MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Morgantown voters will not get an opportunity to vote on whether or not to change the date of the city’s elections.
The charter change, which would’ve placed a proposal to eliminate the city’s standalone election to be aligned with the county, was voted down in a 3-4 vote with Morgantown Mayor M. Joe Abu-Ghannam. Deputy Mayor Jenny Selin and Councilors Bill Kawecki and Louise Michael voting against the proposal. This was the lone charter change that was not approved as part of the council’s regular meeting, which saw charter changes related to amendments to the requirements of the duties for the Morgantown City Clerk and the procedures needed to call for a special meeting of the council, among others, approved unanimously.
“As a major city in the state, it’s something that we can do and that we have been doing, and I would like to continue having such elections,” said Morgantown Deputy Mayor Jenny Selin ahead of her ‘no’ vote.
The charter change focused on the city election was the most contentiously debated proposal that was discussed by the members of the council. If it was passed, the proposal would’ve been placed before voters as part of the city’s upcoming election in April 2025, with the city elections being hosted as normal in April 2025 and 2027 before joining the county ballot starting in May 2028 if a simple majority vote was achieved. Councilor Brian Butcher, who voted in favor of the charter change along with Councilors Dave Harshbarger and Danielle Trumble, expressed a need to support some measures to improve municipal election voting numbers that have not peaked over 15 percent in over a half decade.
“I think we’re pretty dismayed by the kind of participation that we’re getting right now and the absenteeism that we kind of have on boards and commissions,” said Butcher ahead of his ‘yes’ vote. “Maybe being on a May primary would allow us to have more of a prominence,” he said.
The charter change that would amend the residency requirements for the Morgantown City Manager was passed by the council in a 6-1 vote. Changes related to the waiving of the requirement of the Morgantown City Manager to be a resident of the city, a charter amendment allowing the mayor or three members of council to call a special meeting, an amendment setting a candidate withdrawal deadline 30 calendar days before the date of the election, and a mandatory June 30th deadline for the city’s board and commissions to indicate the entity’s activities and financial condition were also approved unanimously.
The council also unanimously approved the third reading of bonding ordinances for a $50 million Morgantown Utility Board upgrade to the Cheat Lake Waste Water Treatment Plant. An ordinance authorizing the Morgantown Building Commission to issue up to $11 million in lease revenue bonds for improvements at Marilla Park was also approved unanimously.