Talk of the Town August 6, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
This is the Talk of the Town from Morgantown to Klucksburg.
If it's happening, we're talking about it. Call the show
toll free at one eight hundred seven sixty five eight
two five five. Now Here is your host for the
Talk of the Town, Mike Notlting.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
A good Wednesday morning. It is nine oh seven in
the University City and welcome to Talk of the Town
on AM fourteen forty f M one oh four point
five w A j r. We focus about topics important
to you and your community. We want to hear from
you through the course of this show. We've got a
text line that number three oh four Talk three oh

(00:48):
four and Joe Nelson is our producer this morning, and
you can get a hold of Joe at eight hundred
and seven six five eight two five five. Joe fresh
off of the media last night at University High School
on the mid Atlantic Resiliency Link, and we'll talk about
more about that at length coming up later in the program.

(01:11):
Special thanks to State Treasurer Larry Pack for making the
trip not only to Morgantown but here to the WA
JR Studios had a chance to catch up with Treasurer Pack.
Although the scene might have been just a little bit
chaotic behind the scenes. Certainly appreciate Treasurer Pack making the

(01:32):
time to stop by. Also very special thanks to WVU
President Michael Benson. Al Benson spent the entire program with
us Tuesday talking about his eighteen county tour, the importance
of getting to really know and understand the communities across
the state. He's got a clear commitment to education and

(01:53):
the college experience. I guess that would be my take
from our conversation. Out carrying the role of professor along
with the responsibilities of managing the multiple facets of the
state's land grant institution. In my mind, that solidifies his
dedication to his craft of instruction. And then weaving in

(02:14):
the communities. And I'm not just talking about the greater
Morgantown area that he referred to his home, but the
rural areas where the students come from that really make
up the mountaineer identity. And I think we picked up
maybe a bit of what we'll see in the future.
But I'll just go ahead and say it. Benson says,

(02:35):
let's go, let's go mountaineers, and I think we should
all be saying, let's go Benson got that full story.
It'll be up at wvmetronews dot com very shortly and
special thanks to Michael Benson for making the trip in.
Look forward to the next time that we can do that.
About one hundred and fifty north central West Virginia residents

(02:58):
came to the gymnasium of University High School to speak
out against the proposed high voltage transmission line that could
run through portions of Montagelia, Preston, Hampshire, and Mineral Counties.
The project is opposed by the by state level elected officials,
who also spoke in opposition to the estimated four hundred

(03:19):
and fifty million dollar project that would provide electricity for
a data center in Virginia. The cost would be passed
on to rate payers here in West Virginia. I've reached
out to the state representative in Frederick County, Virginia, Timmy French.
Have yet to hear back from mister French, but when
we do, we'll be sure and pass that information onto you.

(03:43):
And coming up at nine point fifteen this morning, we'll
be talking with mon County Delegate David McCormick. He's been
especially outspoken about this project. He's had a one on
one meeting with next Era Energy. We're going to talk
with Delegate mccormy about maybe what our options in the future,
maybe what our next steps might be. Well, next our

(04:06):
Governor Patrick Morrissey, he'll be touring FEMA response offices in Wheeling.
The FEMA representatives have been assisting victims of Father's Day
flash floods in the Tridelphia Community Center location for the
past week. The governor also plans to meet with those
flood victims. Municipal League of Cities conference continues in Morgantown today.

(04:31):
As a matter of fact, that will wrap up. I
believe this afternoon Morgantown Mayor Daniel Trumbull accepted two unclaimed
property checks from State Treasurer Larry Pack. Each check total
just under twenty thousand dollars. Not too shabby there. And
US Marshalls are warning residents about scammers there trying to

(04:53):
get your personal information get into your bank account by
calling you telling you that maybe you didn't show up
for jury, or there's some other maybe minor violations that
you have committed within the court system. I'm here to
tell you that the courts don't handle business like that
and if they've got a warrant for your arrest, you're
not going to be able to buy your way out

(05:15):
of it, and you're not going to be able to
have somebody call you and say, if you pay this,
we won't arrest you. So don't give personal information out
over the phone. And don't believe anybody if they call
you and tell you they're from the court. If you
maybe have a sneaking suspicion they're telling you the truth,

(05:36):
hang up. Call the court back might not be a
bad idea. Coming up at nine point thirty, we'll talk
to Patsy tree Cost. They have an overdose awareness event
item on their County Commission agenda. We'll talk with Commissioner
tree Cost about that. Of course, it is a wanted Wednesday,
and that means we've got Mond County Sheriff Todd Forbes

(05:57):
still stop by just about nine thirty. Well, we'll find
out who the featured felons are this week. Then at
nine forty five, we're going to talk with Grandville Mayor
Patty Lewis about the Municipal League conference. She was a
presenter yesterday. We'll find out what bits of information she's

(06:18):
able to pass along to her peers.

Speaker 1 (06:20):
West Virginia Outdoors is the Mountain State's only hook and
bullet radio show dedicated to the more than quarter million
hunters and anglers. We are talking about your town. Now
back to the talk of the town.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
Well, good Wednesday morning, Welcome back to the program on
the phone. We've got Mon County Delegate David McCormick. Last
night the University Hockel Gymnasium full of people in opposition
to the planned high voltage transmission line starting in Green County, Pennsylvania,
running if approved, through portions of mont Preston Hampshire mineral

(07:00):
counties on the way to Virginia to power a data
center there. Good morning, David. How are you, sir?

Speaker 3 (07:06):
I'm great, I'm great. How are you? Thanks for having
me on?

Speaker 2 (07:09):
Absolutely okay, David. First off, give me your impressions from
the meeting last night. Was there anyone there that supported
this project?

Speaker 3 (07:21):
For they were completely quiet as a church mouse. Everybody
I saw there was against it and talked to was
against it. I've not talked to anyone that's for it anywhere.
It's a no brainer in my book. I've been on
your show and other shows and and and quoted here

(07:43):
and there, and it's it's the same thing. We get
nothing out of this, Yes, that's right, we get nothing
out of it, we get higher utility rates. I've encouraged
everyone in the past to continue to do so, or
to write letters to the Public Service Commission. I've been

(08:05):
in touch with them, as have other elected officials, and
I think we're doing all we can at this point.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
Really now, David, you are the second elected official to
use the term no brain or the last one I
heard use it was Mond County Commission President Jeff Farinette
writing letters to the PSC. Is is that where we're
at now? Is that our only recourse at this point?

Speaker 3 (08:29):
No? No, But that's part of the that's part of
the formula. I mean, the the the group and that
This is the second meeting I attended that was like this.
I went to the one over in Preston County. It's
very similar, bigger crowd in Morgantown. I'd say there was

(08:50):
approaching two hundred people there last night. And and and
they're they're the folks that put it on or are
organized and very informative maps they put out or are
you know, very helpful. Uh so, so you know, it's
going to take some some intervention, probably legally on the group.

(09:14):
The group's behalf. That's not you know, obviously not free.
And I don't think we're to that point yet. But
but the residents do need to reach out to the
PSC and their consumer advocate regarding this this issue, and
and and that is certainly helpful.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
Now, you know, Dave, doesn't matter what side of the
aisle you're on, Democrat or Republican. The opposition is pretty
well united against this. But there's one elected official that
we haven't heard from yet, and that'd be the governor.

Speaker 3 (09:53):
Well, you're right, we haven't, and I've I've hope that
he weighs in on this. I have reached out to
him on one occasion to let him know that this
was going to be an issue. This was before there

(10:13):
were any meetings or anything else to that nature that's
occurred so far. A lot of people didn't know about
it at that time. You'd have to ask him. So
I can't and won't speak for the governor. I'm sure
you know, I know he knows about it, and I

(10:37):
suspect that at some point we'll hear from him about it.
But it's not going to be me me commenting on
it for him.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
But right mind, County Delegate David McCormick is with us,
and David. One thing that I've learned and have have
Next Era Energy Transmission on the program and talking to
them on and off the air, talking to elected official
and attending meetings is that every time you approach this topic,
you learn of maybe another aspect of life that is

(11:09):
affected here in West Virginia that you didn't hear before.
You know, the first was the Christmas tree farm, and
then you know, you've got forest farming, and then now
over in Preston County you've got potential exposure to trout,
a species of trout that are very hard to find.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
Well. And I think if you keep looking and the
more awareness that we create about this, about this issue
that you'll have, you'll you'll have more, you'll continue to
find things like that. So I'm not surprised. I'm sure
there's more where that came from. You know, you're right

(11:51):
about the bipartisanship, and there's very few issues these days
on a national scale or in our state, and it's
unfortunate really that that we don't come together more often,
and this one has certainly done that united both sides

(12:12):
of the aisle. It is not a political issue in
my opinion, it is it's a it's a human issue.
It's a community issue.

Speaker 4 (12:24):
You know.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
Another thing too, Dave or or or or Mike. I've
said in the in the past. I was on Dave
Allen show the other day. Sorry, Uh it is Uh.
You know, we're helping Virginia. You know, Virginia shut down
a bunch of their power plants. How about reopening them

(12:49):
and you wouldn't have this problem. So everybody wants to
you know, shut their their their power plants down, but
they want to still rely on West Virginia's coal fire
power plants to get the britt them electricity. So it
just doesn't it just doesn't compute. It goes back to
the original what do we get out of this? And uh,

(13:10):
I you know, I'm not up for helping Virginia and
their economic development efforts because that's exactly what this does.
It helps their data centers flourish and feeds them. And
you know, we've we're we're in the process of trying
to get them to come here and and there's different
places in the state that want them. And uh, they

(13:34):
generate a lot of tax revenue. Uh. They are fairly controversial,
but I've been in favor of them.

Speaker 1 (13:41):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (13:41):
You know, I just feel like that that we're helping
our competitor and and and we're helping feed their economic development,
and it should be more focused on on our on
West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
I couldn't agree. I couldn't agree more with you. I
got to tell you that I went out to the
Frederick County, Virginia Economic Development Site. I don't know if
you've been there, David and any of the listeners. I
really encourage you to go out there because they highlight
data centers on there and talk about the fact that
they already have the Social Security Administration in Fannie May,

(14:18):
which both have to be pretty dog on big data centers.
But then if you read further, they talk about their
capacity to accommodate more data centers, and they talk about
how they have electricity and they have access to power
and the grid, and that is at our expense. I

(14:40):
think if more people would go to that website and
see the way that this is marketed, it might even
turn your eyre up just another notch or two.

Speaker 3 (14:51):
Yeah, you know, in the access to energy that they're
speaking of is us and and and that's what I'm
talking about. I mean, we why are we helping them?
We shouldn't be. Uh, you know in this thread of blackouts,
and there's not gonna be any blackouts. There aren't gonna
be any blackouts. And you know, the other side has

(15:15):
a you know, a counterpoint for every point you make,
of course, uh, and they'll cite reasons why that could happen.
And but that's not gonna happen. And look, there's a
half a dozen reasons to be against this and I
and you can check all the boxes with me. Everybody

(15:35):
has their own reason, but I've given you two or
three here. And I'm glad to see that our communities
come together. I'm glad to see that that the Republicans
and Democrats have come together on this issue. And uh,
I'm you know, I'm doing my part. I'm gonna try

(15:55):
everything I can. I've said this on other shows and
years before. You're dealing with the largest energy transmission company
in the on the planet, in the world. They they
have unlimited resources. And this is going to be a
real fight. It's one week and win, I believe, but
it's going to take everybody pulling the rope in the

(16:16):
same direction together and uh and and having a united message,
and and being you know, diligent in our efforts to
uh to communicate with the Public Service Commission. I don't
think you've got any public or elected officials in in
Morgantown and in mant County that are for this. I

(16:39):
know you don't, So that's not an issue our County Commission.
Kudos to those three guys for passing the resolution. I
was there that day, UH spoke there too in in
favor of their resolution, So I applaud them for doing that,
joining the other counties it that are opposed to this mineral,

(17:03):
Hampshire and Preston. So I think we have a united message.
I think we're headed in the right direction. Uh And
and I'm you know, I'm I am. I'm certainly uh
going to do my part.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
You know. I got to ask, have we heard anything
at all from next Era Energy at this point?

Speaker 4 (17:27):
Well?

Speaker 3 (17:27):
I have, Uh, yeah, I have, and and I've met
with them one on one and I raised every one
of these uh. Uh And let me say this, one
of the ladies that's leading to charge on the other side.
Her last name's McCormick. No relation, no zero relation to me. So, Uh, anyway,

(17:52):
I met with them, you know, a couple of months ago.
I expressed all these all these things that I'm telling
you now, and you know they're you know, like I said,
they've got a counterpoint for every point you make. It's
not you know, it's not a debate that is even
almost worth having with them. Uh, They're going to present

(18:14):
their case. We're going to present ours. It's almost like
a trial, you know, the you know, you have judge
and Jerry is the PSC, and you know, we we
present our case, they present theirs, and and the chips
are going to fall where they may. And but but
I have heard from them they're disappointed in our elected

(18:37):
officials opposition to this. That's their official line. But you
know they can just be disappointed.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
I guess that's where we'll have to leave it. Uh mind,
County Delegate David McCormick. Well, David, we'll keep in touch
with you and of course keep our eyes on this issue,
and we appreciate your being involved in attending meetings and
getting your point of view out there.

Speaker 3 (19:04):
Well you're welcome. I'm glad to do it. It's my
job and thanks for having me on.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
Absolutely we got it all in before Glenville.

Speaker 3 (19:11):
All right, thanks, you bet.

Speaker 2 (19:13):
You mon County Delegate David McCormick. You know something kind
of funny about David McCormick. Yes, lady that works for
Next Era Energy Transmission also is named McCormick. And throughout
McCormick's campaign to win the office to be a delegate,
he was also running. At the same time, there was

(19:33):
a guy by the name of David McCormick running for
the US Senate in state of Pennsylvania. So this isn't
the first time that David McCormick has had to clarify who,
in fact he is.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
Conversation at one eight hundred and seven sixty five eight
two fivey five. This is the talk of the town.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
Good Wednesday morning. It is nine to thirty five in
the University City on the phone. We've got Harrison County
Commissioner Patsy tree Cost. We're going to catch up with
Commissioner tree Cost in just a second, because they're going
purple later this morning. First, we've got Monte Gerritt County
Sheriff Todd Forbes on the line. Good morning, sheriff Forbes.

Speaker 3 (20:29):
How are you, Mike?

Speaker 4 (20:31):
How are you?

Speaker 2 (20:31):
Hey? I'm doing good. Thank you very much, sheriff. If
you don't mind give us an update from last week's felons.
Where do we stand?

Speaker 3 (20:41):
Well?

Speaker 5 (20:41):
Last week we were only able to get one of
our five featured people, which is okay. I think we're
still betting about six hundred. That's pretty good as more
as I can tell.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
Yeah, you're playing baseball. You're getting a good contract to
tell you that.

Speaker 5 (20:54):
Yeah, that's for sure.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
Okay. So who were looking for this week? Todd?

Speaker 5 (20:58):
So this this week we have have Sasha christ She
is wanted for on two occasions failing to sign up
for home confinement. When she's in order to do that,
she gets send it own finement that she just disappears,
So we let to get her in the custody if
we could. The next person is Wayne Matthew Brock. He's
wondered for possession with the tenth to deliver methamphetamines. Christopher

(21:24):
fred Ice possession of control substance in dui driving, suspended
on a suspended driver's life, Mister Vincent Boyd domestic battery
and failure to appear, and Catherine times for conspiracy to
commit a felony by way of identity, except so those
are a five feature today. Of course, as always, they

(21:45):
will be on the website and you can take a
look at him and get a little more information on
there if if you want to.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
And that website is Monengalia Sheriff dot gov. And as always,
Sheriff Forbes would advise you to if you see these
folks or know these folks, don't engage them or try
to do anything on your own.

Speaker 5 (22:08):
Absolutely not. Yeah, just you can reach out on our
tip line or you can just call in or call
nine one one even and get us in the right
direction and we should be able to take them from there.
And we really appreciate all the tips we're getting.

Speaker 2 (22:21):
Absolutely And I was going to say, and the main
thing is I want people to know that the website
Monteigaelia Sheriff dot gov you can get all this information
and a whole lot more.

Speaker 5 (22:34):
Yep, that's for sure. Anything that you need on most
from the shares Farm, any service we provide, or any
information we have to release is all on there on
a daily basis debated every morning.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
All right, perfect, well, Hey, Sheriff Forbes really do appreciate
the information and your time.

Speaker 5 (22:49):
Most of all, thank you, sir, Thank you Mike, and
have a good day.

Speaker 2 (22:53):
Absolutely you take care. On the phone, we've got Harrison
County Commissioner Patsy Tree cost because this morning at ten
o'clock they're going to go purple. Good morning, Patsy, how
are you?

Speaker 5 (23:05):
Hey?

Speaker 4 (23:05):
Good morning.

Speaker 2 (23:06):
It's a pleasure to have you on board, Patsy. You
guys are going purple. Tell us what you're doing and why, you.

Speaker 4 (23:13):
Know, we're just celebrating treatment and recovery. I just listened
to you and Sheriff Swords speak about, you know, all
that's going on, and we think about how blessing, what
a blessing it is that somebody recovers, and you have
to wonder that when it affects an individual and a
family and their friends, that's you know, how much of

(23:33):
that conversation you had with him ends when there is
recovery and their success, and that somebody celebrates a one year,
a two year, a five year chip because they're no
longer living a lifestyle that they once were addicted to
and we'll always be addicted to, but now are beating
it down a daily basis.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
Now This will be a proclamation that will formally declare
that hope, support and unity for all those that are
affected by a substance use disorder. And just like Commissioner
Tree Costs just said, that list of people affected goes
far beyond just the people that are I guess wrapped

(24:13):
up in these substances.

Speaker 4 (24:16):
You know, I can tell you in my own life.
You know it with family that didn't give up on individuals,
and you know, I think about in my own personal world.
You know, there's no greater love for his son than
his mother's. And you know when your mother wears at
her knees and is always the one that's there for you,
it gives you an incentive to know that. You know

(24:37):
you're running out of options here, and yet there's still
somebody that loves you, and there are people that want
you to recover and be your old self and not
have to because you know, it's it's a daily battle,
it's a daily grind. I once ask a friend of
mine that had a problem. I said, do you miss it?
He said, only when I'm awake and I think what
I've crossed the carry babe. At the same time, that

(24:59):
journey is real and you need to support it from
above and loved ones around you. And I believe with
all my heart people are loved and nobody wants anybody
to suffer from addiction of any sort. And we do
celebrate recovery and we do proclamations and go purple because
we love a success story and we're all in.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
And I think that you really lay the foundation for
more success stories, Patsy by doing this in a very
public fashion, because I think that does a lot to
reduce the stigma, you know, just.

Speaker 4 (25:33):
Us talking about it. I mean, thousands of people are
listening to this conversation right now, and those thousands of people,
ninety percent of them can relate to this because, as
you know, and I've listened to your show so much,
you know, we know that you know, addiction doesn't discriminate it.
It doesn't know your bank account, it doesn't know your religion,
it doesn't know your personal life, but it attacks everybody.

(25:56):
And over and over you've talked about this on your show,
and every time you do it, and there's any success,
we can all celebrate listening to this show knowing that
we talk about it, we fight for it, and we
believe in it, and we pray about it, and you
do a great job of reminding us it doesn't go away.
And at the same time, we're going to continue to battle.

Speaker 5 (26:15):
It like heck.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
Harrison County Commissioners, they'll meet at ten o'clock this morning
two twenty nine South third Street in Clarksburg for that
proclamation in support of recovery, awareness and hope across the
entire state. Of course, September coming up, that is Recovery Month. Now,
let's see Patsy. Well, if I've got you on the phone,

(26:39):
there are some things going on out at Sunset Ellis.
Why don't you give us an update.

Speaker 4 (26:44):
You know, we had the old drive in. We have
purchased that forty acres. We're going to move our animal
control facility. We're going to build a new animal control
facility on that site. We're also going to build a
youth company for agriculture so we can have livestock events
and uh, we're excited about that. Agriculture is a key component,

(27:08):
as you know, to our environment here in West Virginia
across the state. We are proud of who we are
and uh, and we also know that the passion that
people have for their past is amazing to me as
a non pet owner, I'd love to see that. You know,
there are people treat I hate to say it, sometimes

(27:30):
I see they become faint fans. And we're going to
do everything we can do here in Harrison County to
have an animal control facility to help help facilitate the
effort to do what's right by all God's creatures and
and also blend agriculture and you know, schools of their
FFA programs and do everything we can to grow what

(27:51):
we believe in here in West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (27:53):
Absolutely. Now let's see Sunset ellis of course known for
the big drive in screen. Uh what's the status of that?
Can it be repurposed?

Speaker 4 (28:04):
Well, we paid, we paid to have a study done
on it. We had an engineering firm come in and
look at it, and it is it has what they
called in the study of bulge. You'd have to elaborate
more on that to know what I mean, because I
don't really don't know. I just know it. We will
have to take it down. And at the same time,
that doesn't mean we won't ever have something for our

(28:25):
youth out there. You know, you can buy a screen
just like we do at our Amphitheaters in Montagilly County
and Marin County and Harrison County to you know, have
a show of some sort if we want to have
a children's night or whatever. So we're not totally out
of the of the outdoor events when it comes to
showing a movie or having you know, like they do
at Palatine Park in Marion County, you know, having live music.

(28:48):
So we have unlimited potential in at forty acres and
it's a lot of land and it's flat and that's exciting.
And with the infrastructure already there, we can keep the
cost down and give back to the citizens what they deserve.
People want things to do and we need good, clean
fun here and just like we do everywhere.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
Sure, now, any timeline on the animal control facility part
of that project.

Speaker 4 (29:09):
You know, we already had a site we were going
to build it on right behind our old one on
Saltwell Road, and we've decided to go ahead and move
to the new site because it's flat, and we're going
to have our architect redesigned what needs to be configured
because you know, the landscape has changed. But we're going
to move fast on this. We do have money put
back for it, and that's a good thing. So we're

(29:30):
crossing t's and dotting eyes as we go. And we're
also going to go ahead and open up the flea market.
It's huge. In two saturdays, we're going to open the
flea market back that Dallas family had for thirty years.
And I am not a flea market person, so it
shocks me to drive by there and see people stuffed
in there, because people love flea markets city wide. Yard

(29:52):
cells surprive me, but the people love them. And my
job as commissioner is to do what the citizen's not want,
not what I want, and they flea markets, they love
you ourselves. And we're going to initiate to go ahead
and do that and try to keep that going through
late summer and early fall and let people experience what
they love. And it shocks me how many people come
from all over and how far our distance they'll travel

(30:14):
for a good flea market.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
Harrison County Commissioner Patsy Tree costs they'll gavele in the
regular meeting at ten o'clock this morning, two twenty nine
South third Street in the City of Clarksburg, and don't forget,
they'll be doing their going Purple Proclamation to support recovery,
awareness and hope across the entire state, especially Harrison County.
Patsy really do appreciate your time, sir.

Speaker 5 (30:38):
Thank you, appreciate you.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
Absolutely take care, sir. All right, Harrison County Commissioner, Patsy
Tree Costs. When we come back, spend a couple of
minutes with Grandville Patsy or Patty Lewis. Boy, I'll tell
you just a lot of patties. Today. It's nine five
then Morgantown on top of the town AM fourteen forty
f M one oh four point five w A j R.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
Now back to the talk of the town.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
Well, good Wednesday morning. It is nine fifty in the
University City and welcome back to the program. On the phone,
Grandville Mayor Patty Lewis is with us. Patty, good morning,
How are you good morning?

Speaker 6 (31:31):
I'm fine.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
Well, that's good. It's a pleasure to have you on Patty.
Patty at the Municipal League conference. I think you have
a pretty unique perspective to share with your peers from
the standpoint of everything that you've been through, especially over
the last three years, with you know, the stoplight construction
of the fact that your municipality is made up the

(31:54):
way it is largely retail. Tell us about your presentation
to the league.

Speaker 6 (32:01):
Well, I was. I was asked to do a presentation
yesterday on municipal elections because Granville had recently moved their
election to coy Shade with the primary election in May.
So for this year that was my participation. I sat

(32:22):
in on a panel. I was able to share our
perspective on how easy it was to do that transition.
And then I also sat on one of the workshops
to answer questions, especially for Class four municipalities.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
If you were talking to Morgantown City Clerk Christine Wade
about what she needs to do in the coming years,
what would the primary tasks be.

Speaker 6 (32:54):
Well, actually I did speak to Christine last night yesterday
evening at one of our general sessions. And the difference, uh,
for the City of Morgantown. Is there there a class
too municipality you know West there's a Class three starts
sitting in Blacksville and Grands or Class four. So the

(33:17):
change in municipal election is going to be different for
the City of Morgantown. They have wards and we don't. Uh,
they have multiple precincts voting precincts, and we only have one.
So Morgantown will will need to take a different step

(33:37):
to get uh to coincide with the elections than we did.

Speaker 2 (33:42):
Sounds like it'll be maybe a little bit more complicated
and involved.

Speaker 6 (33:48):
It will be, and that our city, our county clerk
Cheryl Blaney, she is she's wonderful. Uh, she was wonderful
to work with with us, and I'm sure that she
will be from Morgantown as well, so Montaguay County as
a whole. We're really fortunate with the backups that we

(34:11):
have on the county level to get all all these
things done. So I think that once more Intown figures
out what they need to do with their wards and
their precincts, you know, it'll run smooth. They'll get a
figured out.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
Well, you're right about Clerk Blaney, and she's fifty five
in the state. She's probably the best one that there is,
there's no doubt about that. Help us understand how much
money you save by doing this.

Speaker 6 (34:44):
Well cost savings. That really wasn't our.

Speaker 5 (34:51):
Goal.

Speaker 6 (34:52):
We actually made a switch before the legislation is mandating it.
Senate Bill fifty now mandates that every town, city, village
in West Virginia makes this smooth. The reason that we
did it was we were hoping that we could get

(35:14):
a better voter turnout, so people may be more apt
to go out and.

Speaker 4 (35:22):
Vote if they're.

Speaker 6 (35:23):
Voting in conjunction.

Speaker 5 (35:26):
For us.

Speaker 6 (35:26):
Will be the primary election because it'll run it'll coincide
with the may elections. That was our primary goal. Money wise,
probably just a few thousand dollars under five thousand dollars
savings for us.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
Okay, Grandville Mayor, Patty Lewis, Patty, we're going to have
to leave it there. I do appreciate you taking the
time to give us a call. Thank you very much.

Speaker 4 (35:52):
Well, thank you absolutely.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
Take care and have a great date, Grandville Mayor, Patty Lewis.
We're coming back to wrap things up right after this
on top of the town. AM fourteen forty f M
one oh four point five W. A. J R.