Cindy Thomas filled in for Clerk Ben Cowdery at the regular Washington County Commission meeting on Thursday. Commissioner Charlie Schilling said she was doing a great job running the meeting. (Photo by Amber Phipps)

There were disagreements among the Washington County Commissioners over the Sunday Creek Horizons consulting agreement during Thursday’s regular meeting.

Sunday Creek Horizons has been consulting with the commissioners for about four years.

The agreement stated the required services included projects, outreach and regular meetings with the commissioners and Sunday Creek. In return for these services, compensation increased from $10,000 to $13,000 monthly.

“As per the new agreement, it’s very open-ended – which concerns me,” said Commissioner James Booth. “It’s leaving it up to the contractor to determine what they spend of county funds and these are not our funds, these are county funds.”

Booth said that the language in the contract was confusing and he had concerns about its wording.

Director of the Washington County Department of Job and Family Services Flite Freimann spoke Thursday about the significance of Marietta’s history. (Photo by Amber Phipps)

Sunday Creek’s Vice President Will Drabold responded to these concerns by saying “there is no open-ended nature to this agreement and we’re responsible for all expenses.”

Sunday Creek’s mission is to provide communities in Appalachia with the resources and support the residents can utilize for success.

Commissioner Charlie Schilling said he was comfortable with the services and the contract clearly stated what Sunday Creek is responsible for. Commissioner Eddie Place wanted to thank Sunday Creek for all of the people he’s met through the organization.

Booth pointed out that there would be 12 instead of 24 meetings per year under the contract. He said in his opinion this means they’re getting less but paying more.

Schilling said he’s watched the activity Sunday Creek brought to the community and how they worked with other entities.

Booth said that he felt like this was being rushed and made a motion for a Request for Proposal which wasn’t seconded. The consulting agreement was passed in a 2-1 vote.

“Sometimes this board disagrees and that’s okay, we’re an independent people,” said Booth at the end of the meeting. “I want to remind Sunday Creek that under this contract, all parties must work together.”

The County Road 544 landslide repair from the engineer’s office was added to the agenda due to a landslip that occured over the weekend.

“It slipped on Saturday or Sunday and we went out to look at it,” said County Engineer Roger Wright. “We’re gonna go ahead and start fixing it as soon as you guys sign the paper.”

Wright also gave updates on the Devola project which included the installation of a few tanks and only 50 yards left to restore.

Sheriff Mark Warden said that since school is out for summer break, the Community Resource Unit is available for the community. The unit consists of school resource officers and their therapy dogs.

Warden also discussed the community watch meetings that are occurring around the county and have revealed a lot of unreported crimes. The goal is to start these programs across the county and establish a network.

The commissioners agreed to table the resolution for an additional tax levy with a rate of 2.25-mills for each $1 for a period of 10 years. The additional money would be used to support the financial needs of the Washington County Board of Developmental Disabilities.

Schilling said that they’re still working on gathering the numbers and there is time before it would need to be finalized for ballot.

The next regular meeting will take place on Wednesday, June 18, since the office will be closed for Juneteenth, June 19.