BUCKHANNON – No members of the community spoke during a public comment period about the changes in the county’s three magisterial districts, 13 voting precincts and the closure of voting Precinct 33.
Voters in Precinct 33, located in the northeastern part of Upshur County, typically vote at the Excelsior Community building.
Upshur County Clerk Carol Smith said she has not received any comments from the public about the redistricting process.
“I have not received any written comments or any verbal comments, and my office has not received anything,” Smith said. “Just for an update of where we are, Atlas Geographic has the new map that has the updated lines for the House [state House of Delegates districts], so you’ll actually be able to see the main shapes of the new precincts in the magisterial districts.”
Smith still has to review several areas on the map, but it looks like proposed changes discussed during their Nov. 17 special meeting are working out.
“I haven’t had an opportunity to sit down and actually trace through some of the roads and the lines that we’ve had to draw, so I will get that done, but everything at first glance looks good,” Smith said.
She said voting Precinct 37 will have about 1,242 voters, Precinct 35 will have about have about 990, 38 will have around 212 voters and Precinct 39 will have about 1,096 voters.
“Of course, each precinct can fluctuate as people come and go and things like that, but currently those are the numbers with the data that we have,” Smith said.
There will be one more public hearing period during the Thursday Dec. 16 Upshur County Commission meeting, which begins at 9 a.m. in the commission meeting room on the third floor of the courthouse annex.
“We’ll have public comment period again next Thursday, and then the Dec. 22 special meeting will be when you will officially lay the order, with the data that we have,” Smith said. “I am going to go ahead and work on getting the numbers for Precinct four and Precinct 25 because those all had major changes, with new [House of Delegates] lines, so I will work on getting that; hopefully, I can do that next week.”
In other Upshur County Commission news, commissioners approved a request via written correspondence from Justin R. Bowers, Appalachian Impact director, requesting the use and lease of the Hampton Community Building located at 156 Hampton Road. Appalachian Impact will lease the property for $1 per year and be responsible for all property taxes; liability and fire insurance; fire fees; repairs and maintenance; and utilities related to the property.
The term of the lease shall be for a period of one year, beginning Jan. 1, 2022, and ending on Dec. 31, 2022, unless renewed. Bowers had previously asked commissioners for the first right to renewal.
