PUTNAM COUNTY, W.Va. — Putnam County will have to wait until after the holidays to find the replacement of former Commissioner Steve Deweese.
The Putnam County Commission was unable to agree on a replacement for Deweese, who had served on the commission since the beginning of 2023. The process now goes over to the Putnam County Republican Executive Committee to review the applicants.
Tony Hodge
Putnam County Republican Executive Committee member Tony Hodge says Commissioners Andy Skidmore and Brian Ellis could not make the decision to find Deweese’s replacement on their own.
“The county commission met and interviewed applicants over a two-day period. There were about 21 applicants, and after the two-day period, the two commissioners kind of decided that they couldn’t decide on someone that they both agreed on, so they kicked the process over to the Putnam County Republican Executive Committee.”
On Monday, Deweese pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of fraudulent schemes after he misappropriated funds while serving as the county’s sheriff.
Deweese allegedly never directed the funds to the Scholarship Calendar Company, who supposedly had entered into an agreement with Deweese to use a picture of the department to sell advertisements.
While acting as sheriff, Deweese allegedly received a $1,000 check from the Scholarship Calander Company for four years, but never forwarded the checks.
Hodge says the committee has a standard for upholding values when carefully choosing the future commissioner.
“We’re going to focus on identifying candidates that will uphold the values and priorities of our community while ensuring good governance,” Hodge said.
Hodge does say the 21 applicants in a short amount of time shows this is a high-interest seat available.
“There is a lot of interest, and I will tell you, I’ve seen the list of applicants, and we have quite a few very qualified people,” Hodge said. “I can understand why the county commission is having difficulty narrowing the list down.”
Hodge also says the situation has been unique, but there is still a large responsibility to help the county moving forward.
“In recent years, this will be kind of a new thing for us, and we take this responsibility very seriously on the executive committee,” Hodge said. “We’re going to give it our due-diligence. This process has demands that we give it due-diligence, and we’re going to provide the county commissioners with a strong slate of nominees.
The next Putnam County Commission meeting will be January 14.