February 19, 2026 • 52 mins
Charleston City Council members Joe Solomon and Shannon Snodgrass on term limits in Charleston, and Kanawha County Commission President Ben Salango on sports complex funding and airport changes.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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The country, the United States of America, the state West Virginia,
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(00:24):
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I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick
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Speaker 2 (00:40):
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Ryan Nicholson, the senior producer in charge of things this morning,
Welcome to the show. Once so closer to the weekend,
Sunday and seventy five in the Capital City, I'm gonna
(01:23):
keep saying it, tell it's true. Big news and Charleston
Sendor Shelley Moore, Capito, the Kanawk County Commissioners, the Mayor
Goodwin announcing the Capital Sports Center complex and they got
their funding seven million dollars to be exact, so we'll
get into that story. Plus also yesterday and the Capital
City upgrades, major upgrades announced for West Virginia International Younger Airport.
(01:45):
We're going to talk about both of those announcements more
with Knaw County Commissioned President Ben Silango, who's going to
join us later in the show. Several other things to
get to in the news. Plus we're going to try
to link up with Wilson Meadows at the Capitol's talk line.
Will be there starting at ten o six this morning,
and we'll get to your calls and Texas well, quick programming.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Note.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
We had scheduled West Virginia Colt Association President Chris Hamilton
to join us this morning, had a scheduling conflict at
the capitol. We have confirmed he will be with us
though on tomorrow's show. So should the City of Charleston
have term limits for elected officials? Your mayor, city council,
et cetera. Two people that say yes. Council members Joe
Solomon and Shannon Snodgrass both joined me this morning. Good morning, Shannon.
(02:24):
We'll start with you. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 5 (02:25):
Good morning, Dave, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
But a while since you've been on, you've been you
hadn't been there since we upgraded the studio.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
I know, and I'm very impressed.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
That's genuine simulated brick behind you. So so, just so
you know, Joe Solomon is here as well. A good afternoon, sirm.
Speaker 6 (02:40):
Good after good morning?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Did I say good afternoon? See here's the thing I'm
on the I do this show, and I do the
afternoon show. I'm just gonna start saying hello that because I'm.
Speaker 6 (02:48):
Gonna stick with good morning to get money.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Good morning until it's morning for somebody. Now, what's you're on?
Charleton City Council. What is your ward? Are you at
alfe and Shannon Ward eleven? Ward eleven? Okay, so we
got Ward eleven and you are at large Joe's so
I'll start with Joe. I'll start with you. Why they
need for term limits.
Speaker 6 (03:08):
I think we need some fresh voices on city council
to bring some fresh energy. And basically, if you look
at the current board of the ballot right now, there's
you know, because there's an election happening. So the city
has twenty wards. Of those twenty wards, eleven are uncontested.
I mean, just one candidate is running. Of those eleven five,
(03:31):
almost half are folks running for at least their third term.
So an idea with term limits is that we invite
more people to take turns. And so what we proposed
is three consecutive terms as a limit, and a term
is four years, so that's twelve You serve twelve years
(03:51):
in a row, take a break, you want to come
back later, welcome back, and that can rotate more of
our neighbors, more fresh energy. And I think we've seen
over least the that I've been on these last few years,
that fresh voices really do make a big difference.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Shannall, what about you? What do you think?
Speaker 5 (04:05):
And I'm one of the longest serving and I also
co sponsored this bill. I believe strongly in term limits.
We had them, We have that. I mean, if you
want to see a mess, look at Congress. So I
believe that it holds people accountable. It makes them realize
that it's not I hear so often my ward my seat.
(04:26):
I strongly believe I am renting that seat. I represent
the taxpayers. I don't represent other council people. I don't
represent the mayor whomever is the mayor at the time
we have we were elected by taxpayers.
Speaker 7 (04:41):
You have to have that.
Speaker 5 (04:44):
It becomes such a loyalty to leadership. When you have longevity,
you don't have. It's the same policy, it's the same ideas,
especially if you don't have much turnover at the at
the mayor level. So that's why I believe in term limits.
And because there is such a thing as incumbency advantage,
(05:07):
you know, a name recognition. So a lot of people
won't sign up because they know that. You know, there's
several have and myself included, have been on council a
long time. I was hoping that there was some you know,
a lot of people reached out to me and wanted
me to run again, both Republican and Democrat in my ward.
(05:29):
So I think they believe I'm a strong voice on
council and I do hold people accountable financially, especially so
there's a few things I'd like to see happen, so
I look forward to it.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
But now, okay, you've been on counseled for a while.
How would this affect you if you and.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
It's not going to affect anyone on council at this time.
It wouldn't go into effect until twenty thirty. So let's say, well,
the first of all our bill that we proposed, there
were five four of us. It got tabled in committee,
which is another bill that I hope we get to
talk about. So that wouldn't even take effect till twenty thirty.
So if you've already served one term, that would go
(06:12):
onto your clock, so you would have two more terms
starting in twenty thirty. Well, we needed to revise the
bill some. We put forth some amendments from to the committee,
but the committee didn't add any amendments and clean it up,
like to make it simple. Three terms start twenty thirty
into story. The bill also had some staggering things in
(06:33):
it which got a little confusing. But we're going to
resubmit the bill.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
There is there a lot of support, and you think
among other council members for this. You know, off office,
you have time, you have twenty of twenty, as Joe said,
you have twenty ward members and then you have six
at large, so total of twenty six. So is do
you sense a lot of support from the and Joe
after Shannon ways in you can wait and go ahead
and go and channel.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
I'll be honest with you. Off the floor, they say, oh, yeah,
we believe in term limits, especially for the mayor. And
so I'm going to do a bill that says for
three terms for city council. I'm going to do two
terms for the mayor, treasurer and municipal judge.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Make it like that.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
We're going to make it real clean. Starts in twenty
thirty into story. If here's the problem. You've got council
people voting whether they want to be career politicians or not.
Perhaps I believe that you are a public servant.
Speaker 8 (07:29):
You're not.
Speaker 5 (07:31):
Those seats are not career seats. You ask it what
I'd love to see put it on the ballot. I
guarantee you taxpayers want term limits, jo you.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Want to follow up?
Speaker 6 (07:43):
Sure, So I shared some numbers earlier, but here's a story.
In December and January, I held some workshops at the
library about how to run for council, because it's a
process that needs some demystification. So got that big room
at the library, tried to fill it up December and January,
and folks would come and I didn't any party any
cause any platform, invited everyone, incumbents, newcomers, and we had
(08:06):
a lot of fun. And at those workshops, what I
heard from folks is they wanted to run, but they
were scared about running against an incumbent. And three people
actually told me through those workshops and offline too, three
people from one specific ward said they were afraid to
run in that ward. And I'll use a pseudonym here.
They said, we're afraid to run against Big Bob. And
(08:29):
you know Bob's Bob's a good guy. You know he'll
tell you there's nothing to be afraid afraid of him,
and I agree. But there's this sense that they're going
up against royalty, that they're not going up against a
neighbor because you've been in there that long.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
And there is something that comes with what's called earned
media too. And I don't necessarily mean what we do here,
but you see this a lot maybe in especially like
in the legislature and things of that nature. I mean,
we interview senators and delegates all the time, and you
can't tell them just because they're running for office that
they can't come on and tell you about a water project.
Now we can keep them from campaigning. Sure, you know,
(09:04):
we can say you can't come on the ship, but
you know what we can't tell what we can't really
tell people. Okay, Senator Smith, you have this, you have
this bill for Tucker County. I'll just use I'll just
make that up or whatever. We can't say you can't
come on the air. We're not going to interview because
you're a candidate. So to your point, there is something
to be said for that.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:22):
I was just very disappointed that, you know, the committee
or and it's in rules which hopefully we'll get into
this other bill which plays into that. You know, they
could have made some minor changes. We threw those out
from the floor in the committee meeting, but instead it
was just table. You know, I hope that the people
(09:42):
that are listening, if you believe in term limits, reach
out to your council person, reach out to your ward,
reach out to your aut large members, reach out to
the mayor's office, or come and speak at city council
as a as a public speaker. If you feel strongly
about term limits. I mean, it's it's time for some
change across the bord.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
And you mentioned that it would be staggered because you
could have with that many council people. You could have
a disaster on your hands if you suddenly have twenty
six new council members and perhaps a new mayor and
the other positions that you mentioned as well. I mean,
you know everybody looking at everybody going what do we do?
You know, so you can't you can't have all new people.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
And the way that if you set the time limit
for twenty thirty, then everybody's going to be by design staggered.
Some people will have already served just one term. Some
people won't be able to run again because that will
be would have been your fourth term, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
So what would you say to people that would say
and I recall Robert Byrd. This is one of his
famous quotes, is we have term limits. It's called the
ballot box, and people can choose to vote either one
of you. What would you say to somebody who says that.
Speaker 6 (10:50):
I'd say that's what I would say if I was
running again, I no understanding power. But when I talk
to neighbors and potential candidates, that's not what I hear.
I hear like, I want to run, I want to serve,
I want to give my all, But I don't know
if I can go against Big Bob, and that ward
is uncontested, right, and that person's running for their seventh term,
(11:11):
including one partial. So I just don't think it plays
out the way that that talking point plays out. And
if you look at the field of at large, you know,
I'm an at large councilor generally a lot of folks run.
There's six at large seats in the City of Charleston.
In twenty eighteen, I think seventeen people ran. In twenty
twenty two, fifteen people ran for those seats, and now
(11:34):
fifteen people again are running for those seats. So why
is that? Well, I think it's because it's you're not
entirely going up against an incumbent. It's not like one
to one, right, you just need one of those at
large seats. So I think the at large, the huge
number of folks that run time and time again shows
that folks want to run and serve Charleston. But there's
this there's this anxiety around running against folks that are
(11:54):
running for their third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh term
in their ward.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
And you know, it's back to the same thing. I think,
if you want to be a public servant, do your part.
I was on the Health Department for twenty years. I
took myself off because that's just too long.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
I loved it.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
We made a lot of changes on that board. But
and now I just I feel like there's just so
much you become loyal to leadership. We have a very
large council. I'm not necessarily opposed to, you know, is
it too large?
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Is it not?
Speaker 5 (12:30):
But what bothers me also is I don't think the
public at large understands that council people get paid to
come to meetings. We get paid. I voted know on
our rays several years ago. They gave themselves a raise
and along with some other elected positions. But we get
paid two fifty for each meeting. But the biggest thing
(12:53):
is why I also believe that there are some that
want to run for council, especially if you're independently Floyd.
You get full time benefits. For those of you listening,
we get full time benefits. As a full time employee.
That means full time healthcare. So and and I never
(13:14):
even knew that the first term I served.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
No wonder people don't want to leave.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
That's exactly right, bingo and and I and and that's
not what it's. It's not a career position. We rent
that seat. We represent taxpayers. Let's keep it simple, you know.
And and again, if if anybody ever wants to watch
a city council meeting, you should. It's it's online. It's
quite interesting because some of these meetings almost are just
(13:42):
it's so there's not a lot of it's very rare
that something does. I can't remember anything that other than
some of the things that back a few years ago.
It's very hard to see in any committee. I can
tell you an example. I was on Finance committee. I
voted no. I was probably the first no vote on
(14:06):
finance in years. I got removed from that committee. Soon thereafter,
I can't tell you. So the so even when it
gets down to our other bill that we put forth,
maybe our committees are broken when you don't have enough
debate among them and enough diversity to even engage in,
(14:28):
you know, some instead of going in with a preconceived
idea or vote that that's not that's not good for
the city.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Do you think term limits would help that?
Speaker 5 (14:39):
Councilors, Absolutely, because then you're not you're not engaged, and
I mean you're you're not. You know, You've got a
short period of time to do what you want for
your ward in the city, and you're gonna and you're
gonna be passionate about it and still setting there thinking
I got another ten years or I got another term,
or you know, like Joe said, there's eleven that are uncontested.
(15:00):
Some of mine have been uncontested. I have two opponents
this time that signed up late so and ones from Tennessee,
and I think the other one I'm not sure where
he's from. But and that's good. I think that's that's good.
Let people have a choice.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
They're from Tennessee. One of them, well, it was okay
residents living here now, okay, all right, all right, so
what was your other bill? Because you said you want
to talk about another and I'm going, Joe, let you
start that, because we've got to start to wrap it
up here.
Speaker 6 (15:32):
This speaks to the council member stungrass is point that
where in need of some committee of reform, and basically
a lot of our committees don't meet and and and
uh and and and they can be a lot more proactive,
not quite as passive. And so what this bill does
is it basically allows the council president to choose committee members.
(15:56):
So it adds like another buffer, basically lets council governor itself.
Only the mayor chooses council council members to be on committees.
And but we are an independent branch. This says, we
elect our council president and we ask them to do
that for us through the process.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
That's what that bill does.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
And I think, perhaps more importantly, what it also does
is it allows that those committees to choose their own
chair and vice chair, to choose their own leadership, instead
of relegating that back to the executive branch. And actually,
let's that committee, that hive mind, that wisdom in that
group figure that out. And do it every two years.
Here's an example of why I think that would be
a good idea. I'm you know, we generally cause trouble
(16:35):
if I may, council Member Snoudgrass and Eye, and so
we're not really put on committees that meet that often,
you know. But one of those is that recycling an
environmental committee, and we're on that committee with that with
a good colleague, council Member em At Pepper, and he's
clearly an expert in the in the environmental field. And
if we were able to choose our own chair for
that committee, I think would be a no brainer that
(16:57):
we would say we we'd like council Member Pepper to
be that chair. And so I would trust the process
and I would trust our colleagues to figure that out.
So that's what that's what that bill does.
Speaker 5 (17:08):
In just a comment. Another one that got tabled in
committee or and it's in rules, the chair has not
changed in two terms that I recall. That bill got
tabled as well, needed some tweak because it was brought
up by our city attorney that the president is pro tem,
(17:28):
so we needed to you know, give her more authority
to do that. But if you have the mayor who's elected,
pick from elected city council to form your committee, and
then the mayor picks the chair. Why do you need
city council at all? Just let the mayor run the
city because there's no separation of power. You know, you
(17:50):
can't you just basically or again, it's too loyal to leadership.
This gives it some diversity, It gives us some fresh
opportunity for new policy.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Okay, we're gonna have to leave it there, but real quickly,
where does it go from here? Where are we now?
On the on the on the term limits, term limits.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
I'm going to reintroduce a new bill, start over, make
it real clean.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
But I think at the next council meeting or I'm working.
Speaker 5 (18:15):
With the city attorney. At last two days ago, I
already submitted it. I actually had submitted one of them.
But I'm also going to include the mayor for term limits,
and the municipal judge and the treasure add those in.
Make it clean. Clean that bill up, and I think
we're going to re on Joe, you speak to the
council one.
Speaker 6 (18:34):
I think we're just going to try other committee reforms
and we're just going to keep trying. But I'll add that,
you know, city Hall doesn't really run on the the
the ideas of politicians. It doesn't run on it runs
on wind power. And that wind is people power. So
people make the wind blow. And so what we're really
good at is putting our finger up, licking it up
(18:55):
a little beforehand, and feeling feeling that for that win.
And right now, the winds. We're not feeling much wind
in city Hall. So when you talk to neighbors, they
want term limits, They want city Hall to hustle a
little harder, especially their council branch. And so I can
folks contests to council meetings. We have public comment at
every major meeting. They can write our ads, they can organize.
(19:17):
We've got to we've got to make the wind blow, all.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Right, we got to leave it there. Joe Solomon and
Shannon Songres Charleston City Council. Folks, appreciate you being here.
Thanks a lot, Thank you, Dave. All right, we'll take
a break coming back after this. Stay with us.
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Generation Generations Forward for details. Big announcements coupled up yesterday
(21:38):
coming out of the city of Charleston and the area
about the sports center complex and also the airports. Mister Solango,
the President of the Canawa County Commission, was there for
both and he joins us now Good morning, sir, welcome,
good thanks for having me on. I do want to
make a note. We'd hope to have Mayor Goodwin with
us here this morning. That was a plan, but as
they said on the Brady Bunch Bend, something suddenly came up.
(22:00):
Do I get points for that reference? The absolutely She
texted me last night said she couldn't join. I hate that,
but well she was on Midday with us yesterday. Yeah,
I was on there. Yeah, yeah, I'm won't weare. I
just I didn't want to make it like she was
totally mia as well. No, no, no, she I guess
something came up last night and then she texted me,
but I'll good. We can chat about it. We can
(22:21):
chat back and you know a little bit about this
thing a little bit, all right, So you the other commissioners,
several other elected officials were there, including Senator Kapado, talking
about the sports complex. Now seven million dollars for Congress
is coming. This was something that we started talking about
back in twenty twenty one when there were a lot
of bumps in the road. To put it mildly, and
(22:41):
it's back on track. Take us through the entire process
going back to twenty twenty one.
Speaker 4 (22:46):
Oh wow, bumps potholes, collapses of the road, you name it,
this's happened. We've had you know, we came, we had
this this concept of developing the old Macy's building into
a sports complex to bring in sports tourism. Sports hourism
is about a forty billion dollar a year in industry,
and we're trying to get as much of that pie
as we can. It's worked very successful at Shawnee. Shawnee
(23:11):
is approaching the two hundred million dollar mark as far
as its economic impact in the community and has been
open for you know what seven years now, So that's
that's a tremendous return on investment. And so we also
wanted to do something near the Charleston Coliseum Convention Center
(23:31):
to where you can combine both facilities and host some
of the largest indoor travel sports in the nation. And
so when we were looking at it and we saw
that there was an opportunity to acquire the Macy's building,
then that's that's what we did. And the purpose would
be to have a center that the community can use
(23:54):
all week and then on the weekends we would bring
in these massive basketball and volleyball type tournaments and really
generate significant economic impact We've seen it work elsewhere. It's
working in Bridgeport, it's working in the indoor facility in Wheeling,
it's working in other states, and I am certain it
(24:17):
will work here, and so that was a thought behind it.
We saw that it worked with Shawnee. We knew that
if we had an indoor facility, it would work here.
But we also wanted something for residents to be able
to use during the week, and so the concept of
the indoor sports complex was.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Was hatched. Okay, And originally we talked about an aquatic center,
and you've been on the show many many times over
the years to talk about why that's not going to
be a part of them.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
Yeah, and I wanted it to be a part, you know.
But unfortunately, when you look at the cost estimates and
also when you take into account what the experts that
we hired to tell us what to put in there,
this is not you know, it's not like I sat
down and said, hey, this is the sport that I
want in the complex, and certainly mayor Goodwin didn't that.
We actually hired experts to do this for a living,
(25:01):
to tell us what would work best here, and the
aquatic center was not in it. But you also look
at the amount of construction that would be required. You know,
instead of a sixty or seventy million dollar project, it
was going to be one hundred plus million dollar project
plus an monthly maintenance of about one hundred thousand dollars
(25:22):
or more for the swimming pool, and so it was
just cost prohibitive. We have a certain limit on what
we can do financially, and I think it would have been,
at least at this time not financially feasible to do.
And so we wanted to take a step back and
look at what are the what are the sports that
(25:43):
generate the maximum return on your investment, And that's kind
of that's what we're gearing it towards. And so if
you look at the swimming versus say volleyball, there's swimming
is a big travel sport. I know, there are some
aquatic centers that have been six well and then some
have not. And so is look at a return on
(26:04):
investment basically is what it comes down to.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
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lot of the online chatter people were saying, you know,
after the announcement was made, they've been saying it for
the last couple of years about this, and we won't
go into all that, but one of the things was
(26:29):
what we only got, you know, until ten o'clock, and
if we did that, we would both grow out full beard.
It's while we're sitting here. But one of the things
that people has said is that they felt that perhaps
the center it was that there was a lot of
emphasis place on bringing in these teams from out of
state to play there, much like a Shannie, but there
might not be a lot for just the local folks here.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
Address that, well, you know, I've yet to find a
project that makes everyone happy. You know, it's impossible to do.
It doesn't matter what you come up with. You know,
Shawnee took the same criticism everyone said that we were
going to. You know, we're in the process of building
the Knawk County uh UH Sheriff training facility. That's taking criticism.
(27:16):
You know, if you come up with an idea, there
are always naysayers. It doesn't matter what the idea is.
I say that if I was standing on the street
corner handed it down one hundred dollars bills, somebody would
be mad at me that I didn't have changed, you know,
two fifties instead. And that's just the way it works,
you know, that's the process. We listen to the criticism.
We understand where they're coming from. Uh, But in reality,
(27:39):
you have to do what you think is best. And
I think that this is this is probably best. I
also think it's completely untrue. We're going to have the
facility we'll be able to use by the residence, particularly
during the week There's going to be a gym, there's
going to be U pickleball. Uh, there's going to be basketball,
there's going to be volleyball. There's going to be a
lot to do. There's going to be rooms where people
can come in and have birthday parties and those types
(28:02):
of things. So I think it is going to be
kind of a community hub that it generates a lot
of money on the weekends, and that's the goal. Just
like Shawnee has been.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
We had a text here and I'll go ahead and
throw it out there. Does the seven million dollars from
the federal government make the town Center harder to acquire
as a donation? The town Center because the property and
let me give a little background here. Mayor Goodwin announced
not long ago, months or two ago, that the city
was in negotiations with the whole group, the owners of
the mall, to possibly have them give the town Center
(28:32):
as a donation. Textures wanting to know, will this make
it now harder now that you get the seven million dollars?
Speaker 4 (28:38):
Yeah, I don't think so. I think it will. And
by the way, the seven million dollars is not for
the entire sports facility. I mean that that's going to
be about between ten and fifteen percent, and then the
rest will be funded through hopefully we can get some
additional grants, and then we're going to have some corporate sponsors,
and then we're going to have bonding as.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Well, you know. So it's not like that seven million,
seven million's not going to build the whole thing.
Speaker 4 (29:02):
It is not, but it was an important piece of
the puzzle.
Speaker 5 (29:05):
It was. No, it is.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
It is kind of what you know, the city and
the county jointly have put in about five million dollars
so far, but it was that's a massive piece because
we each have bonding capacities. You know, we've had bonding limits,
just like anybody would have a credit card then. But
there's only so much money you can borrow. And I
don't want to get the county, and I know the
mayor feels the same about the city into any financial stress.
I wouldn't do that my business. I wouldn't do it
(29:29):
at my house. I'm certainly not to do it for
the county.
Speaker 5 (29:31):
So the.
Speaker 4 (29:35):
Issue is going to be whether or not the mall
is acquired by the city. I don't think that this
announcement is going to hurt that at all. That the
mall owners are going to look at this as whether
or not they can unload the mall and secure some
type of tax benefit. It's not going to be a sale.
It's not like they're going to sale it to the city.
So it's not like they're looking for and you know,
(29:57):
increased price for the mall. In fact, it may help
the mall owners uh increase the value of the mall
uh and get a bigger tax right.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking it. So it makes the
value of the mall go up. And then if they
do the donation or whatever works out with the city
portion of it or whatever, it's a bigger tax break.
It's a bigger tix because and there are businesses that
this right or wrong. This is this is what they do.
They they they getting in. The whole group is not
the only one. They go in and they acquire a
(30:27):
piece of property like this, they set on it, they
keep all the do all the things that you're supposed
to do, you know, as far as paying taxes and
so on and so forth, and then they unload it.
And by unloaded I mean a donation or a partial
donation or whatever. They get a huge tax right on.
That's right, And that's not the fault of the whole group.
That's the part that's that's the fault of the government.
If if you've got a problem with it, what's Chris
Rock say, don't hate the player, hate the game. That's
(30:47):
the that's the that's the way this works. You know,
it's in any of these large holding companies. Landholding companies
can do that, and we see it from time to
time here in Kanawk County, and this is one of
those situations where it, you know, may benefit the whole
group to unload it to the city.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
We shall see, so that will change. If the whole
group does give them all to the city, then that
will change the layout of the sports complex. You know,
instead of building up, we may just build out. The
mayor alluded to that yesterday, which could save significant money.
Anytime you're building up, there's a lot more to deal with,
a lot a lot more expensive, So then you just
(31:24):
build out. It also potentially could change the entire footprint
of the facility. I mean, there's probably more that we
could do.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
With the money that we have.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
All right, got a texture for you and then we'll
take a break. We were sold on an aquatic center.
We have plenty of basketball courts, pickle ball courts, volleyball courts,
but only one indoor pool in Charleston. Stop saying you
can't please every one? What about local kids?
Speaker 9 (31:47):
Free?
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Sorry kids? That doesn't make money?
Speaker 4 (31:50):
You know, well that's you know, I enjoyed it. I
like that concept. Now tell me where you're going to
get one hundred million dollars to build it. Now tell
me where you're going to get one hundred thousand dollars
a month to maintain it. So if the texture could
respond and tell me that, then we'll build it. But
I can tell you that that I work very hard
at this. I know the mayor does, I know city
council does, the other commissioners, and now yet to find
(32:13):
a solution for that issue. And particularly when you're talking
about building it, maintaining it and letting people use it
for free, it's just a I mean, it's not financially feasible.
The math unfores math on math. So if the texture
could let me know that, we'll jump right on it
immediately and we'll.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Take a break. You can hang out with me just
a little bit. I know you've got a hard out
sout hang out here and we do it with me
just one second. But Dave Allen showing five eighty Live
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Speaker 2 (35:18):
Welcome back to the Show to Dave Island Show in
five at Eline Brown to You part by your hometown
baseball team, the Charleston dirty Birds swinter time. Now we're
already talking about baseball at Gomart Ballpark. Now would be
a good time to secure your season tickets merchandise at
more at dirty birds Baseball dot com. Canon County Commission
President Ben Selango is here. Senator Shelley Moore Capito was
a big part of the announcement yesterday.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
Yeah, you know what, So you know, the way that
this worked out was we were actually we had received
a congressionally directed funding an ear mark UH two years ago,
and then there were issues in Congress. They didn't pass
a budget, they just passed the resolution, and so the
ear mark died on the vine, if you will. It
just didn't come into existence, it wasn't signed into the wall.
(35:58):
And so Center Capitol has been working very hard to
make those ear marks that were there before happened and
this was one of them. And this project would not
have happened but for that ear mark. And so we're
very very appreciative of that, and because I know she
went to bat for us on that. It's that is
not an easy sale. You've got so many different senators
(36:21):
fighting for money to go into their state.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Everybody got their hand out, and I don't mean that
in a bad way.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
That's what they're supposed to do. That's exactly what they're
supposed to do. But she has you know, she's been
in the Senate long enough to where now you know
she's on appropriation. She has a lot of pool and
West Virginia is definitely benefiting from that, as we saw
yesterday just from some of the announcements. But she and
Senator Justice worked very hard to get that congressionally direct
to spending request and make sure that it was signed
(36:49):
into law, which I found out about, I think was
on February third. It was like ten pm. Somebody called
me and I was I was ecstatic, not just for
the Capital Sports Center, but also some of the other
funding requests that were approved.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
So let's talk about the airport. Yesterday. There was ano
big announcement up there yesterday about upgrades to West Virginia
International Yeager.
Speaker 4 (37:10):
Let me let me start with I don't think people
realize how much money that airport brings into the community.
It's around three hundred and sixty million dollars a year.
Is what that the economic impact to that airport? And
so anytime you can acquire money or secure money for upgrades.
It's important, and this one is significant. It basically changes
(37:33):
the entire look at the airport. It changes where you
check in, it changes where you board. There's no longing
to be multi levels. It changes the whole design of
the airport as far as when you're approaching it. It
changes the security area, so it makes the airport more secure.
It was a significant, significant win for Charleston and Kanawk
(37:56):
County in West Virginia. And it would not have happened
but for Senator Capital a Centator Justice. Because twenty five
million dollars a lot of money. That is a lot
of money to get on a specific project. Then they
were able to make it happen. I didn't ask them how,
but they must have thrown somebody in a headlock and
squeeze some money out of them.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Let's go back to the Sports Center for a moment.
So where are we now now? I mean the announcement
has been made, So what next?
Speaker 4 (38:20):
So now we need to see if the city's going
to actually acquire part or all of them all, and
if that happens, we will look at a modified design.
If it doesn't happen, we'll probably move forward with the
design that we had a couple of years ago, which
is the multi floor you know, three level design. If
we can make it one level, that's better, But if
(38:42):
we have to go to multi level, we will and
you know, if it's one level, we'll be able to
expand the indoor running track, for instance, We've got to
do a lot more. And so we want to see
how those talks go between the city and the whole
group and hopefully those will be fruitful and if so,
then we we'll modify the design and then we'll get
you know, the architect then has to actually come up
(39:02):
with the the blueprints, the actual designs. That's going to
take six months to a year, probably closer to a year.
And as soon as the design's done, we can break around.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
And we want to make sure people realize that if
you think that here it is February the nineteenth, If
you think you're going to roll into town in May
and think that the sports center is going to be done,
not going to happen. It's going to be several years
down the several years.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
Yeah, it takes any of these big projects. I mean
we've had water projects we're working on that have that
have gone on for almost twenty years. The all Caught
Water project, what we've been working on is now in
its eighth or ninth year since we started. So, you know,
some of these projects, even when what you're dealing with
federal money and trying to acquire different pots of money
(39:50):
from the state or the Feds, it just it takes
a long time. And these are not projects that the
county or the city could afford to do by themselves.
There's no way possible. So so getting those partners and
helping us out is essential, and so the projects just
take time. Unfortunately, if I can have it done by May,
it would be done by May, I promise. But all right,
I know you got to leave.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
But I had another question that had yesting to do
with what we're talking about. If the person wanted to
know any known plans to replace the former Kanaw County
landfill with the new operation anytime soon, Commissioner, I.
Speaker 4 (40:20):
Think there are plans that they're looking at, and but
I don't know the details of it. I can try
to find out and maybe we can chat about that
when next time I come on. But I think there
are plans, but I don't know the details.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Kennaugh County Commission, President of Bensilango. Appreciate you being here,
Thanks for having me. Thanks a lot of Dave Allen
Show on five Ady Line, brought to you apart by
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Speaker 7 (40:46):
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We welcor back to the show. It's nine fifty one.
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Gillenwater from the Cannell to Charleston Humaine Association with this
week's Adopt Me Please Pet of the Week. Travis Willard,
Republican candidate for state Senator in District four, will stop
by and more later today Metro News Midday with thirteen
News and Tonight Live anchor Mande Baron and me Hoppy
(43:57):
Kerchival the Goat is on the show today. Jason Huffman
from Americans for Prosperity will stop by. They're not happy
with the House Finance Committee who yesterday rolled out legislation
to quote refine the Hope Scholarship. Brad writes about it
this morning. Full story, full detailed wv Metronews dot com
about those changes. We're also going to talk to another Jason,
(44:19):
Jason Day. Jason Parsons actually an old friend of mine,
because I'm learning that as of late booking two shows,
apparently I know everyone. So that's what happens when you
get old. But Jason Parsons is Boone County guy originally,
and he's the president and CEO of a Blue Ridge
Care just over the border from the Eastern Panhandle, and
(44:41):
he's hoping to do some good things in West Virginia
related to healthcare, specifically elder care. So Jason, who actually
lives in West Virginia, is going to talk about it,
whether it's Jeff Jenkins will be here with the news
and more. Metro News Midday powered by Selango Law with
thirteen News and Tonight Live anchor Amanda Baron and Me
coming up at noon today. I do want to mention
something quickly from yesterday's show. I told you about the
tractor trailer accident that happened around three or so yesterday
(45:04):
afternoon on the corridor near the shops a trace Fork.
I was held up in that mess Tuesday afternoon. After
seeing the overturn and after seeing the overturned tractor trailer,
I just wondered, what in the heck happened. And it
may have come off on the show like I was
blaming the truck driver.
Speaker 11 (45:20):
I was not.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
I was simply asking how it happened. Well, thanks to
many of you, I found out what happened. This is
why I always say we had the greatest listeners in
the world. Several of you sent me the dash cam
clip taken from the truck driver's perspective, and it appears
that someone in a car at the last moment decided
to exit the shops a trace fork directly in front
(45:41):
of the truck, and the driver then swerved to miss
the car, and that's how it happened. So my apologies.
If it came off like I was blaming the truck driver,
I wasn't. I was simply questioning how it would have happened.
And again, so many of you reached out to me.
I definitely do appreciate it, so I just wanted to
just wanted to kind of get that out there quickly.
(46:01):
A couple of quick texts. There are term limits. They're
called voters. They vote in or out. It is up
to them, says a tankster.
Speaker 4 (46:11):
Dave.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
I went to the world's largest Chick fil A formerly
known as a town Center, the other day. It was
a pleasant visit. I think people are too caught up
what the town Center was and are sleeping on what
it is. One of the few third spaces in the
valley people can just be without an upfront cost, says
a tankster. And now I'll say this and then we'll
go to Wilson and Meadows. You're standing by live at
(46:32):
the Capitol. I will say this. It is on the
sports project or anything else. It is so easy. This
is editorializing on my part. It is so easy for
people who have never attempted to create anything to set
back on social media and crap on a project. People
for the most part, who have never attended a meeting,
(46:52):
never lifted a finger to do anything but to complain online.
You are welcome to attend Charleston City Council meeting. You're
welcome to attended County Commission meeting and give them your ideas,
or better yet, roll up your sleeves and be an entrepreneur.
It is National Entrepreneurship Week. I learned that yesterday I
met tring new his midday. Uh but I just I
(47:14):
was reading the comments on the proposed sports center, and
I just I mean, and I'm not talking about people saying,
well I think you should do this. I think you
should that. There's no problem with that at all. Okay,
what I am is people. What I do have a
problem with is that people that are so uninformed that
they just say this is a total waste of money
and that they're that nobody's going to go there. And
people say, well, no, we just need we just need
(47:36):
to put a you know, elder care in it. Look,
I like old people as much as the next person. Okay,
but that's not going to bring in a lot of
money to Charleston. Okay, this is a great idea in
my opinion editorializing great, great one. I'm one percent behind
this idea. Hobby Kerchiville is back with another state of
mind's interview Metro News Television. It will drop tonight at
(47:56):
seven o'clock Cobby sitting down with Mountaineer quarterbacking legend Jeff Hosteler.
State of Minds presented by Hope Gas Greer Industries, drops
at seven o'clock tonight Metro News Television. Also available on
all of your devices including Roku, LG, Smart TVs, Fire TV,
and Samsung Smart TVs. And the Goats, the greatest of
all Time, will join us for the show I'm introduced
(48:18):
Midday Today, Texas. Can we consider having this is more
than there's a sports complex? How about considering making it
more like a family entertainment venue. Include things you wouldn't
normally think of, like a bowling nowvey movie theater, roller
rink arcade, things like that. Look, I would have no
issue with that as long as they bring money in
Tech says, didn't the public vote on the aquatic center,
Not that I'm aware of, Texas, I'm not one hundred
(48:41):
percent sure, but the facility used as comparison to Bridgeport
is not free. Also the YMCA and Charles. The YMCA
in Clarksburg Sands vacant now food for thought and or investigation,
tex says. Cities with the most swimming pools for one
hundred thousand residents of the US twenty twenty four, published
by Statistics the Research Department. City with the largest number
(49:03):
of public swimming pools per one hundred thousand residents Cleveland. Okay,
let's go to the capitol. Let's check in with Wilson
and Meadows and see what's going on there. Good morning, fellows,
morning sir, how's it going. It's going a beautiful Sorry
you guys had to hear me editorializing there. But yeah,
(49:26):
that's what I did. I just heard get off my
law exactly what I saw.
Speaker 9 (49:31):
What I heard.
Speaker 2 (49:32):
Now, I said, now this time it would be get
off my lawn, you old people. That's what I was saying.
It was exactly the first time. Well, it just it
just bothers me, you know, I mean, we got we
got where we're We got a great opportunity with the
sports complex in downtown Charleston for not only Charleston, but
all the surrounding areas. And all I'm reading online last night,
and it's everybody's right to give their opinion, all I'm
reading online is people crapping all over it and saying
(49:54):
it's election year stuff. This thing was proposed in twenty
twenty one. That's when this conversation started, and people certainly
have a right to weigh in on it. But when
you've never lifted a finger to do anything, you never
attended to send city council meeting or county commission meeting
or whatever, and you just want to sit back and bitch,
I'm sorry, I got a problem with that. Well you're
not wrong, Yeah, okay.
Speaker 14 (50:14):
If you're willing to complain, you should be willing to
be chair of the committee to fix it.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
That's the way life works. And when people say the
city or the county needs to put in whatever, that's
this is entrepreneurship. It's National Entrepreneurship Week. Businesses do this.
The city can't save the town center. They can negotiate,
they can't put stores in a town center that's not
what cities do you put a store in a town
center or whatever the case may be. I'm done what
(50:40):
you guys got no, I just sit back, listen to you,
all right?
Speaker 1 (50:46):
You wound up.
Speaker 14 (50:47):
You wound up as the Hope Scholarships who are perturbed?
Speaker 2 (50:51):
All right?
Speaker 14 (50:51):
Talk about that bill originating in House Finanza yesterday that
would make some changes to the Hope Scholarship, put some
restrictions in or at rails, depending on how you're looking
at it. Marty Gerhart's going to explain that bill to us.
We'll get the thoughts from Delegate John Williams. Also, the
state Treasurer Larry Pack released a statement yesterday. Of course,
his office administers of the Hope Scholarship. So we'll get
(51:12):
all of those perspectives this morning, as well as talk
to the State Department of Education's Career and Technical Education
Director Adam Canter going to drop by as well today,
So lots to get into oh House House rolling off
the budget this morning as well.
Speaker 2 (51:26):
Tratt'll have an update. All right, well, Meadows Wilson, we'll
be listening. Ten oh six guys, Thanks a lot, all.
Speaker 14 (51:32):
Right, go yell at the kids on your lawn.
Speaker 2 (51:34):
You off my line and hurts one ip. Okay, thanks guys,
that's more true than you'll know. All Right, We're good.
We'll be back later today with Metro News Midday with
thirteen News in Tonight Live anchor Manda Beard and me
on this show tomorrow. Angie Gillan, Watercanals, Charleston. You've main
association with this week's Adopt Me Please pet of the
Week State send to Canada from District Fort Travis Willard
will join us at Chris Hamilton for the West Virginia
(51:55):
Cold Association. Follow the news of the day. Wv Metro
News dot Com Producer Ryan Nicholson, thank you so much,
see you later today till then, have fun and love
somebodys A.
Speaker 1 (52:20):
M six point five then Charleston one oh four point
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The country, the United States of America, the state West Virginia,
the city Charleston. This is the Dave Allen Show on
(00:24):
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Speaker 2 (00:27):
What we've got here is failure the newcake. He's kind
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Speaker 3 (00:34):
I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick
out on them all out of bun.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Dave Allen, Thursday Morning, to you, and welcome to the show. Bigley,
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Ryan Nicholson, the senior producer in charge of things this morning,
Welcome to the show. Once so closer to the weekend,
Sunday and seventy five in the Capital City, I'm gonna
(01:23):
keep saying it, tell it's true. Big news and Charleston
Sendor Shelley Moore, Capito, the Kanawk County Commissioners, the Mayor
Goodwin announcing the Capital Sports Center complex and they got
their funding seven million dollars to be exact, so we'll
get into that story. Plus also yesterday and the Capital
City upgrades, major upgrades announced for West Virginia International Younger Airport.
(01:45):
We're going to talk about both of those announcements more
with Knaw County Commissioned President Ben Silango, who's going to
join us later in the show. Several other things to
get to in the news. Plus we're going to try
to link up with Wilson Meadows at the Capitol's talk line.
Will be there starting at ten o six this morning,
and we'll get to your calls and Texas well, quick programming.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
Note.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
We had scheduled West Virginia Colt Association President Chris Hamilton
to join us this morning, had a scheduling conflict at
the capitol. We have confirmed he will be with us
though on tomorrow's show. So should the City of Charleston
have term limits for elected officials? Your mayor, city council,
et cetera. Two people that say yes. Council members Joe
Solomon and Shannon Snodgrass both joined me this morning. Good morning, Shannon.
(02:24):
We'll start with you. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 5 (02:25):
Good morning, Dave, thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
But a while since you've been on, you've been you
hadn't been there since we upgraded the studio.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
I know, and I'm very impressed.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
That's genuine simulated brick behind you. So so, just so
you know, Joe Solomon is here as well. A good afternoon, sirm.
Speaker 6 (02:40):
Good after good morning?
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Did I say good afternoon? See here's the thing I'm
on the I do this show, and I do the
afternoon show. I'm just gonna start saying hello that because I'm.
Speaker 6 (02:48):
Gonna stick with good morning to get money.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Good morning until it's morning for somebody. Now, what's you're on?
Charleton City Council. What is your ward? Are you at
alfe and Shannon Ward eleven? Ward eleven? Okay, so we
got Ward eleven and you are at large Joe's so
I'll start with Joe. I'll start with you. Why they
need for term limits.
Speaker 6 (03:08):
I think we need some fresh voices on city council
to bring some fresh energy. And basically, if you look
at the current board of the ballot right now, there's
you know, because there's an election happening. So the city
has twenty wards. Of those twenty wards, eleven are uncontested.
I mean, just one candidate is running. Of those eleven five,
(03:31):
almost half are folks running for at least their third term.
So an idea with term limits is that we invite
more people to take turns. And so what we proposed
is three consecutive terms as a limit, and a term
is four years, so that's twelve You serve twelve years
(03:51):
in a row, take a break, you want to come
back later, welcome back, and that can rotate more of
our neighbors, more fresh energy. And I think we've seen
over least the that I've been on these last few years,
that fresh voices really do make a big difference.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Shannall, what about you? What do you think?
Speaker 5 (04:05):
And I'm one of the longest serving and I also
co sponsored this bill. I believe strongly in term limits.
We had them, We have that. I mean, if you
want to see a mess, look at Congress. So I
believe that it holds people accountable. It makes them realize
that it's not I hear so often my ward my seat.
(04:26):
I strongly believe I am renting that seat. I represent
the taxpayers. I don't represent other council people. I don't
represent the mayor whomever is the mayor at the time
we have we were elected by taxpayers.
Speaker 7 (04:41):
You have to have that.
Speaker 5 (04:44):
It becomes such a loyalty to leadership. When you have longevity,
you don't have. It's the same policy, it's the same ideas,
especially if you don't have much turnover at the at
the mayor level. So that's why I believe in term limits.
And because there is such a thing as incumbency advantage,
(05:07):
you know, a name recognition. So a lot of people
won't sign up because they know that. You know, there's
several have and myself included, have been on council a
long time. I was hoping that there was some you know,
a lot of people reached out to me and wanted
me to run again, both Republican and Democrat in my ward.
(05:29):
So I think they believe I'm a strong voice on
council and I do hold people accountable financially, especially so
there's a few things I'd like to see happen, so
I look forward to it.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
But now, okay, you've been on counseled for a while.
How would this affect you if you and.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
It's not going to affect anyone on council at this time.
It wouldn't go into effect until twenty thirty. So let's say, well,
the first of all our bill that we proposed, there
were five four of us. It got tabled in committee,
which is another bill that I hope we get to
talk about. So that wouldn't even take effect till twenty thirty.
So if you've already served one term, that would go
(06:12):
onto your clock, so you would have two more terms
starting in twenty thirty. Well, we needed to revise the
bill some. We put forth some amendments from to the committee,
but the committee didn't add any amendments and clean it up,
like to make it simple. Three terms start twenty thirty
into story. The bill also had some staggering things in
(06:33):
it which got a little confusing. But we're going to
resubmit the bill.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
There is there a lot of support, and you think
among other council members for this. You know, off office,
you have time, you have twenty of twenty, as Joe said,
you have twenty ward members and then you have six
at large, so total of twenty six. So is do
you sense a lot of support from the and Joe
after Shannon ways in you can wait and go ahead
and go and channel.
Speaker 5 (06:57):
I'll be honest with you. Off the floor, they say, oh, yeah,
we believe in term limits, especially for the mayor. And
so I'm going to do a bill that says for
three terms for city council. I'm going to do two
terms for the mayor, treasurer and municipal judge.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Make it like that.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
We're going to make it real clean. Starts in twenty
thirty into story. If here's the problem. You've got council
people voting whether they want to be career politicians or not.
Perhaps I believe that you are a public servant.
Speaker 8 (07:29):
You're not.
Speaker 5 (07:31):
Those seats are not career seats. You ask it what
I'd love to see put it on the ballot. I
guarantee you taxpayers want term limits, jo you.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Want to follow up?
Speaker 6 (07:43):
Sure, So I shared some numbers earlier, but here's a story.
In December and January, I held some workshops at the
library about how to run for council, because it's a
process that needs some demystification. So got that big room
at the library, tried to fill it up December and January,
and folks would come and I didn't any party any
cause any platform, invited everyone, incumbents, newcomers, and we had
(08:06):
a lot of fun. And at those workshops, what I
heard from folks is they wanted to run, but they
were scared about running against an incumbent. And three people
actually told me through those workshops and offline too, three
people from one specific ward said they were afraid to
run in that ward. And I'll use a pseudonym here.
They said, we're afraid to run against Big Bob. And
(08:29):
you know Bob's Bob's a good guy. You know he'll
tell you there's nothing to be afraid afraid of him,
and I agree. But there's this sense that they're going
up against royalty, that they're not going up against a
neighbor because you've been in there that long.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
And there is something that comes with what's called earned
media too. And I don't necessarily mean what we do here,
but you see this a lot maybe in especially like
in the legislature and things of that nature. I mean,
we interview senators and delegates all the time, and you
can't tell them just because they're running for office that
they can't come on and tell you about a water project.
Now we can keep them from campaigning. Sure, you know,
(09:04):
we can say you can't come on the ship, but
you know what we can't tell what we can't really
tell people. Okay, Senator Smith, you have this, you have
this bill for Tucker County. I'll just use I'll just
make that up or whatever. We can't say you can't
come on the air. We're not going to interview because
you're a candidate. So to your point, there is something
to be said for that.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (09:22):
I was just very disappointed that, you know, the committee
or and it's in rules which hopefully we'll get into
this other bill which plays into that. You know, they
could have made some minor changes. We threw those out
from the floor in the committee meeting, but instead it
was just table. You know, I hope that the people
(09:42):
that are listening, if you believe in term limits, reach
out to your council person, reach out to your ward,
reach out to your aut large members, reach out to
the mayor's office, or come and speak at city council
as a as a public speaker. If you feel strongly
about term limits. I mean, it's it's time for some
change across the bord.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
And you mentioned that it would be staggered because you
could have with that many council people. You could have
a disaster on your hands if you suddenly have twenty
six new council members and perhaps a new mayor and
the other positions that you mentioned as well. I mean,
you know everybody looking at everybody going what do we do?
You know, so you can't you can't have all new people.
Speaker 5 (10:19):
And the way that if you set the time limit
for twenty thirty, then everybody's going to be by design staggered.
Some people will have already served just one term. Some
people won't be able to run again because that will
be would have been your fourth term, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
So what would you say to people that would say
and I recall Robert Byrd. This is one of his
famous quotes, is we have term limits. It's called the
ballot box, and people can choose to vote either one
of you. What would you say to somebody who says that.
Speaker 6 (10:50):
I'd say that's what I would say if I was
running again, I no understanding power. But when I talk
to neighbors and potential candidates, that's not what I hear.
I hear like, I want to run, I want to serve,
I want to give my all, But I don't know
if I can go against Big Bob, and that ward
is uncontested, right, and that person's running for their seventh term,
(11:11):
including one partial. So I just don't think it plays
out the way that that talking point plays out. And
if you look at the field of at large, you know,
I'm an at large councilor generally a lot of folks run.
There's six at large seats in the City of Charleston.
In twenty eighteen, I think seventeen people ran. In twenty
twenty two, fifteen people ran for those seats, and now
(11:34):
fifteen people again are running for those seats. So why
is that? Well, I think it's because it's you're not
entirely going up against an incumbent. It's not like one
to one, right, you just need one of those at
large seats. So I think the at large, the huge
number of folks that run time and time again shows
that folks want to run and serve Charleston. But there's
this there's this anxiety around running against folks that are
(11:54):
running for their third, fourth, fifth, sixth, or seventh term
in their ward.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
And you know, it's back to the same thing. I think,
if you want to be a public servant, do your part.
I was on the Health Department for twenty years. I
took myself off because that's just too long.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
I loved it.
Speaker 5 (12:13):
We made a lot of changes on that board. But
and now I just I feel like there's just so
much you become loyal to leadership. We have a very
large council. I'm not necessarily opposed to, you know, is
it too large?
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Is it not?
Speaker 5 (12:30):
But what bothers me also is I don't think the
public at large understands that council people get paid to
come to meetings. We get paid. I voted know on
our rays several years ago. They gave themselves a raise
and along with some other elected positions. But we get
paid two fifty for each meeting. But the biggest thing
(12:53):
is why I also believe that there are some that
want to run for council, especially if you're independently Floyd.
You get full time benefits. For those of you listening,
we get full time benefits. As a full time employee.
That means full time healthcare. So and and I never
(13:14):
even knew that the first term I served.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
No wonder people don't want to leave.
Speaker 5 (13:17):
That's exactly right, bingo and and I and and that's
not what it's. It's not a career position. We rent
that seat. We represent taxpayers. Let's keep it simple, you know.
And and again, if if anybody ever wants to watch
a city council meeting, you should. It's it's online. It's
quite interesting because some of these meetings almost are just
(13:42):
it's so there's not a lot of it's very rare
that something does. I can't remember anything that other than
some of the things that back a few years ago.
It's very hard to see in any committee. I can
tell you an example. I was on Finance committee. I
voted no. I was probably the first no vote on
(14:06):
finance in years. I got removed from that committee. Soon thereafter,
I can't tell you. So the so even when it
gets down to our other bill that we put forth,
maybe our committees are broken when you don't have enough
debate among them and enough diversity to even engage in,
(14:28):
you know, some instead of going in with a preconceived
idea or vote that that's not that's not good for
the city.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Do you think term limits would help that?
Speaker 5 (14:39):
Councilors, Absolutely, because then you're not you're not engaged, and
I mean you're you're not. You know, You've got a
short period of time to do what you want for
your ward in the city, and you're gonna and you're
gonna be passionate about it and still setting there thinking
I got another ten years or I got another term,
or you know, like Joe said, there's eleven that are uncontested.
(15:00):
Some of mine have been uncontested. I have two opponents
this time that signed up late so and ones from Tennessee,
and I think the other one I'm not sure where
he's from. But and that's good. I think that's that's good.
Let people have a choice.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
They're from Tennessee. One of them, well, it was okay
residents living here now, okay, all right, all right, so
what was your other bill? Because you said you want
to talk about another and I'm going, Joe, let you
start that, because we've got to start to wrap it
up here.
Speaker 6 (15:32):
This speaks to the council member stungrass is point that
where in need of some committee of reform, and basically
a lot of our committees don't meet and and and
uh and and and they can be a lot more proactive,
not quite as passive. And so what this bill does
is it basically allows the council president to choose committee members.
(15:56):
So it adds like another buffer, basically lets council governor itself.
Only the mayor chooses council council members to be on committees.
And but we are an independent branch. This says, we
elect our council president and we ask them to do
that for us through the process.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
That's what that bill does.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
And I think, perhaps more importantly, what it also does
is it allows that those committees to choose their own
chair and vice chair, to choose their own leadership, instead
of relegating that back to the executive branch. And actually,
let's that committee, that hive mind, that wisdom in that
group figure that out. And do it every two years.
Here's an example of why I think that would be
a good idea. I'm you know, we generally cause trouble
(16:35):
if I may, council Member Snoudgrass and Eye, and so
we're not really put on committees that meet that often,
you know. But one of those is that recycling an
environmental committee, and we're on that committee with that with
a good colleague, council Member em At Pepper, and he's
clearly an expert in the in the environmental field. And
if we were able to choose our own chair for
that committee, I think would be a no brainer that
(16:57):
we would say we we'd like council Member Pepper to
be that chair. And so I would trust the process
and I would trust our colleagues to figure that out.
So that's what that's what that bill does.
Speaker 5 (17:08):
In just a comment. Another one that got tabled in
committee or and it's in rules, the chair has not
changed in two terms that I recall. That bill got
tabled as well, needed some tweak because it was brought
up by our city attorney that the president is pro tem,
(17:28):
so we needed to you know, give her more authority
to do that. But if you have the mayor who's elected,
pick from elected city council to form your committee, and
then the mayor picks the chair. Why do you need
city council at all? Just let the mayor run the
city because there's no separation of power. You know, you
(17:50):
can't you just basically or again, it's too loyal to leadership.
This gives it some diversity, It gives us some fresh
opportunity for new policy.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Okay, we're gonna have to leave it there, but real quickly,
where does it go from here? Where are we now?
On the on the on the term limits, term limits.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
I'm going to reintroduce a new bill, start over, make
it real clean.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
But I think at the next council meeting or I'm working.
Speaker 5 (18:15):
With the city attorney. At last two days ago, I
already submitted it. I actually had submitted one of them.
But I'm also going to include the mayor for term limits,
and the municipal judge and the treasure add those in.
Make it clean. Clean that bill up, and I think
we're going to re on Joe, you speak to the
council one.
Speaker 6 (18:34):
I think we're just going to try other committee reforms
and we're just going to keep trying. But I'll add that,
you know, city Hall doesn't really run on the the
the ideas of politicians. It doesn't run on it runs
on wind power. And that wind is people power. So
people make the wind blow. And so what we're really
good at is putting our finger up, licking it up
(18:55):
a little beforehand, and feeling feeling that for that win.
And right now, the winds. We're not feeling much wind
in city Hall. So when you talk to neighbors, they
want term limits, They want city Hall to hustle a
little harder, especially their council branch. And so I can
folks contests to council meetings. We have public comment at
every major meeting. They can write our ads, they can organize.
(19:17):
We've got to we've got to make the wind blow, all.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Right, we got to leave it there. Joe Solomon and
Shannon Songres Charleston City Council. Folks, appreciate you being here.
Thanks a lot, Thank you, Dave. All right, we'll take
a break coming back after this. Stay with us.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
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Generation Generations Forward for details. Big announcements coupled up yesterday
(21:38):
coming out of the city of Charleston and the area
about the sports center complex and also the airports. Mister Solango,
the President of the Canawa County Commission, was there for
both and he joins us now Good morning, sir, welcome,
good thanks for having me on. I do want to
make a note. We'd hope to have Mayor Goodwin with
us here this morning. That was a plan, but as
they said on the Brady Bunch Bend, something suddenly came up.
(22:00):
Do I get points for that reference? The absolutely She
texted me last night said she couldn't join. I hate that,
but well she was on Midday with us yesterday. Yeah,
I was on there. Yeah, yeah, I'm won't weare. I
just I didn't want to make it like she was
totally mia as well. No, no, no, she I guess
something came up last night and then she texted me,
but I'll good. We can chat about it. We can
(22:21):
chat back and you know a little bit about this
thing a little bit, all right, So you the other commissioners,
several other elected officials were there, including Senator Kapado, talking
about the sports complex. Now seven million dollars for Congress
is coming. This was something that we started talking about
back in twenty twenty one when there were a lot
of bumps in the road. To put it mildly, and
(22:41):
it's back on track. Take us through the entire process
going back to twenty twenty one.
Speaker 4 (22:46):
Oh wow, bumps potholes, collapses of the road, you name it,
this's happened. We've had you know, we came, we had
this this concept of developing the old Macy's building into
a sports complex to bring in sports tourism. Sports hourism
is about a forty billion dollar a year in industry,
and we're trying to get as much of that pie
as we can. It's worked very successful at Shawnee. Shawnee
(23:11):
is approaching the two hundred million dollar mark as far
as its economic impact in the community and has been
open for you know what seven years now, So that's
that's a tremendous return on investment. And so we also
wanted to do something near the Charleston Coliseum Convention Center
(23:31):
to where you can combine both facilities and host some
of the largest indoor travel sports in the nation. And
so when we were looking at it and we saw
that there was an opportunity to acquire the Macy's building,
then that's that's what we did. And the purpose would
be to have a center that the community can use
(23:54):
all week and then on the weekends we would bring
in these massive basketball and volleyball type tournaments and really
generate significant economic impact We've seen it work elsewhere. It's
working in Bridgeport, it's working in the indoor facility in Wheeling,
it's working in other states, and I am certain it
(24:17):
will work here, and so that was a thought behind it.
We saw that it worked with Shawnee. We knew that
if we had an indoor facility, it would work here.
But we also wanted something for residents to be able
to use during the week, and so the concept of
the indoor sports complex was.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
Was hatched. Okay, And originally we talked about an aquatic center,
and you've been on the show many many times over
the years to talk about why that's not going to
be a part of them.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
Yeah, and I wanted it to be a part, you know.
But unfortunately, when you look at the cost estimates and
also when you take into account what the experts that
we hired to tell us what to put in there,
this is not you know, it's not like I sat
down and said, hey, this is the sport that I
want in the complex, and certainly mayor Goodwin didn't that.
We actually hired experts to do this for a living,
(25:01):
to tell us what would work best here, and the
aquatic center was not in it. But you also look
at the amount of construction that would be required. You know,
instead of a sixty or seventy million dollar project, it
was going to be one hundred plus million dollar project
plus an monthly maintenance of about one hundred thousand dollars
(25:22):
or more for the swimming pool, and so it was
just cost prohibitive. We have a certain limit on what
we can do financially, and I think it would have been,
at least at this time not financially feasible to do.
And so we wanted to take a step back and
look at what are the what are the sports that
(25:43):
generate the maximum return on your investment, And that's kind
of that's what we're gearing it towards. And so if
you look at the swimming versus say volleyball, there's swimming
is a big travel sport. I know, there are some
aquatic centers that have been six well and then some
have not. And so is look at a return on
(26:04):
investment basically is what it comes down to.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Talking to Kanankana Commission, President of ben Selang Gov. Dave
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lot of the online chatter people were saying, you know,
after the announcement was made, they've been saying it for
the last couple of years about this, and we won't
go into all that, but one of the things was
(26:29):
what we only got, you know, until ten o'clock, and
if we did that, we would both grow out full beard.
It's while we're sitting here. But one of the things
that people has said is that they felt that perhaps
the center it was that there was a lot of
emphasis place on bringing in these teams from out of
state to play there, much like a Shannie, but there
might not be a lot for just the local folks here.
Speaker 4 (26:53):
Address that, well, you know, I've yet to find a
project that makes everyone happy. You know, it's impossible to do.
It doesn't matter what you come up with. You know,
Shawnee took the same criticism everyone said that we were
going to. You know, we're in the process of building
the Knawk County uh UH Sheriff training facility. That's taking criticism.
(27:16):
You know, if you come up with an idea, there
are always naysayers. It doesn't matter what the idea is.
I say that if I was standing on the street
corner handed it down one hundred dollars bills, somebody would
be mad at me that I didn't have changed, you know,
two fifties instead. And that's just the way it works,
you know, that's the process. We listen to the criticism.
We understand where they're coming from. Uh, But in reality,
(27:39):
you have to do what you think is best. And
I think that this is this is probably best. I
also think it's completely untrue. We're going to have the
facility we'll be able to use by the residence, particularly
during the week There's going to be a gym, there's
going to be U pickleball. Uh, there's going to be basketball,
there's going to be volleyball. There's going to be a
lot to do. There's going to be rooms where people
can come in and have birthday parties and those types
(28:02):
of things. So I think it is going to be
kind of a community hub that it generates a lot
of money on the weekends, and that's the goal. Just
like Shawnee has been.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
We had a text here and I'll go ahead and
throw it out there. Does the seven million dollars from
the federal government make the town Center harder to acquire
as a donation? The town Center because the property and
let me give a little background here. Mayor Goodwin announced
not long ago, months or two ago, that the city
was in negotiations with the whole group, the owners of
the mall, to possibly have them give the town Center
(28:32):
as a donation. Textures wanting to know, will this make
it now harder now that you get the seven million dollars?
Speaker 4 (28:38):
Yeah, I don't think so. I think it will. And
by the way, the seven million dollars is not for
the entire sports facility. I mean that that's going to
be about between ten and fifteen percent, and then the
rest will be funded through hopefully we can get some
additional grants, and then we're going to have some corporate sponsors,
and then we're going to have bonding as.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Well, you know. So it's not like that seven million,
seven million's not going to build the whole thing.
Speaker 4 (29:02):
It is not, but it was an important piece of
the puzzle.
Speaker 5 (29:05):
It was. No, it is.
Speaker 4 (29:07):
It is kind of what you know, the city and
the county jointly have put in about five million dollars
so far, but it was that's a massive piece because
we each have bonding capacities. You know, we've had bonding limits,
just like anybody would have a credit card then. But
there's only so much money you can borrow. And I
don't want to get the county, and I know the
mayor feels the same about the city into any financial stress.
I wouldn't do that my business. I wouldn't do it
(29:29):
at my house. I'm certainly not to do it for
the county.
Speaker 5 (29:31):
So the.
Speaker 4 (29:35):
Issue is going to be whether or not the mall
is acquired by the city. I don't think that this
announcement is going to hurt that at all. That the
mall owners are going to look at this as whether
or not they can unload the mall and secure some
type of tax benefit. It's not going to be a sale.
It's not like they're going to sale it to the city.
So it's not like they're looking for and you know,
(29:57):
increased price for the mall. In fact, it may help
the mall owners uh increase the value of the mall
uh and get a bigger tax right.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking it. So it makes the
value of the mall go up. And then if they
do the donation or whatever works out with the city
portion of it or whatever, it's a bigger tax break.
It's a bigger tix because and there are businesses that
this right or wrong. This is this is what they do.
They they they getting in. The whole group is not
the only one. They go in and they acquire a
(30:27):
piece of property like this, they set on it, they
keep all the do all the things that you're supposed
to do, you know, as far as paying taxes and
so on and so forth, and then they unload it.
And by unloaded I mean a donation or a partial
donation or whatever. They get a huge tax right on.
That's right, And that's not the fault of the whole group.
That's the part that's that's the fault of the government.
If if you've got a problem with it, what's Chris
Rock say, don't hate the player, hate the game. That's
(30:47):
the that's the that's the way this works. You know,
it's in any of these large holding companies. Landholding companies
can do that, and we see it from time to
time here in Kanawk County, and this is one of
those situations where it, you know, may benefit the whole
group to unload it to the city.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
We shall see, so that will change. If the whole
group does give them all to the city, then that
will change the layout of the sports complex. You know,
instead of building up, we may just build out. The
mayor alluded to that yesterday, which could save significant money.
Anytime you're building up, there's a lot more to deal with,
a lot a lot more expensive, So then you just
(31:24):
build out. It also potentially could change the entire footprint
of the facility. I mean, there's probably more that we
could do.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
With the money that we have.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
All right, got a texture for you and then we'll
take a break. We were sold on an aquatic center.
We have plenty of basketball courts, pickle ball courts, volleyball courts,
but only one indoor pool in Charleston. Stop saying you
can't please every one? What about local kids?
Speaker 9 (31:47):
Free?
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Sorry kids? That doesn't make money?
Speaker 4 (31:50):
You know, well that's you know, I enjoyed it. I
like that concept. Now tell me where you're going to
get one hundred million dollars to build it. Now tell
me where you're going to get one hundred thousand dollars
a month to maintain it. So if the texture could
respond and tell me that, then we'll build it. But
I can tell you that that I work very hard
at this. I know the mayor does, I know city
council does, the other commissioners, and now yet to find
(32:13):
a solution for that issue. And particularly when you're talking
about building it, maintaining it and letting people use it
for free, it's just a I mean, it's not financially feasible.
The math unfores math on math. So if the texture
could let me know that, we'll jump right on it
immediately and we'll.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
Take a break. You can hang out with me just
a little bit. I know you've got a hard out
sout hang out here and we do it with me
just one second. But Dave Allen showing five eighty Live
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Speaker 2 (35:18):
Welcome back to the Show to Dave Island Show in
five at Eline Brown to You part by your hometown
baseball team, the Charleston dirty Birds swinter time. Now we're
already talking about baseball at Gomart Ballpark. Now would be
a good time to secure your season tickets merchandise at
more at dirty birds Baseball dot com. Canon County Commission
President Ben Selango is here. Senator Shelley Moore Capito was
a big part of the announcement yesterday.
Speaker 4 (35:36):
Yeah, you know what, So you know, the way that
this worked out was we were actually we had received
a congressionally directed funding an ear mark UH two years ago,
and then there were issues in Congress. They didn't pass
a budget, they just passed the resolution, and so the
ear mark died on the vine, if you will. It
just didn't come into existence, it wasn't signed into the wall.
(35:58):
And so Center Capitol has been working very hard to
make those ear marks that were there before happened and
this was one of them. And this project would not
have happened but for that ear mark. And so we're
very very appreciative of that, and because I know she
went to bat for us on that. It's that is
not an easy sale. You've got so many different senators
(36:21):
fighting for money to go into their state.
Speaker 2 (36:24):
Everybody got their hand out, and I don't mean that
in a bad way.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
That's what they're supposed to do. That's exactly what they're
supposed to do. But she has you know, she's been
in the Senate long enough to where now you know
she's on appropriation. She has a lot of pool and
West Virginia is definitely benefiting from that, as we saw
yesterday just from some of the announcements. But she and
Senator Justice worked very hard to get that congressionally direct
to spending request and make sure that it was signed
(36:49):
into law, which I found out about, I think was
on February third. It was like ten pm. Somebody called
me and I was I was ecstatic, not just for
the Capital Sports Center, but also some of the other
funding requests that were approved.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
So let's talk about the airport. Yesterday. There was ano
big announcement up there yesterday about upgrades to West Virginia
International Yeager.
Speaker 4 (37:10):
Let me let me start with I don't think people
realize how much money that airport brings into the community.
It's around three hundred and sixty million dollars a year.
Is what that the economic impact to that airport? And
so anytime you can acquire money or secure money for upgrades.
It's important, and this one is significant. It basically changes
(37:33):
the entire look at the airport. It changes where you
check in, it changes where you board. There's no longing
to be multi levels. It changes the whole design of
the airport as far as when you're approaching it. It
changes the security area, so it makes the airport more secure.
It was a significant, significant win for Charleston and Kanawk
(37:56):
County in West Virginia. And it would not have happened
but for Senator Capital a Centator Justice. Because twenty five
million dollars a lot of money. That is a lot
of money to get on a specific project. Then they
were able to make it happen. I didn't ask them how,
but they must have thrown somebody in a headlock and
squeeze some money out of them.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Let's go back to the Sports Center for a moment.
So where are we now now? I mean the announcement
has been made, So what next?
Speaker 4 (38:20):
So now we need to see if the city's going
to actually acquire part or all of them all, and
if that happens, we will look at a modified design.
If it doesn't happen, we'll probably move forward with the
design that we had a couple of years ago, which
is the multi floor you know, three level design. If
we can make it one level, that's better, But if
(38:42):
we have to go to multi level, we will and
you know, if it's one level, we'll be able to
expand the indoor running track, for instance, We've got to
do a lot more. And so we want to see
how those talks go between the city and the whole
group and hopefully those will be fruitful and if so,
then we we'll modify the design and then we'll get
you know, the architect then has to actually come up
(39:02):
with the the blueprints, the actual designs. That's going to
take six months to a year, probably closer to a year.
And as soon as the design's done, we can break around.
Speaker 2 (39:14):
And we want to make sure people realize that if
you think that here it is February the nineteenth, If
you think you're going to roll into town in May
and think that the sports center is going to be done,
not going to happen. It's going to be several years
down the several years.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
Yeah, it takes any of these big projects. I mean
we've had water projects we're working on that have that
have gone on for almost twenty years. The all Caught
Water project, what we've been working on is now in
its eighth or ninth year since we started. So, you know,
some of these projects, even when what you're dealing with
federal money and trying to acquire different pots of money
(39:50):
from the state or the Feds, it just it takes
a long time. And these are not projects that the
county or the city could afford to do by themselves.
There's no way possible. So so getting those partners and
helping us out is essential, and so the projects just
take time. Unfortunately, if I can have it done by May,
it would be done by May, I promise. But all right,
I know you got to leave.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
But I had another question that had yesting to do
with what we're talking about. If the person wanted to
know any known plans to replace the former Kanaw County
landfill with the new operation anytime soon, Commissioner, I.
Speaker 4 (40:20):
Think there are plans that they're looking at, and but
I don't know the details of it. I can try
to find out and maybe we can chat about that
when next time I come on. But I think there
are plans, but I don't know the details.
Speaker 2 (40:31):
Kennaugh County Commission, President of Bensilango. Appreciate you being here,
Thanks for having me. Thanks a lot of Dave Allen
Show on five Ady Line, brought to you apart by
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Speaker 7 (40:46):
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We welcor back to the show. It's nine fifty one.
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(43:15):
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Gillenwater from the Cannell to Charleston Humaine Association with this
week's Adopt Me Please Pet of the Week. Travis Willard,
Republican candidate for state Senator in District four, will stop
by and more later today Metro News Midday with thirteen
News and Tonight Live anchor Mande Baron and me Hoppy
(43:57):
Kerchival the Goat is on the show today. Jason Huffman
from Americans for Prosperity will stop by. They're not happy
with the House Finance Committee who yesterday rolled out legislation
to quote refine the Hope Scholarship. Brad writes about it
this morning. Full story, full detailed wv Metronews dot com
about those changes. We're also going to talk to another Jason,
(44:19):
Jason Day. Jason Parsons actually an old friend of mine,
because I'm learning that as of late booking two shows,
apparently I know everyone. So that's what happens when you
get old. But Jason Parsons is Boone County guy originally,
and he's the president and CEO of a Blue Ridge
Care just over the border from the Eastern Panhandle, and
(44:41):
he's hoping to do some good things in West Virginia
related to healthcare, specifically elder care. So Jason, who actually
lives in West Virginia, is going to talk about it,
whether it's Jeff Jenkins will be here with the news
and more. Metro News Midday powered by Selango Law with
thirteen News and Tonight Live anchor Amanda Baron and Me
coming up at noon today. I do want to mention
something quickly from yesterday's show. I told you about the
tractor trailer accident that happened around three or so yesterday
(45:04):
afternoon on the corridor near the shops a trace Fork.
I was held up in that mess Tuesday afternoon. After
seeing the overturn and after seeing the overturned tractor trailer,
I just wondered, what in the heck happened. And it
may have come off on the show like I was
blaming the truck driver.
Speaker 11 (45:20):
I was not.
Speaker 2 (45:21):
I was simply asking how it happened. Well, thanks to
many of you, I found out what happened. This is
why I always say we had the greatest listeners in
the world. Several of you sent me the dash cam
clip taken from the truck driver's perspective, and it appears
that someone in a car at the last moment decided
to exit the shops a trace fork directly in front
(45:41):
of the truck, and the driver then swerved to miss
the car, and that's how it happened. So my apologies.
If it came off like I was blaming the truck driver,
I wasn't. I was simply questioning how it would have happened.
And again, so many of you reached out to me.
I definitely do appreciate it, so I just wanted to
just wanted to kind of get that out there quickly.
(46:01):
A couple of quick texts. There are term limits. They're
called voters. They vote in or out. It is up
to them, says a tankster.
Speaker 4 (46:11):
Dave.
Speaker 2 (46:12):
I went to the world's largest Chick fil A formerly
known as a town Center, the other day. It was
a pleasant visit. I think people are too caught up
what the town Center was and are sleeping on what
it is. One of the few third spaces in the
valley people can just be without an upfront cost, says
a tankster. And now I'll say this and then we'll
go to Wilson and Meadows. You're standing by live at
(46:32):
the Capitol. I will say this. It is on the
sports project or anything else. It is so easy. This
is editorializing on my part. It is so easy for
people who have never attempted to create anything to set
back on social media and crap on a project. People
for the most part, who have never attended a meeting,
(46:52):
never lifted a finger to do anything but to complain online.
You are welcome to attend Charleston City Council meeting. You're
welcome to attended County Commission meeting and give them your ideas,
or better yet, roll up your sleeves and be an entrepreneur.
It is National Entrepreneurship Week. I learned that yesterday I
met tring new his midday. Uh but I just I
(47:14):
was reading the comments on the proposed sports center, and
I just I mean, and I'm not talking about people saying,
well I think you should do this. I think you
should that. There's no problem with that at all. Okay,
what I am is people. What I do have a
problem with is that people that are so uninformed that
they just say this is a total waste of money
and that they're that nobody's going to go there. And
people say, well, no, we just need we just need
(47:36):
to put a you know, elder care in it. Look,
I like old people as much as the next person. Okay,
but that's not going to bring in a lot of
money to Charleston. Okay, this is a great idea in
my opinion editorializing great, great one. I'm one percent behind
this idea. Hobby Kerchiville is back with another state of
mind's interview Metro News Television. It will drop tonight at
(47:56):
seven o'clock Cobby sitting down with Mountaineer quarterbacking legend Jeff Hosteler.
State of Minds presented by Hope Gas Greer Industries, drops
at seven o'clock tonight Metro News Television. Also available on
all of your devices including Roku, LG, Smart TVs, Fire TV,
and Samsung Smart TVs. And the Goats, the greatest of
all Time, will join us for the show I'm introduced
(48:18):
Midday Today, Texas. Can we consider having this is more
than there's a sports complex? How about considering making it
more like a family entertainment venue. Include things you wouldn't
normally think of, like a bowling nowvey movie theater, roller
rink arcade, things like that. Look, I would have no
issue with that as long as they bring money in
Tech says, didn't the public vote on the aquatic center,
Not that I'm aware of, Texas, I'm not one hundred
(48:41):
percent sure, but the facility used as comparison to Bridgeport
is not free. Also the YMCA and Charles. The YMCA
in Clarksburg Sands vacant now food for thought and or investigation,
tex says. Cities with the most swimming pools for one
hundred thousand residents of the US twenty twenty four, published
by Statistics the Research Department. City with the largest number
(49:03):
of public swimming pools per one hundred thousand residents Cleveland. Okay,
let's go to the capitol. Let's check in with Wilson
and Meadows and see what's going on there. Good morning, fellows,
morning sir, how's it going. It's going a beautiful Sorry
you guys had to hear me editorializing there. But yeah,
(49:26):
that's what I did. I just heard get off my
law exactly what I saw.
Speaker 9 (49:31):
What I heard.
Speaker 2 (49:32):
Now, I said, now this time it would be get
off my lawn, you old people. That's what I was saying.
It was exactly the first time. Well, it just it
just bothers me, you know, I mean, we got we
got where we're We got a great opportunity with the
sports complex in downtown Charleston for not only Charleston, but
all the surrounding areas. And all I'm reading online last night,
and it's everybody's right to give their opinion, all I'm
reading online is people crapping all over it and saying
(49:54):
it's election year stuff. This thing was proposed in twenty
twenty one. That's when this conversation started, and people certainly
have a right to weigh in on it. But when
you've never lifted a finger to do anything, you never
attended to send city council meeting or county commission meeting
or whatever, and you just want to sit back and bitch,
I'm sorry, I got a problem with that. Well you're
not wrong, Yeah, okay.
Speaker 14 (50:14):
If you're willing to complain, you should be willing to
be chair of the committee to fix it.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
That's the way life works. And when people say the
city or the county needs to put in whatever, that's
this is entrepreneurship. It's National Entrepreneurship Week. Businesses do this.
The city can't save the town center. They can negotiate,
they can't put stores in a town center that's not
what cities do you put a store in a town
center or whatever the case may be. I'm done what
(50:40):
you guys got no, I just sit back, listen to you,
all right?
Speaker 1 (50:46):
You wound up.
Speaker 14 (50:47):
You wound up as the Hope Scholarships who are perturbed?
Speaker 2 (50:51):
All right?
Speaker 14 (50:51):
Talk about that bill originating in House Finanza yesterday that
would make some changes to the Hope Scholarship, put some
restrictions in or at rails, depending on how you're looking
at it. Marty Gerhart's going to explain that bill to us.
We'll get the thoughts from Delegate John Williams. Also, the
state Treasurer Larry Pack released a statement yesterday. Of course,
his office administers of the Hope Scholarship. So we'll get
(51:12):
all of those perspectives this morning, as well as talk
to the State Department of Education's Career and Technical Education
Director Adam Canter going to drop by as well today,
So lots to get into oh House House rolling off
the budget this morning as well.
Speaker 2 (51:26):
Tratt'll have an update. All right, well, Meadows Wilson, we'll
be listening. Ten oh six guys, Thanks a lot, all.
Speaker 14 (51:32):
Right, go yell at the kids on your lawn.
Speaker 2 (51:34):
You off my line and hurts one ip. Okay, thanks guys,
that's more true than you'll know. All Right, We're good.
We'll be back later today with Metro News Midday with
thirteen News in Tonight Live anchor Manda Beard and me
on this show tomorrow. Angie Gillan, Watercanals, Charleston. You've main
association with this week's Adopt Me Please pet of the
Week State send to Canada from District Fort Travis Willard
will join us at Chris Hamilton for the West Virginia
(51:55):
Cold Association. Follow the news of the day. Wv Metro
News dot Com Producer Ryan Nicholson, thank you so much,
see you later today till then, have fun and love
somebodys A.
Speaker 1 (52:20):
M six point five then Charleston one oh four point
five Cross Lanes, w v RC Media Station. We are
proud to live here too.
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