Government

The Wood County Courthouse at Third and Market Streets serves as the area’s center of government, headed by a three-member Board of Commissioners, elected to six-year terms.

Assisting the County Commission are the Board of Education, county clerk, circuit clerk, circuit judge, assessor, surveyor, sheriff, prosecuting attorney, and five magistrates, all elected.

Wood County’s four incorporated centers are Parkersburg, Vienna, Williamstown, and North Hills, each governed by mayor-councils, according to the laws of the state. All have full-time police departments, except North Hills, which is protected by the Wood County Sheriff ’s Department.

Parkersburg employs more than 60 firemen at six stations to earn a fire insurance rating of 4. Vienna boasts a fire station staffed by three paid employees, including the chief, and 33 well-trained volunteers to earn an insurance rating of 4. Williamstown’s fire insurance rating was recently upgraded to 5. It maintains a full-time station with 35 volunteers. Waverly Volunteer Fire Department, which is well manned with up-to-date equipment, safeguards North Hills.

The Central Telecommunications Center at 911 Core Rd. handles all 911 calls for Wood and Wirt Counties. Open since June, 1999, it has 19 full-time employees and part-time assistance. There are six phone trunks with room for expansion.

Many important programs depend upon interested citizens. Appointees compose the County Planning Commission, Recreation Commission, Board of Health, and the Airport Authority. Volunteers are crucial to Wood County Emergency Services.

Community participation is evident each spring after volunteers plant more than 14,000 flowers throughout the city and following the mayor’s “Clean Up/Green Up” project. Officials also coordinate an “adoption” program of 80 flower gardens in parks.