(Photo by Amber Phipps) Washington County Commissioner Charlie Schilling responds during the public discussion segment of the commission’s regular meeting on Thursday.

Washington County Department of Job and Family Services Director Flite Freimann provided updates on SNAP benefits for the county regarding recent resolutions from the federal government at Thursday’s Washington County Commission meeting.

After the longest government shutdown in the nation’s history, the federal government announced it would continue fully funding governmental services through Jan. 30.

“Importantly for us in our community, part of that deal was to fully fund the United States Department of Agriculture’s budget,” said Freimann. “In the event there is another federal shutdown, agricultural dollars will continue to flow which includes FNS (Food and Nutrition Services) and food stamps.”

Freimann said JFS won’t be able to add those funds on the SNAP cards for the month of November but can help by donating to food pantries and monetary support from Marietta College, the Behavioral Health Board, Memorial Health Systems, Peoples Bank, and the Washington County Commission.

In December, everyone enrolled with SNAP will receive full funds and benefits and whatever they missed from November.

“So at the end of the month when everyone’s received their full allocations, if there’s any funds left that was set aside for this, we’ll return those to the county,” said Freimann, adding any remaining funds will return to the county general fund.

“What I know for sure is that in a 22 county area, we’re the only county that came together as a community to help folks,” he said.

Commissioner Charlie Schilling read a statement into the record regarding the topic of injection wells and safe drinking water.

“We are dedicated to safe drinking water and we take allegations of risk to our aquifers seriously,” said Schilling. “We met with the chief geologist of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection who explained to us in detail how injection wells operate and the safety measures in place to prevent contamination to drinking water.”

Schilling said the commissioners don’t have any jurisdiction over the permits and if anyone has issues with it then he recommended contacting Gov. Mike DeWine’s office.

Schilling said they had met with a variety of specialists with ODNR, the Ohio EPA and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.

Betsy Cook with Living Democracy: Engaging Citizens invited the commissioners to a water district meeting at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 3 at the Armory.

“There are a lot of concerns out there about our fresh drinking water due to all the injection wells that Washington County is getting,” she said.

Cook said because of these concerns, Living Democracy decided to have meetings with members of the surrounding water districts. Cook said ODNR hasn’t visited the county in about five to six years and said it wasn’t a very good meeting.

Schilling said the commissioners have family in the area and are dedicated to ensuring the water is safe.

County Engineer Roger Wright encouraged people to drive through Devola since the Devola Sewer Project has been completed with only a few yards left to restore.

“Drive through Devola and tell me that a $15 million dollar project happened there,” he said.

Out of 565 yards, only 26 remain for final yard restoration which focuses on aesthetics like grass growth.

“I can’t grow grass in the winter,” he said. “We want to carry the project forward starting next April and finish up by the middle of June with yard restoration.”

Sheriff Mark Warden said Athens, Morgan, Noble, Monroe, Meigs, and Washington County law enforcement offices are building a coalition to work together for the benefit of the community. The goal is to work together and prevent drug trafficking and crimes.