CHARLESTON W.Va. — Kanawha County Commission President Lance Wheeler says newly-selected County Manager Jeremy Young has some big shoes to fill, but the commission is confident he will fill them well.
The commission voted and approved Young to fill the role Tuesday after longtime County Manager Jennifer Herrald Oakley announced she would be leaving the position following nearly 30 years of serving in the role.
Wheeler said Young comes with a lot of experience as a former County Manager in Putnam County, and that already says a lot.
Lance Wheeler
“I think that’s really powerful, because we want somebody coming in, filling those shoes of Jennifer Herrald who cares about local government, who cares about the citizens of Kanawha County, and the government that we use to provide their safety and their support,” Wheeler said.
He said this comes after they had a dozen applicants to sort through when they started their search a month ago.
Wheeler said Young is coming back to Kanawha County after being born and raised in Cross Lanes. He said, so Young not only has knowledge in particular about this county and knows what’s best for it, but being a county manager in another county as well, he has the knowledge and experience of local government in general.
Jeremy Young
“He knows a lot of these programs that we have here in Kanawha County because it’s something that counties do statewide,” Wheeler said. “He has done a canvas like we’re doing today, he’s worked with a sheriff’s department, he’s worked with the clerk’s office, the judges in Putnam County, so a lot of that’s going to translate very quickly for him.”
Young is not the only new face coming into work for the county, but the commission also approved the hirings of two sheriff’s deputies Tuesday as well, Joshua Sergent and Jonathan Murphy.
Democratic commission-elect Natalie Tennant, who won during the recent General Election will also be coming on in January.
Wheeler said himself, together with Commissioner Ben Salango, Tennant and now Young, he is confident they will all be able to work together to provide a lot of new beneficial projects and resources for the county moving forward.
He said with these new set of minds coming into the commission, it’s a new, exciting era for the county, full of new possibilities.
“You know, I said it when I ran in 2020 when I wanted to be county commissioner, I wanted to bring new ideas and a fresh perspective to Kanawha County, and I think I’ve done that within these last four years, but I think having these new people come is also great, because we’re going to be able to see their new ideas, their new perspectives of what they think we can do to be more efficient with county government, but also things that we may have never thought we would be able to get involved in,” said Wheeler.
He said, so, Young only adds to this positive shift for the county as a whole.
“I know that on day one he will be able to fill those shoes pretty quickly, and we’re just excited to have him,” Wheeler said.
Young will start in the new role December 1.
All day Tuesday, the commission was also busy working as Board of Canvassers to certify last week’s election results. Wheeler said they had expected to hand-count 3% of the ballots selected from random precincts to ensure the count was accurate.
This follows a data stick issue on election night that caused problems with the early vote counts, but Wheeler said that was able to be addressed immediately.
However, he said they were also looking over more than 1,000 provisional votes Tuesday, meaning votes that are challenged due to question over whether they are legal to cast or not.
Wheeler said, unfortunately, they found there were a lot of voters who went to the polls on Election Day only to find out they weren’t registered to vote, and that now, the commission along with the County Clerk’s Office is looking into a new program that would help register people to vote, because he said everyone who wants to vote should have the opportunity to.