MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Morgantown City Council announced new leadership for the fire department and tabled action on an increase in trash fees and changing a street to one-way.
Following the retirement of Morgantown Fire Chief Eugene Deem after 31 years of service in June, Gary Freshour was named the next chief of the department. Chuck Campbell has been promoted to captain, and Devon Zaroda has been promoted to lieutenant.
Councilors did not vote on the proposed $2.43 per month increase for trash services provided by Republic Services. The company received approval to increase the rates due to increased costs at their transfer station.
Local developer and owner of Metro Properties, David Biafora, told councilors Republic Services is banned from his properties in the city, and he is in litigation with them. Biafora said the increase is not justified based on the level of service they have provided to him and offered to help negotiate.
“We’re getting taken advantage of here; we can save $19 a ton,” Biafora said. “What they’re doing here is jacking up the price at the Morgantown Industrial Park Transfer Station, and we have moved all of our contracts to Mountain State Waste.”
According to Biafora, Republic Services is responsible for damage to property and garbage throughout the city. He said the trucks are often dirty and leave trash behind on their routes.
“They could wash their truck, they could stop spewing hydraulic oil all over the place, ramming walls, and breaking stuff,” Biafora said. “I’ve got pictures of trash in and out of the city limits all over the place.”
The proposal to change Rawley Lane from two-way to one-way from Evansdale to Patteson Drives was also tabled after hearing from residents in the area for the second meeting. Resident Suzanne McDonald said the proposal has been pushed very fast, and they wanted councilors to slow down. She wants to quickly plan a neighborhood meeting to get people involved but isn’t sure if she will have time.
“We heard they’re going to put in a five-foot sidewalk,” McDonald said. “Well, you know what? We want WVU to build their own sidewalk on their property; we need the road; this is our road, and we want to maintain two-way traffic.
Nicole Panaccione is a member of the Evansdale Neighborhood Association and said the congestion is like “rush hour” all the time post-pandemic. She said when the university closes Rawley Lane for any reason, they are forced to use the traffic light near Kroger that forces residents into long waits.
“They use our neighborhood to egress in and out of their parking lot, which sits behind the president’s house,” Panaccione said. “That’s 175 spaces that, multiple times a day, go in and out of the neighborhood.”
Councilors also agreed to complete a letter of support for the Living in Good Health Together (LIGHT) program offered by Milan Puskar Health Right. The program provides clean needles on a one-to-one exchange for people suffering from substance use disorder. From January through August of this year, the program distributed nearly 190,000 syringes.
“If you look at it from a financial perspective, the cost of our program for an entire year is one-third of what it would cost to treat someone with HIV,” Executive Director Laura Jones said.