Published: June 10, 2007 10:45 am      

Fluoridating Hardy water tough proposition

County only one in state without such system

MOOREFIELD — When Hardy County Commission President Roger Champ saw an article in a Charleston newspaper that indicated his county is the only one in the state with no fluoridated water system, he decided to find out how the commissioners could change that statistic.

Champ and Commissioners Stanley Moyer and J.R. Keplinger discussed the issue with West Virginia Public Health’s Phil Martino and Carol Brown of the Rural Health Program in a conference call during their regular public meeting.

Keplinger said that the commissioners had considered contacting the town of Moorefield about the possibility of fluoridating the town system, but during the discussion it was noted that most of the water used by the town’s system goes to two large plants for processing poultry.

Martino and Brown indicated it would not be cost-effective or practical to fluoridate that system.

Keplinger said working with the Hardy County Public Service District is a possibility but the PSD is not a centralized system. “It has extensions, like spider legs,” Keplinger said, noting there is no master meter for the PSD system.

He said it might be possible to put a fluoride injection system at each of the extensions and that the commissioners will ask the PSD to look at the possibility.

It also was reported that renovations will be done to the former planning office and it will be offered to the PSD. Despite the separation of the PSD and the Rural Development Authority several months ago, the two agencies have remained in common quarters.

If the PSD does not want to move to the renovated office, the space will remain available for other uses. The planning office has moved to the basement of the courthouse.

Mickey Carr, county planner, noted that there are a number of vacancies on the 11-member planning commission that will occur at the end of current terms June 30.

Keplinger said that there will be six seats on the commission at that time that will need to be filled for three-year terms.

“We’ll likely do that at our next meeting,” he said.

There will also be several vacancies on the civil service board as members will be resigning to serve on other boards. Keplinger said that state law doesn’t allow civil service board members to serve on other boards.