MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Morgantown voters will head to the polls Tuesday, April 28 to select their next representatives on city council.
Three candidates filed to represent the city’s 1st ward. Incumbent Ron Bane, Main Street Morgantown President George Papandreas and attorney Rachel Fetty are vying for that seat.
They were recent guests on WAJR’s Morgantown-AM where they discussed their concerns with a city budget that is dwindling.
Morgantown’s budget for the fiscal year 2015-2016, beginning in July, is $3.5 million short of the current budget. Councilors will have $25.5 million to work with for the coming months.
Papandreas said council should be made up of more representatives who have business backgrounds.
“If you don’t pay attention to it when it starts to all fall apart, it’s really out of control by the time you start to grab hold of it. I think it is a crisis and I think it’s a problem with prioritizing,” Papandreas said of budget management.
Fetty and Bane have differing opinions on ways to bring in additional revenue.
“We simply cannot do what we need to do unless we raise revenues. I think anyone who says that is mischaracterizing the city council,” argued Fetty.
She told listeners she would consider imposing a safety fee on some city residents to help bring in money.
Bane, who recently opposed the first reading of an ordinance to increase fire fees, said council has to be careful how it pads the city budget.
“It’s transferring money from the fire department situation to the general budget. So, really what you’re doing is charging these people a fire fee when they’re not getting more fire service,” said Bane.
Both Bane and Wes Nugent (3rd Ward) opposed the fire fee increase. The vote passed 4-2. That split has been a reoccurring vote in many matters on campus.
Fetty, Papandreas and Bane commented on their thoughts regarding the image of the city council.
“There are so many information silos. People don’t necessarily hear everything that they need to hear from city council members and from the public. There’s a perception that nothing is happening when in fact there is a lot of work being done,” Fetty said.
According to Papandreas, some members of council are acting as teams.
“The decisions are already made. You’ve seen this. All you have to do is watch it on TV. And, that’s the sad part. Because there’s not a bunch of people elected individually, the group ran as a PAC, they were elected as a PAC and they govern as a PAC. So, it’s pretty much like that,” Papandreas claimed.
Bane responded there’s no discussion among all of council on city issues.
“There’s decisions being made before you even go in there. The last two years, I have really been frustrated sometimes because I feel they are taking a lot of his (city manager) time. You’ve got the mayor and the deputy mayor that go in there and meet with him for several hours,” Bane said.
Monday, April 20, on Morgantown AM at 9 a.m., incumbents Wes Nugent, Mayor Jenny Selin and Deputy Mayor Marti Shamberger, all running unopposed, will join WAJR to talk about their priorities for the city.
Incumbent Nancy Ganz and candidate Bill Graham will join Morgantown AM at 9:30 Tuesday, April 21. They are running to represent Morgantown’s 7th ward.
Wednesday, April 22, incumbent Bill Kawecki and candidate Al Bonner will be guests on Morgantown AM at 9:30 a.m. They are both running in the city’s 2nd ward.
Noel Hoffman and Jay Redmond are candidates for the 6th ward. Councilman Mike Fike chose not to run for re-election. Hoffman and Redmond are scheduled guests for Morgantown AM on Thursday, April 23 at 9:30 a.m.