Do We Have Incompetent County Commissioners?

 

Based on the procedural history of the county's landfill transactions, the involvement of the County Prosecuting Attorney depends on which deed is being referenced:

1. The Landfill Purchase Deed (January/March 2025)

Yes, County Prosecuting Attorney Laura Kershner was directly involved in reviewing and processing the deed when the County Commission purchased the landfill property from the Fertig family.

The wording of that specific deed was notoriously problematic and heavily negotiated for over two years. Because the County Commission was financing the purchase before putting it in the Solid Waste Authority's name, Kershner handled the review and approval of the revised deed configurations for the Commission during their January 2025 sessions.

2. The Option 4 Land Transfer (2026 Project)

For the current Option 4 lease-to-own project, a new land transfer was proposed to shift 2 to 3 acres of the landfill property to the Greenbrier Valley Economic Development Corporation (GVEDC) to shield the construction project from property taxes.

• The SWA's Representation: The processing of the contracts, legal reviews, and proposed land transfers for this phase has been handled by the SWA’s retained project attorney, David Sims, working alongside the GVEDC and JacMal's legal counsel.

• Current Status: As of late May 2026, this specific land transfer and its associated deed processing are on hold. The GVEDC and SWA paused the project to sort out Public Service Commission (PSC) Certificate of Need requirements and address public pushback, meaning the final deed for this transfer has not yet been executed or formally processed.

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  There is no public or legal record indicating that Prosecuting Attorney Laura Kershner waived the right of eminent domain for the Pocahontas County Commission.

  Under West Virginia law, eminent domain—the inherent power of a government entity to take private property for public use with just compensation—is a statutory authority granted to the County Commission as a governing body. While a Prosecuting Attorney serves as the Commission's legal counsel and reviews land deeds or contracts, they act on behalf of the Commission's directives and do not possess the unilateral statutory authority to waive or surrender the county's constitutional powers of eminent domain.

  Furthermore, during the public scrutiny surrounding the landfill's capacity crisis and the negotiations for the Option 4 lease-to-own agreement, local authorities explicitly clarified that the Solid Waste Authority (SWA) had neither the ability nor the desire to acquire neighboring properties (such as the Fertig family land) through eminent domain. The subsequent purchase of the landfill property by the County Commission in March 2025 was completed as a standard voluntary real estate transaction rather than a forced condemnation proceeding.

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   The finalized real estate purchase of the county landfill, which was officially recorded on March 17, 2025, required the formal approval and concurrence of three primary parties to resolve a lengthy two-year negotiation:

  • The Fertig Family (Specifically Jody Fertig): As the private landowners who had previously leased the property to the county, they had to agree to the final sale terms and the removal or separation of various side agreements (such as specific water rights, road maintenance, and land easements) from the face of the deed.

  • The Pocahontas County Solid Waste Authority (SWA): The SWA officially voted to approve the heavily revised deed during their December 4, 2024, meeting. This came after their board members, led by representatives like David Henderson, demanded that controversial side agreements regarding liability insurance, fencing, and access roads be stripped from the deed and placed into a separate contract.

  • The Pocahontas County Commission: Because the County Commission stepped in to fund and execute the purchase on behalf of the Solid Waste Authority, the governing commissioners had to formally concur with the SWA's revisions and approve the finalized land transaction structure before the deed could be recorded.

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     The finalized deed for the purchase of the county landfill was officially approved during the Pocahontas County Commission's voting session in late January 2025.

    The county commissioners who voted to approve the transaction and its revised deed language were:

    • John Rebinski (Serving as Commission President)

    • Jamie Walker (Who also served as a member of the Solid Waste Authority)

    • Thane Ryder (Who joined the commission on January 1, 2025, succeeding former commissioner Walt Helmick)

    During this final approval session, the commissioners and present SWA members unanimously agreed that the deal was ready to move forward, provided the seller agreed to the non-negotiable condition of waiving the final $9,000 lease payment. With that resolved, the deed was formally processed and recorded in March 2025.