photo by: Joselyn King

Ohio County Commissioner Randy Wharton, left, and Commission President Zach Abraham consider actions during Tuesday’s commission meeting.

Marshall University soon will offer pilot training classes at the Ohio County Airport for anyone in the public who wants to learn to fly.

Those being trained will fly the same aircraft already being used by students in the joint Marshall/West Liberty University aviation classes taking place at the airport

Ohio County Commission President Zach Abraham mentioned the upcoming opportunity during Tuesday’s commission meeting. After this, commissioners unanimously voted to spend up to $12,000 to promote the program.

The goal of the program is to bring more takeoffs and landings of planes to the airport, he explained. This should also result in a greater sale of fuel there and use of mechanic resources on site.

Abraham said a more formal announcement is forthcoming, perhaps by the end of this month. Marshall University will be in charge of all administration of the program.

“We’re hoping to help that and the aviation program, and we would like to make an allowance for some marketing dollars to be spent,” Abraham said.

Commissioner Randy Wharton noted he would support providing the marketing funds on a one-time basis.

“After that, I think they (the universities) should pick up their own costs for marketing,” he said.

Abraham noted there had “always been a lot of asks” about having a pilot training facility at the airport, but that efforts never materialized.

“So we reached out to Marshall, and they are doing this at other airports,” he continued.

Commissioner Don Nickerson asked if the marketing would be done by the county, or by Marshall University. Administrator Randy Russell answered that the county would be working in conjunction with Marshall and WLU to create materials to market the programs.

In other matters before the commission, Sheriff Nelson Croft provided commissioners some statistics for 2025. He said deputies answered 8,804 calls during the year. This resulted in 926 cases investigated and 416 arrests.

Commissioners voted unanimously to re-appoint the following officials to their current post for 2026: Abraham, commission president; Wharton, vice president; Russell, administrator; and Donald Tennant, solicitor.

Commissioners also appointed three members to the Ohio County Building Commission. To start, they re-appointed members Mike Trabert to a one-year term and Elisabeth Slater to a two-year term.

Then Tom Connelly, former director of building and planning for the city of Wheeling, was appointed to a three-year term on the board. He will replace Michael Caruso, who is now secretary of the state Department of Health Facilities.

The commission has been meeting on Tuesday mornings in recent months, but the next meeting will take place in the evening, at 6 p.m. Jan. 22 at the City-County Building, 1500 Chapline St., Wheeling.

The City-County Building will be closed on Jan. 19 for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and on Feb. 16 for Presidents Day.