Mayors answer questions during ‘State of the Corridor’ event

ELKINS -- The Elkins-Randolph County Chamber of Commerce hosted a tri-county economic development update billed as the "State of the Corridor" Wednesday at Magnolia Hall.

Regional leaders from Randolph, Upshur and Lewis counties gathered at the second annual event to discuss the future of economic development in the region. Mayors, county commission presidents and development authority directors from all three countries took part in the informational session.

Dr. John G. Poffenbarger, an associate professors of Political Science at Davis & Elkins College, served as the moderator of the event. Poffenbarger's first round of questions went to the three mayors on hand, Elkins' Jerry Marco, Buckhannon's Robbie Skinner, and Kim Harrison-Edwards from the City of Weston.

After introducing the panel, Poffenbarger presented the first of two questions to the mayors.

"What positive steps is your city taking for improvement, and what possible results are you hoping to see?" he asked.

Skinner was the first to answer.

"From the perspective of Buckhannon, we have been very busy and we continue to be," Skinner said. "We are focusing on drastically improving our public spaces. Six of our seven city parks are getting a complete overhaul and it's a project that has been on our radar for a long time. We have completed two parks and we have four more to work on... We have also repaved many streets and put new concrete down on sidewalks. "

Skinner said Buckhannon is also working on putting together plans for a major project, a brand-new $50 million water plant.

"Our water plant was constructed in the late 1950s and we drastically need a new water plant," said Skinner. "So we have some people working on getting that project ready."

Marco was next to answer and also talked about public spaces in the city.

"We recently partnered with the Randolph County Commission to be able to do some paving at the Little League baseball fields this year," Marco said. "They are having the state tournament at that facility this year, so we are excited about the upgrades and the tournament itself...

"We also have one of the best memorials for veterans in our All-Veterans Memorial. We are expanding it and in the future we are going to be adding a Gold Star Memorial Monument and a Rosie the Riveter life-sized statue."

Marco said that public safety is another important thing the town of Elkins is currently working on.

"We are looking to make our community safer, so as I mentioned last year, our street cameras are going up," he said. "It took a while and there were a few hurdles, but we have made progress with those. Having those up is another way to help law enforcement, so we are excited about that."

Harrison-Edwards was the last to answer and said her city wants people to visit, like what they see, and at some point return.

"When I took over six years ago, we felt that the very first thing we needed to do was to clean up the city. Appearance means everything to visiting eyes and ears," Harrison-Edwards said. "The city identified over 100 dilapidated structures and we were able to get two grants through the DEP for razing those structures, and we have successfully taken down over 51 buildings in the past couple of years. We hope to redevelop all of the properties that have been cleared of dilapidated structures."

Poffenbarger then asked the mayors to explain how badly housing was needed in their cities.

"Housing is a challenge for us, some of what we do have is aging," Marco said. "But I think one of the reasons it's a problem for us is because we are growing. We have taken down some properties to make more land available and hopefully we can get new structures in those locations. Our goal is to make our city more attractive so that we have people who want to come here and invest in it, build houses, apartments, and condos."

Skinner said Buckhannon is seeing new housing structures go up, but the problem is that most of them are outside city limits.

"We have had a tremendous amount of growth in new builds just outside of town," he said. "That is not a bad thing for our greater community, but then you start thinking about what is going on in town, in our historic districts...

"I know a lot of people who used to live right in the heart of downtown Buckhannon who now live outside the city. Our challenge is getting people back into the city, and we have to be proactive with that. We have to look at what land is available and what kind of development can go at a particular piece of land... We are trying to make sure that any developments land in the proper space."

Harrison-Edwards said Weston is continuing to grow and that there is a great need for new homes and other structures.

"Weston hasn't had a lot of new builds until recently, in the past couple of years, when we've seen maybe four or five spring up," she said. "We need starter homes, homes for small families, and homes for retirees. We need homes for traveling nurses and for educators who want to move into the area."

Commissioners David Kesling (Randolph County), Agnes Queen (Lewis County), and Sam Nolte (Upshur County) also attended and spoke during the event. They were joined by Robbie Morris (Randolph County Development Authority), Brandon Tenney (Upshur County Development Authority), and Ray Smith (Lewis County Development Authority).