MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The second of two public meetings regarding annexation was held Monday night at Marilla Center. The appeared to be slightly smaller, the information was the same, but those in attendance were more vocal.
A persistent question during the meeting surrounded around the Saturday article in the Saturdy Dominion Post by Ben Conley regarding Morgantown Utility Board needs for extra infrastructure, storm water fees, hook up fees and user fees.
Scott Copen is a former senior engineer with MUB and is currently the Engineering Manager with Cheat Road Engineering, the firm hired by F.A.I.R. to evaluate documents provided to the public by the city.
“MUB is the storm water utility, the law gives them the right to go way up stream and start collecting storm water fees. So by annexing to where they’re annexing, all of the West Run Watershed could effectively become MUB’s jurisdiction and all of the people in it could start paying a storm water fee,” explained Copen.
The storm water fee for Pierpont Centre, if annexed, could be more than $1,000 per month.
Mayor Bill Kawecki addressed some of the questions that have consistently come up and seemed confident the city can find answers.
“The MUB hookup, you know what are we going to do about that? The idea of private streets, what should we do about that? There other legitimate concerns that somehow we need to address, we’ll look at them and we’ll do out best to address them and if we can’t come with an appropriate solution we’ll act accordingly.”
After a long list of concerns one local businessman became very assertive and told Mayor Kawecki he was unprepared for annexation and to answer questions from the public. The businessman went on to be critical about the overall process and several short comings he felt the city and Mayor should deal with. Soon after a police officer on duty stood between the two.
The next meeting will be held Thursday, July 18 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Morgantown Municipal Airport in the ARFF Training Room.