UNION, W.Va. — Governor Jim Justice returned to his roots Thursday and he came with a check. Justice presented the five Million dollar allocation to the Monroe County Commission to renovate the historic county courthouse in the county seat of Union.
“Monroe County is on the other end of the earth from Charleston and really and truly a lot of times, you are forgotten. But I’m not going to forget, and I’m surely not going to forget where I came from,” he said
Justice told the gathered group of county officials Monroe County is where he and his family started their agriculture empire in 1977 when they purchased a farm in Gap Mills. He said he was proud to help and had been adamant from the first request he was going to see the request through.
“When Melvin came to the office in October, less than a year ago, I promised him I would do everything in my power to make this become a reality,” the Governor said.
Commissioner Melvin Young was the first to approach the Governor’s office about getting help for the aging and rapidly deteriorating courthouse.
“I met with him and told him we really needed some money and help,” Young said.
The courthouse, built in 1881, has been closed for more than three years due to water seeping into the building. The courtroom, judge’s chambers, assessor’s office, and the basement were all found to have mold and will be renovated. Since that time, the court has been based out of the basement of the Union Volunteer Fire Department’s fire hall.
“For gosh sakes a living you don’t even have a functional courtroom right now. You do that because you’re hard working great West Virginians. When you have something happen, you dig in,” said Justice. ‘
Young called it a great day for Monroe County and was grateful to the Justice Administration for the $5 Million dollar check to help cover the cost of the work.