MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Roads and transportation, funding for higher education and PEIA are still among the most important issues according to Morgantown residents.
In a survey released by the Morgantown Chamber of Commerce, residents that are members of the chamber were asked to prioritize local topics in the order of importance ahead of the upcoming midterm elections in November. The survey offered seven issues to be prioritized.
Chamber of Commerce Survey Co-Chairperson Dan Miller said the response included approximately 100 comments received.
“Out of the almost 500 members,” said Miller. “Now some members may have been able to comments once or twice or give this leaning, but I thought it was a pretty good response which gives validity to the areas that we are trying to focus on.”
Chamber representatives told WAJR they were not surprised by the top billing for roads and transportation.
“Our current roads, you often hear people saying, ‘Why would we build new roads when we can’t even maintain our current roads?” said Eldon Callen, VP of Intergovernmental Affairs, on WAJR’s Morgantown AM. “Well we can’t maintain our current roads because we have way too many people on our current roads.”
Libby Durr, co-chair of the Chamber’s survey, said that the desire for secondary schools outside of WVU remains high as it relates to funding for higher education.
“One of the things that was really important was just to remember that there’s smaller institutions as well as larger institutions that all need to be looked after,” said Durr.
As seven issues including funding for roads, higher education and PEIA were prioritized, another issue that closely followed the big three was the use of surplus money. Strong revenue reports over the past two months have suggested an improving West Virginia economy, Callen said.
“We have an opportunity here, and the government has an opportunity here to really changed things up, but it’s never happened in the past, that’s why people today say, “Uh is this going to be the same as it’s happened in the past?” Callen said. “Well I hope the governor doesn’t allow it to be the same as the past.”
Election Day is Nov. 6.