At their Nov. 26 meeting, the Tyler County Commission revealed that they have been denied a grant for the fourth time regarding repairs and improvements they would like to make to the second floor of the courthouse.

“We have received a letter from the Courthouse Facilities Improvement Authority,” said Commission President John Stender. “We got turned down again.”

“Our projects are nowhere near as big as some of these counties,” said Commission Vice President Eric Vincent.

“I think our requests are realistic,” added Commissioner Charles Smith, citing safety and compliance issues they are trying to resolve with the courthouse. “They’re not frivolous.”

In another matter, the state reimbursed the county $89,404.12 for its share of August, September, and October 911 Subscriber Fees.

The commission signed two W.Va. Homeland Security grants for the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) for training sessions in other counties.

“Homeland Security wants us to go train some other counties, so they’re willing to pay for it,” said OEM Director Tom Cooper.

They also approved the 2013 Emergency Management Grant, which, when obtained, reimburses the county for half of OEM expenses.

The commission approved a drawdown report for the Josephs Mills Community Center Improvement Grant, funding for which was attained from the state level and used for repairs to the building.

“The total amount was $7,500,” said Stender of the report.

Before signing agreements with Frontier Communications for phone service, the commission is waiting for an opinion from the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office, where Prosecuting Attorney Luke Furbee has sent copies of the contracts.

“I think they should approve it,” said Furbee of the agreements. “I’m waiting to hear from them now.”

He also suggested that they contact the W.Va. Purchasing Division to look at other alternatives.

“Those are my ideas on it at this point,” he said. “If there’s anything more copacetic, I don’t know what it would be.”

“I don’t want to jump before we know where we’re going to land,” said Stender of the drafted contracts with Frontier. “And there’s nothing that says we have to do this immediately.”

With those concerns in mind, the commission voted to table the item.

Other approved items included the clerk’s fiduciary report, the assessor’s exonerations, the minutes of the Nov. 12 meeting, and three budget revisions.

The second Tyler County Commission meeting in December will take place on Dec. 19 rather than Dec. 24.