Putnam County Commission President Stephen H. Andes was absent                                     from Tuesday, April                                29th's weekly meeting.                                  

That isn't unusual.                                  Commissioners miss                                  meetings from time-to                              ----time for vacations and                                family emergencies,                                   just like the rest of us.

However, Andes                                    wasn't on vacation, nor was he spending time with his family. According to Putnam County Administrator Brian Donat, Andes skipped Tuesday's meeting because he was at work at his other job, managing the Goody's clothing store in South Ridge.

PutnamLIVE.com called Goody's and spoke with a Barb Matthews who confirmed the Commission President's presence at Goody's Tuesday morning. "He was here for a meeting," says Matthews.

Therein lies the problem. Andes took an oath of office to serve as a Putnam County Commissioner. He is paid, according to Traci Raines in the Putnam County Clerk's office, $36,960 annually. Part of that money is a raise that Andes chose to accept about two years ago. The commission only meets once per week (under normal circumstances) which means Andes is paid $710.76 per meeting.

PutnamLIVE.com asked Raynes if Andes advised her not to pay him for missing Tuesday's meeting. "He has not told me anything," says Raynes. So PutnamLIVE.com called Andes at his home for an explanation. "I don't have time. It's in the minutes from the meeting," Andes responded before hanging up and ducking the tough questions.

We called Andes at about 9:00 a.m. Wednesday. According to Matthews, he wasn't due to work at Goody's until noon. Why didn't he have time to explain Tuesday's situation?

Perhaps Andes had plans to campaign Wednesday morning. (He later stopped by the Hurricane Seniors Center for a candidate forum but left early to head to Goody's.)

Despite skipping Tuesday's meeting to work at Goody's, Andes wants to be re-elected this year.

Laterin the day, PutnamLIVE.com called Andes at Goody's and asked if he would ask Putnam County not to pay him for the week. Andes continued to play duck and run, refusing to answer the relevant question and, instead, in a blatant attempt to cover himself and deflect the issue, threatened to press a harassment charge, then hung up.

PutnamLIVE.com called Andes' challenger, Jerry Lilly, to comment about Andes' apparent double-dipping. Lilly was not home. We left a voice mail. Lilly later sent the following email response: "I have no comment with regard to the Putnam County Commission attendance record of Mr. Andes".  "I am retired from Union Carbide Corporation and as such, if elected to the county commission, this will be my only job."   

Democratic challenger J. Robert Leslie declined to comment.

Under West Virginia law, county commissioners are only required to meet four times a year. All of the Putnam County commissioners have met that requirement. However, that law was written and passed decades ago when commissioners only earned part-time salaries. Today, with full-time salaries-and benefits-many citizens expect commissioners to meet weekly.

May 13th, Andes will find out whether voters approve of him "moonlighting" at Goody's when he is being paid to serve Putnam County.