MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — New Morgantown City Manager Jamie Miller has officially made a formal introduction as part of city administration.
Miller officially took part in her first official Morgantown City Council meeting as city manager on Tuesday, where she received endorsements from every single member on the council as well as many city administrators. With just about two weeks into the new position after previously serving as the city manager for Paris, Kentucky, Miller expressed appreciation for the support by city staff.
“Everything has been great; people here in Morgantown have been so welcoming. I think the meeting went well tonight,” said Miller after Tuesday’s meeting. “I think it was well organized, I think it was respectful, it was a good process, and I’m happy to be here.”
Miller takes over for Interim Morgantown City Manager Damien Davis after she served as the Paris, Kentucky, city manager for just over three years. Before that, she served as deputy city manager for the city of Port Orange, Florida, where she advanced from starting in the human resources department to serving in a variety of budget and administrative positions. With Morgantown having a reported population of about halfway between
“Every community is going to have its own unique challenges as well as its own unique opportunities,” said Miller. “And Morgantown has to stand alone for its own distinction, and I’m excited to be a part of that.”
Despite still being relatively new to Morgantown, Miller expressed the need to not only take in the operations of the city and see how departments operate but also to build on local collaborations within the Morgantown community. This was emphasized based on not only her experiences in Florida and Kentucky but also other municipalities she has seen thrive over her years in public service.
“For me, the focus is really about building collaboration with different entities,” said Miller. “As local government, we can’t do things in a bubble, we can’t do things alone, we really need partners, so for me, that’s going to be really one of the focuses.”
Despite the plans to increase local partnerships, Miller still plans to see how city departments operate past a couple of weeks before calling for any large-scale changes. This includes reviews of the goals of the new iteration of Morgantown City Council that now has two new members as well as goals for the over dozen city departments. Expecting a long road ahead, Miller is ready to dig her heels in and work to serve the citizens of Morgantown.
“It’s still early, and we want to make sure that we’re listening to the community’s desire for what those challenges are and their focus and priorities of what needs to be moved forward,” said Miller.