Community

Abraham Sworn In As Ohio County Commissioner

WHEELING - Ohio County will look toward further development at the Wheeling-Ohio County Airport property in 2021, according to the county’s newest commissioner, Zach Abraham.

Abraham was sworn into office by Circuit Judge Michael Olejasz during a brief ceremony Monday morning at the City-County Building. Only Abraham’s immediate family and a couple of supporters were present at the small gathering.

His term becomes effective when the new year starts Friday.

“I’m just excited to get started,” Abraham said immediately after taking his oath. “This kind of makes everything official so that after the first of the year everything will be in place.

“Now it’s real, and that’s good.”

Abraham said he has spoken with commissioners Randy Wharton and Don Nickerson about upcoming projects for the commission, and many of these involve the Ohio County Development Authority.

“We are going to be looking at how we can improve development at the airport,” he said. “Hopefully, we will start some components there for more utilization.”

Abraham also will be involved with the hiring of a new county administrator in early 2021. The tenure of current administrator Greg Stewart ends at the end of 2020, and he will become manager of The Highlands facility.

Abraham said he has already begun to research the job description for the administrator’s position, and commissioners will be working to get the job posted in the coming weeks.

The procedure of advertising for a new administrator — and the process of hiring one — is likely to be considerably different now than it was more than 25 years ago when Stewart first assumed the position, Abraham said.

“We might be looking for some people who have some good skill sets outside of administration,” he said.

There also is likely to be more technology coming to the commission office, though it may take place in small increments over time, according to Abraham.

“We will be making some changes. There will be a gradual ease into technology,” he said. “We need to make sure things are more available to the public, and that they have more insight and knowledge about when meetings are and things of that nature.

“We will have more engagement with the public, hopefully.”

Commissioners have been meeting by phone since the start of the COVID pandemic in March, and Abraham acknowledged that is likely to continue in the coming months.

Abraham previously served as president of the Ohio County Board of Education, which streams its public meetings live on Facebook. He said he believes the public appreciated being able to still see the meetings, even if they didn’t always agree with the actions of the board.

“I would like to see us do some virtual meetings,” he said of the commission. “Again, I think that is a gradual step and I will talk to the other two commissioners about that.

“I know I don’t do well without technology,” Abraham said.