PARKERSBURG — Wood County officials are looking at holding on to the old Wood County 911 Center on Core Road to be utilized as a backup facility as well as utilized for other uses for the Wood County Sheriff’s Department.

Wood County Sheriff Rick Woodyard talked to the commission about the county holding onto the old 911 Center on Core Road to be used as an immediate backup facility as well as other uses that can redistribute resources in a better manner.

“Everything is already there in place,” Woodyard said. “I think it would be far better to leave that stuff there.

“We will be able to use it as a full-blown center, if needed.”

The sheriff said the old center has basically remained “the same as the day they left.”

“They could come to the old center, sit down and it would be like they never left,” he added.

Woodyard said the garage at the old 911 facility can be used to store equipment and other things used by the sheriff’s department and have it be more easily accessible.

Woodyard is proposing the administrative offices at the old 911 building be used turn as a fitness facility and locker rooms for the sheriff’s department. Equipment including mats that can be utilized in self-defense and hand-to-hand fighting classes can be put in there.

An old helicopter hangar is located near the old Wood County Sheriff’s Department/Wood County Maintenance building that would be cleared out of sheriff’s department equipment and utilized by the county’s maintenance department. That equipment would be moved to the garage at the old 911 Center. Equipment remains in the garage that is utilized by Emergency Services.

The commission will tour the hanger to see what can be done with it. Officials believe they can get tractors in there and there is a second story that can be used for storage.

Having sheriff’s department personnel going in and out of the old 911 building creates a presence to help keep the location more secure.

The Wood County Resiliency Center also will have a backup emergency communications center that will be geographically separated from the new 911 Center and the old center as a backup.

“To tear down the old (911 Center) and relocate all that equipment would cost a lot of money,” Woodyard said. “It is already there. It is already in place. We can maintain it there a lot better and it will be a full-blown backup.”

In other business, the commission certified the election results last Thursday. The commission passed a resolution during last Thursday’s commission meeting to accept the election results at 5:38 p.m. if no objections were raised and no one asked for a recount.

In other business:

≤ The commission approved putting Jennifer Christopher in nomination for reappointment to the Wood County Historic Landmarks Commission.

≤ The commission approved putting Kenny Harris, Todd Wines, Cory Bean, Terry Moore, Benjamin Auville, Anthony Edwards, Barry Justice, Rick Woodyard, Carl Powell, Aaron Fleenor, Shawn Graham, John Cumpston, Shawn Marshall (Jack Carr, Alt.) in nomination to be appointed to the Wood County Local Emergency Planning Committee.

≤ The commission approved putting Chad Emrick, Megal Lake, Patrick Bryan, Susan Barber, Tim Coffman, Marjean Kennedy, Jim Fawcett and Ed McDonough in nomination for the Wood County Development Authority. Emrick, as mayor-elect of Vienna, is the newest consideration as the mayor of Vienna is appointed to the board, officials said.

≤ The commission approved the nominations of Marvin Kerr, Bill Gandee, Daniel Hickman, Greg Herrick, Marlin Sams, Chris Hoffman and Jim Stage to the Wood County Planning Commission and the nominations of Woodyard, Prosecutor Pat Lefebure, Chris Rutherford, Malorie Chaddock, Jeff Reed, Dick Waybright and Tonya Fought for the Wood County Community Corrections Board.

Wood County Commission President Blair Couch said the commission will take action on the appointments next Monday.

“Wood County is blessed, compared to some other counties, that we have volunteers who are willing to serve,” he said. “(A representative from another county) told me they have a tough time finding people to serve.”