said. “I have had a lot of duties … and I have a lot of experience in dealing with the public.”

Hamric has also served on the Little Kanawha River Parkway Authority since 2007 and as the treasurer since 2013, overseeing and managing a $130,000 annual operating budget as well as participating in long-range planning and public infrastructure stewardship. He served the Mountain State Athletic Conference as secretary/treasurer from 2001-2017 and as a commissioner since 2017, providing executive leadership for a 12-school regional conference, and has overseen conference funds, financial reporting and internal controls.

He has served in interim principal and assistant principal assignments during administrative vacancies since retiring from 2007 to the present.

The commission called all the other candidates to inform them of the selection.

Colombo said they had good conversations with each of the candidates.

“They were all willing to step up and serve the county in some way or another,” he said.

The commission was not releasing the names of the people who expressed interest in the position. A couple of them were employed elsewhere that would have required them to leave those positions if they had been chosen and making their names public could still impact their employment, Couch said.

“They were all quality candidates and are willing to serve in other capacities if so called,” he said.

The county will have some openings on different boards and will see if any of those people might be interested in serving, Couch added.

There are three Republican candidates filed to run for the position in the May primary for the full six year term. Although two put their names in for consideration for the remainder of Tebay’s term, Couch and Colombo said they did not consider any of the candidates on the ballot as they did not want to appear they were endorsing someone.

“We did not want to install someone prior to the elections,” Colombo said. “We felt that would be unfair.”

Couch said he will have Hamric down to the courthouse this week to show him around the various county offices and introduce him to the elected officials and their staff.

Hamric said he will be leaning on the experience of the other two commissioners until he gets himself established in the job.

“I feel they will guide me in the right direction and as soon as I get my feet on the ground, I will establish what I feel like is important and what I don’t feel like is important,” he said. “I feel like that will be one of the major things, especially going into budget time.”

The commission will begin hearing from elected officials and department heads next week on their budget requests for the new fiscal year.

“People never have enough money,” Hamric said. “I am sure it will be the same for this job too.

“Officials need money to keep their agencies going. We will try our best to meet some of those needs.”