MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Commissioners in Monongalia County have voted to move dilapidated properties into the complaint phase and honored the accomplishments of the mayor of a local municipality.
Monongalia County Litter Control Officer Alex Hall described the complaint process for dilapidated properties and encouraged property owners to respond to notifications from the county. Once a complaint is filed, the property owner has 30 days to comply with the deficiency or take steps to comply. After 30 days with no action, the issues with the property could be moved to the complaint stage, when financial penalties can begin accumulating.
The parcels included are on Number 8 Hollow, Pursglove Road, Cassville Mt. Morris Road, Fairmont Road, Curtis Avenue, Dug Hill Road, and Scotts Run Road.
“Once that letter is sent out, they have 60 days to complete the needed work,” Hall said. “After that 60 days are up, if the work isn’t done, it is automatically going into the fine phase, and that phase is $100 per day, and that lasts 90 days.”
Hall said there are opportunities to work with property owners to make repairs or make arrangements for repairs. A property on Tunnel Street was recently moved to the complaint stage but quickly removed after an agreement with the county was reached and repairs were made.
“A lot of these properties are multi-generational in the family, and they don’t want to lose them, but having some type of work down is important,” Hall said. “Not replaying at all or not saying anything will lead us to take the next step.”
There are a number of property owners that have moved to the complaint stage. Hall said some of those issues can be avoided if the property owners make contact with the county.
“Right now, we have 28 or 29 of these on our list,” Hall said. “Actually, all of the ones that moved into the complaint phase in June haven’t been touched, and they’re going to be moving into the final phase.”
At the 55th Annual West Virginia Municipal League Conference, Granville Mayor Patty Lewis was named the Mayor of the Year. Commissioner Tom Bloom recognized Lewis and the Granville representatives during the meeting.
“We’re really proud of you, and it says a lot about Monongalia County,” Bloom said. “We have a great working relationship, and we look forward to things in the future.”
The Executive Administrator for the town, Latina Mayle, also addressed the commission and those in the chamber for the meeting.
“We are so proud of the work she does and how humbly she does that work, and we just couldn’t be more proud to work with her and have her leadership,” Mayle said.