Parker

ELKINS — City officials have thanked former Fifth Ward Council member David Parker for his 10 years of service to the community.

Parker was defeated in his re-election bid in the Elkins Municipal Election on June 10 to challenger Burley Woods.

First tapped to fill a vacant seat on the Elkins City Council in 2015, Parker said this week that his time on the council was special to him. Parker served as a council member for around 10 years, working on multiple committees focused on safety, social betterment and more.

“Ten years, almost to the day, and it’s been good,” Parker told The Inter-Mountain Thursday. “That’s all I can say about it. It’s been good… (Doing the best you can do for your community) just always seemed like a no-brainer. That’s what you do… You’re working for something that’s worthwhile.”

Parker spoke highly of his recent and past colleagues on City Council, saying he found all their perspectives valuable. He added that he found his colleagues to be good and very thoughtful people.

“We all wanted the same thing,” Parker said. “They were not in the work because it made them feel important. They were in the work for their community. I feel we worked out so much stuff.

“The decisions we arrived at together after all of the deliberation, were pretty darn solid decisions, and I know what the intent was. I know the goodness of the people I served with, and that has been such a pleasure… I value them as colleagues, but also as friends.”

Fourth Ward Council member Nanci Bross-Fregonara gave her regards to Parker during council’s June 12 meeting.

“I want to thank (Parker) so much for all the years of service,” Fregonara said. “It’s been great working by your side on so many projects. You’ve really dedicated a lot of your life to the city and I hope you continue to do so in some fashion.”

Parker also spoke highly of the city’s current administrative officers, for whom he is “very grateful” for all their hard work and for their reports to the council.

“They play a huge role,” Parker told The Inter-Mountain. “Basically, they do a lot or most of the leg work for the Council… I think their findings have been extremely helpful and generally spot-on, and I found their motivation has been for the good of the city and not for themselves… They too have been great colleagues.”

Parker admitted there have been times when not everyone agreed; however, as he explained, that was the point. He believes they shouldn’t always agree, but they always work it through together.

Elkins Fire Department Chief Steve Himes gave thanks to Parker at the end of his staff report during council’s June 26 meeting. The June 26 meeting would have been Parker’s last meeting as a council member; however, he was not in attendance.

“I was hoping he’d be here tonight, but I’d like to go on record and thank (Parker) for his service, especially as the Chair of Public Safety,” Himes said. “Sometimes it takes a special person to deal with people like, you know, Chief Bennett.”

This earned a laugh from the council and from Elkins Police Chief Travis Bennett. Elkins Mayor Jerry Marco added that Parker “is very special.”

Parker held a position as the chair of both the Public Safety Committee, which he helped relaunch with former Elkins Mayor Van Broughton and the Fire & Rescue Fee Committee, where the City says he helped establish a fee structure that “funded full-time firefighters, slashed response times and lowered property insurance rates.” Parker also served on the city’s ARPA Advisory Committee and the Municipal Properties Committee.

When asked if there was anything he wished city government had accomplished in the past 10 years, Parker admitted that the city’s issue with the state Public Service Commission ordering Elkins to take over the distressed Whitmer water utilities still weighs on his mind.

In 2023, the PSC’s order forced Elkins to make an unwanted acquisition of Whitmer’s water utilities, which, Marco said, caused the City of Elkins to lose around $6,000 a month. While Elkins operated the Whitmer water utility, they did not own it.

In April, Elkins City Council chose to discontinue the management and operation of the utility; however, issues still remain due to the PSC’s initial order. 

“There must be some recourse for us,” Parker told The Inter-Mountain. “There just has to be, because (the PSC’s order is) just wrong… but I am sure that the council is going to find a good and reasonable way forward on that, even though it may not please the heck out of the PSC, but pleasing the PSC is not in our job description.”

For five years, Parker was also the chair of the city’s Task Force on Addiction & Homeless Resources Task Force for five years, a role he has been asked to continue in by Marco. Parker also hinted that he would be continuing to serve the city in another capacity.

“I’ve been asked to continue the Task Force by the mayor, and I appreciate that very much, that Jerry would reach out to me,” Parker said. “That meant a lot. There’s also been some murmuring about commissions and committees and things, and we’ll just have to see, but I do want to stay engaged at some level that is appropriate.”