MORGANTOWN, W.Va – More than a year after making the request for funding assistance for needed stormwater system improvements along the Popenoe Run stream, Morgantown Utility Board is still waiting on a contract from the city of Morgantown for the American Rescue Plan money it was promised.
During an interview on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town”, Morgantown Mayor Jenny Selin assured that attorneys were working out the details of the agreement but hinted that the funding for the project may have been hung up in the negotiations of another agreement – Recreation at the Flegal Dam and Reservoir.
“They used to be tied together and then it was requested that they be separated and they were separated,” Selin stated.
In December 2021, city council and the Monongalia County Commission each agreed to contribute $1 million in ARPA funds for the project to replace thousands of feet of 60-year-old sewer lines and restore about 3,000 feet of the Popenoe Run stream.
That area was hit with flooding twice in a 50-day period during the summer of 2021 during torrential rains that turned Patteson Drive into a river.
The city and MUB have been going back and forth for several months on a separate contract to provide recreational opportunities at the new Flegal Dam and Reservoir. Selin admitted at one point during the negotiations there was a single contract that contained language regarding the recreation around the dam and the funding for the Popenoe Run Improvements.
“At one point, it was just one agreement,” Selin explained.
The long delay in the funding has caused concern with Monongalia County Commissioners who have also agreed to contribute $1 million to the project. During a meeting in August, commissioners issued an ultimatum that if the contract was not in place within a month, they would reconsider their funding allocation.
“I am going to request on Wednesday to put the Popenoe Run funds on a work session and we will discuss what we are doing,” said Commission President Tom Bloom.
There is hope that an agreement on Popenoe Run could be on the horizon. City Council approved the Flegal Dam recreation agreement during its Sept. 6th meeting and the contract was on the agenda for members of MUB to vote on during its Sept. 13th meeting.
If that deal is in place, the funding for the necessary infrastructure improvements may not be far behind.
Selin contended it made sense to tie the two unrelated projects together.
“Just because it was two things that needed to be accomplished at the same time,” Selin asserted.