MOUNDSVILLE – Marshall County’s leaders have a check in hand to reimburse local municipalities during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now seek guidance in specifying how that money can be spent.

At Tuesday morning’s meeting of the Marshall County Commission, held via conference call, Administrator Betsy Frohnapfel said the county had received a $100,000 block grant from the state, and that the county has been in touch with the local municipalities, receiving feedback from most cities in the county.

The block grant was given to every county in the state.

However, Frohnapfel said there was “a little discrepancy” between the office of Gov. Jim Justice and the state auditor’s office in how the funds should be allocated, and that the matter was currently being addressed by the County Commissioners Association of West Virginia and the state offices. Once the details are set straight, Frohnapfel said the county would determine how to award the funds.

“Basically, this money has to be spent in accordance with the CARES Act,” she said. “What I would like to do is wait until we get the list of expenditures through the CARES Act and actually include that with our letter to municipalities. There’s some discrepancies in what this money (was previously thought) can be used for, and what you can actually submit for reimbursement through the CARES Act.”

“What you’re saying is the governor may say one thing verbally, but may not be accurate in terms of disbursement,” Commissioner Mike Ferro said, which Frohnapfel agreed with.

Frohnapfel later said the commission was still discussing exactly how to allocate the funds between municipalities and local volunteer EMS squads, and that the commission would need to approve the specific amounts at a later meeting.

In other matters, the commission awarded a $62,550 bid to Kalkreuth Roofing to renovate parts of the roof of the county courthouse. Kalkreuth was the sole bidder after a second interested company attended a pre-bid meeting but did not submit a bid for the work.

The commissioners also entered executive session twice, once briefly for legal matters and the second for about 25 minutes to discuss personnel matters, during which times the commissioners’ mics were muted for the call.

The next meeting will be held on May 12, as the county has moved to a once-every-three-weeks schedule for its regular meetings. Emergency or special meetings may be called at any time.