The Harrison County Commission approved a plan Thursday that moved it one step closer to cleaning up the old Perry Mines site and getting it ready for sale.
Commission members heard from state Department of Highways officials about what is needed to move forward on the property, located along U.S. Route 19 in the Edgewood section of Clarksburg.
According to James Harris, commission administrator, the former DOH District 4 headquarters property was turned over to the commission in 1978, when the DOH moved its operations to Meadowbrook. The county then used the property for the Bureau of Emergency Services Center and to house county vehicles.
When the state began testing fuel tank sites back in the 1980s, the commission was required to remove the two old fuel tanks located on the property, Harris said.
In the process of removing the tanks, the county found a third tank, reportedly belonging to the DOH, still on the site. Since that time, the county and the DOH have not been able to agree on who was responsible for cleaning up the property.
The commission agreed to make an application for voluntary remediation of the property, to be handled by the DOH, so that any fuel contamination can be cleaned up and the site can be sold for either industrial or residential use, depending on the extent of the cleanup.
Marvin Murphy, DOH administrator of the District 4 office, said the process will take a few months after they get someone on board who can tell them what additional steps need to be taken in order to get a restricted deed for the site.
In other business, the commission opened the lone bid for a new vehicle to be used for process serving. Jenkins Ford/Mercury gave a bid of $15,985 for a 2000 Ford Taurus. The bid was referred to purchasing and to the sheriff's department for a recommendation.
The commission also agreed to table a request for $25,000 from the Clarksburg-Harrison County Health Department until commissioners get final numbers for last year's fund balance.
Staff writer Gail Marsh can be reached at 626-1447.
