KEYSER, W.Va. — The Mineral County commissioners are still in the process of approving new addresses throughout the county.

“We want the names as close to the best that we can do,” Janice LaRue, commission president, said. “Once you go through this, you can’t change it for at least four years. I don’t want people to have to go through that again. You have to do so much when you change addresses.”

LaRue said the list of new names for previously rural addresses was part of a state mandate, not a decision made by the county. It has been left up to the county to go through the process of renaming the roads and getting public approval.

Mike Bland, county coordinator, said the process has gone on for a few months, with Dennis McGann, coordinator for the addressing efforts, presenting another list to the commissioners at their meeting on Tuesday.

He said there were some concerns that duplicate names, even though they were in different zip codes, would cause some confusion in times of emergency.

Bland said with a revised list, the county will be able to move forward by January and have it displayed at post offices and fire departments for public review.

He said that in a short time, the new road names could be up on the Web site www.mcaddressing.com.

Anyone with questions or comments about their possible address change can contact McGann at (304) 788-4111.

Also discussed at the Tuesday meeting was the awarding of multiple Government Community Participation Grants.

Burlington Volunteer Fire Department received $5,000 to purchase equipment and turnout gear. Developmental Center and Workshop Inc. received $6,000 for print shop equipment. Elk District Volunteer Fire Department received $2,500 for turnout gear. Fort Ashby Fire Department received $5,000 for testing equipment. The Keyser-Mineral County Library was awarded $10,000 for building repairs. New Creek Volunteer Fire Department was given $2,500 for protective equipment. A $5,000 grant was awarded to Warm the Children campaign to assist in buying winter clothing, and the Fountain Ruritan Club and the Mineral County Historical Foundation were each awarded $5,000 grants.

“(These grants) are very helpful,” LaRue said. “It’s hard to get money when a fire department is trying to get extra equipment, when libraries and ruritan clubs and people who do good service to the public need it. It can be very hard to raise funds. They do fundraisers all the time and go for any grants they can get. It’s wonderful to get them and we’re very glad to have them. We’ll continue to do whatever we can to get them.”

The county clerk’s office also applied for a Record Management Grant that, if awarded, would total $13,455 that would go toward assisting the county clerk’s office in microfilming records for backup

Contact Sarah Moses at smoses@times-news.com.