By Josh Brown, Williamson Daily News
WILLIAMSON, W.Va. — The Mingo County Commission chamber was standing room only on Jan. 31 as concerned citizens, press and legislature members sat in listening for a vote on a proposed rate increase for the Mingo County Public Service District. No members of the district’s board were in attendance, much to the ire of the commission and on lookers. The special meeting had to be called as according to laws, Jan. 31 was the deadline for the commission to vote on the rate increase or the increase would go into effect be default, raising the flat rate of water services by around $5 per customer.
Commission President Nathan Brown had asked the district for an extension on the deadline as only two days before the special meeting, the commission received the 2023-2024 audit. The nearly 200 page document was not able to be read in time by any commissioner before the meeting. The district refused the extend the deadline which lead to the commission to call the meeting on such short notice. During the meeting, many citizens of Mingo County were allowed to speak showing their dissatisfaction with the district. Brown also informed on-lookers that one district board member had plans to resign.
One of the main topics of conversation was the over $4 million in American Rescue Plan funds given to the county in 2021. As previously reported by the Williamson Daily News, while the local governments receiving funds during the COVID-19 pandemic through ARPA were encouraged to use this money for water/sewer, there was a list from the federal government of what the funds could be used for. Mingo County opted to use the majority of its funds to backfill the budget for losses due to COVID-19, which was one of the options allotted by the federal government’s guidelines. At the time the funds were made available, the Mingo County Commission was also using an application system to make funds available to entities.