CHARLESTON — Is the Division of Corrections quietly and without fanfare making a permanent transition of an officer training academy from Montgomery to Glenville?
Delegate Dave Perry, D-Fayette, co-chairman of the Legislative Oversight Committee on Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority, tried to pursue that question Tuesday.
But nearly every query the lawmaker made on the matter brought a vague response from Corrections Commissioner Jim Rubenstein.
The issue surfaced when another panelist, Sen. Bill Laird, also D-Fayette, asked about a $250,000 appropriation for Glenville State College in money bills before lawmakers in this week’s special session.
Rubenstein said a former shoe factory donated a 40,000-square-foot structure to the college for use as a joint training academy.
Some funding was needed to get the building up to standard for use by corrections, the Division of Juvenile Services and the Regional Jail Authority, he said.
Perry pointed out the academy had been operated out of WVU Tech in Montgomery.
“It appears that the process is now going farther down the track to move that facility permanently to the Glenville campus,” the delegate said.
“That would be my understanding,” Rubenstein said, but advised Perry the question needed to be asked of Military Affairs and Public Safety Secretary James Spears.
“So are these appropriations being spent on state-owned property, MAPS or on Glenville State property?” Perry inquired.
“I defer to the secretary’s office,” Rubenstein said.
On another issue, the commissioner said the state could save $450,000 a year by converting the prison in Huttonsville from heating oil to natural gas.
That would take an investment of $2 million, and Delegate Mike Ross, D-Randolph, said he would gladly sponsor such legislation.
On top of the savings, Rubenstein said he learned from Mountaineer Gas Co. the state would get an annual rebate of $35,000 to $40,000 for as long as 10 years.
“It just makes sense to finance that project,” Ross said, adding a work camp is in the offing at Huttonsville, which boasts some 2,000 acres of land.
“It would be a great step forward for everybody in West Virginia,” he added.
— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com
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