The
county is the target of a lawsuit by sheriff’s deputies who claim they are owed
overtime and the county commission recently laid off eight county employees
amid dwindling funds.
Sheriff
West says he inherited a lot of problems with a growing drug trade and
discrepancies in hiring of deputies in the previous administration. All of the
problems are coming to a head for West, but he said most notably is the refusal
of one particular coal company to pay taxes.
“We’ve
got a Russian company that owes one-point-two million dollars,” he said. “They
only became delinquent April 1, but we’ve got a suit against them through the
prosecuting attorney.”
The
company is Bluestone Industries, formerly owned by Jim Justice, but purchased
in 2009 by Mechel, the largest mineral and metals company in Russia
“They
don’t seem to care because they’re hoping to sell out and get out,” said West.
“They’re in the process of selling out to the Chinese.”
West
has also reached out to the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office in hopes
they have the power to initiate action. West would like to see the Attorney
General Patrick Morrisey bring forward the power of other state agencies to
hold up mining permits until the tax bill is paid.
“It’s
a scam more or less,” he said. “A county that’s deprived as much as ours and
they want to come in and get all of the mineral resources and then get out.”
The
county commission laid off eight workers last Thursday to come up with $150,000
to pay overtime to sheriff’s deputies. Commissioners said there could be more
layoffs in the future.
