September 9, 2025 • 37 mins
Caitlyn Lewis- Community Development Services Coordinator for the city of Morgantown on the Mountaineer Mission: Clean and Gold clean up this Sunday.
John Frederick with the Small Business Administration with an update on disaster applications in Marion County. .
John Frederick with the Small Business Administration with an update on disaster applications in Marion County. .
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is the Talk of the Town from Morgantown to Klerksburg.
If it's happening, we're talking about it. Call the show
toll free at one eight hundred seven sixty five eight
two fivey five. Now Here is your host for the
Talk of the Town, Mike Nolting.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Well, good morning, welcome to Talk of the Town and
Happy Monday. Ethan Collins is producing the program today. You'll
find Ethan at eight hundred seven six five A two
five five. We also have a text line. That number
is three oh four Talk three oh four. I'm Mike Nolting.
You'll find me out on x as your news guy.
(00:41):
And this morning on the program, the city of Morgantown
is hosting a community cleanup. It's the Mountaineer Mission Clean
and Gold. Coming up this Sunday, We're going to talk
to Caitlyn Lewis coming up at nine point fifteen about
their plans and how you can get involved. Then at
nine thirty, John Frederick. Now, if you remember John was
(01:02):
in just about two weeks ago. He's from the Small
Business Administration. He'll join us at nine point thirty with
an update from Marion County where flood recovery efforts continue
following Father's Day flooding earlier this year. The SBA and
FEMA still operating disaster centers where residents can submit relief applications.
(01:23):
We'll get an update on that process and more helpful
information from John coming up at nine point thirty. A
couple of headlines to address a rescue cruise from the
Valley Volunteer Fire Department. They used ropes and pulleys early
Sunday morning to pull an accident victim victim up an
(01:44):
embankment following in ATV accident. Deputies from the Marion County
Sheriff's Department and rescuers said the ATV went down about
one hundred feet over the hill. The injured mail was hurt,
but conscious and alert when cruise got to him. He's
been treated for unspecified injuries. Three were transported from a
(02:04):
crash on I sixty eight eastbound Saturday afternoon around two
twenty five. Rescuers from the Bruceton Brandonville Volunteer Fire Department
responded to a pickup truck on its side in the
median at the seventeen mile marker. One victim had to
be extricated. All three transported with unknown injuries. The interstate
(02:25):
was restricted until just about four o'clock Saturday afternoon for
the cleanup and investigation. State lawmakers there at the state
capital for interim committee meetings. Today's schedule includes an update
on the state's finances and the state highway system. The
Department of Health and the Department of Health facilities also
(02:48):
in that agenda. The meetings will also take place tomorrow.
Lawmakers not expecting a special session from Governor Morrissey on
the peia issue. A judge in General County has denied
a preliminary injunction for a family that was seeking a
religious exemption to the state's vaccination requirements.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Now.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
That ruling came on Friday. Brad McIlhaney has that full
report at wv metronews dot com and Aaron Rodgers one
is debut with the Steelers thirty four to thirty two.
That was a nail bider over the Jets thanks to
a sixty yard Chris Bosswell field goal. And Tonight Monday
(03:32):
Night football returns, Vikings make the trip to Chicago to
play the Bears at Soldier Field. We've got Westwood One
play by play coverage right here on WAJR tonight when
we come back, I'm going to spend a few minutes
with Caitlin Lewis from the City of Morgantown. We'll be
talking about I've got it right here. It's the Mountain
(03:53):
Air Mission Clean and Gold. It's coming up on Sunday.
It's coming up next on Talk of the Town fourteen
forty FM oneh four point five w A Jr.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Join the conversation at one eight hundred and seven sixty
five eight two fivey five. This is the Talk of
the Town.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Good Monday morning. We're glad you're with us now. The
text line is three oh four Talk three oh four
something on your mind. We'd certainly love to hear it.
First guys and fifty degrees as we begin this conversation
with Caitlyn Lewis, she's the Community Development Services Coordinator, and
we're going to spend a couple of minutes here talking
(04:46):
about the Mountaineer Mission Clean and Gold that's coming up
on Sunday. Caitlin, good morning and welcome. How are you.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Good morning, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
I'm good absolutely good weekend.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Yes, great weekend.
Speaker 5 (04:58):
Hope you did as well, Yes, you know it.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
It's kind of wild to hear all of the complaints
about the weather on Saturday, but I was certainly one
of those complaining. But you know, the previous two weeks
to that one Saturday, we're absolutely perfect.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
I know, we've had some beautiful fall weather. It just
kind of hit all of a sudden, But it's been
I've been I've been happy about it.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Is that.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Okay, the Mountaineer Mission Clean and Gold coming up on Sunday.
What can you tell us about it?
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Yeah, so we're doing we may remember we did one
in May as a city effort to clean up downtown,
and we're going to do one again. Last one was
on Saturday. This one's going to be on Sunday, after
the pit game. We anticipate that we'll have some a
little bit of activity downtown after the pit game, and
so this is kind of an effort to clean up
after after that and to show some of our Mountaineer
(05:49):
pride the day after the game. So yeah, well we'll
be doing that on Sunday, and that is going to
be held. We're all meeting at Courthouse Square right of
the Courthouse at ten thirty on Sunday morning.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
And for those of you who will need an address
to put into your map machine. Address is two forty
three High Street in Morgantown. The check in begins at
ten forty five, and then you will offer a safety
briefing as well.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Yeah, that's right. Just in case we encounter any broken
glass or sharps or anything, we like to go ahead
and cover that with our volunteers, just to make sure
that everybody's being safe and that we're prepared for the
kind of hazards that we might encounter on these kinds
of cleanups.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
So, talking about hazards, if Kitlyn Lewis, and I'm sure
you will be down there, what will Kitlyn Lewis be
wearing in order to protect yourself at an event like this.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Yeah, so we're asking that people wear long pants, close
toed shoes, and then we'll be handing out reflective vests
and gloves as well, so that people will be visible
and have the tools that they need to be safe
on site as well.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
You know, in the last few years, a lot of
people talking about the fact that they'd like to get
young people involved in volunteerism at a very early age.
What about maybe bringing your son, daughter, or you know,
your significant person. You may be a guardian for.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Yeah, yeah, we would love to have kids to come
out and help. If you want to bring your kids,
we definitely encourage that. We just asked that if somebody
is under the age of eighteen, they have a legal
guardian there with them or somebody that's over the age
of eighteen, because we will be asking folks to sign
a waiver, So those people who are under eighteen will
need someone to sign for them. And yeah, we'll have
(07:41):
a variety of activities going on that day in a
variety of places throughout downtown. So if you have kids
with you, will make sure to put you with the
group that is maybe in one of those less hazardous areas.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Okay, you know one of the best kept secrets in
the city of Morgantown, I believe could be that the
tool trailer tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Yeah, So this is an effort that is supported by
the Moto Toolbox. That's the name of our tool lending library.
We still have not officially launched this program to the
public yet, but we are getting very very close to
being able to do that, and this is an effort
that we're able to support with some help from the
Tool Library. And one thing we wanted to do with
(08:26):
the tool library, and with this event is sort of
model a clean up day, so that a local organization
may be able to take the tool library and do
something just like this within their own neighborhood, like within
Award or just within your block for example.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
So very nice. Now tell me if you can, or
tell me what you can about what's inside that trailer.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Yeah, certainly.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
So.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
We have an inventory of over five hundred tools right now.
We've got some power tools and we've got hand tools
as well. We'll be able to hook people up with
a lawnmower if you need one, or a weed whacker.
We have a hedge tremmer. We've got a powerwasher. We've
got power tools as well. So if you have a
project in mind, odds are we've got the tools to
(09:10):
help you out with it. And we hope to expand
our inventory in the future too.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
So now I'm not trying to get ahead of the
cart here, but there's been talk about a citywide ID program.
Would this be in conjunction with that?
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (09:27):
I think so. With the tool Lending Library, one thing
that we'll be asking for it'll work. The intention behind
it is that it'll work a lot like the Book Library,
so you might have we'll check your ID to make
sure that you're over the age of eighteen with the
tool Lending Library when that launches. Something that may also
be something that we would check in lieu of your
(09:49):
proof of residency or your ID for example, could be
that municipal ID. So that's just sort of another method
of accessing the tool Lending Library that municipal IDEA.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Okay, very nice. Now, this event will run from ten
thirty until one in the afternoon on Sunday, and they
will have some water and light refreshments for the volunteers
during the event. And you've got this organized into zones.
Tell us what the zones are.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Yeah, so we are going to try to tackle this
by a couple of different zones. Like you said, we're
looking at downtown in the north areas. We're trying to
cover some of that student housing that we think will
you know, probably see a lot of activity after the
football game. We're looking at just the core of downtown
as well. That's Spruce Street, High Street, Chestnut Street, Fayette Street,
(10:41):
right in the middle of downtown. Then we're going to
move to the south of downtown, which is sort of
that area around kirk Street sort of near where Sheets
is and then underneath the South high Bridge. We're hoping
to do some brush clearing efforts to kind of maintain
that mushroom trail area that's been done down there in
(11:02):
some of the area around that mural that's been installed
as well. And we've also included Sunnyside in here as
sort of an aspersonal secondary area if we have the
volunteers and the time to tackle that as well.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Okay, Caitlin Lewis is the Community Development Services coordinator. They
are holding the Mountaineer Mission Clean and Gold. It's a
community cleanup event that will run from at ten thirty
in the morning until one in the afternoon coming up
on Sunday. You know, Caitlin, One observation I would like
(11:36):
to make is maybe over the last year, I've noticed
that third Board councilor weees, Michael has done a great
job in including maybe the WVU Student Government Association, some
of those other organizations in some of the median cleanups
that have happened around the city. And then I see
(11:56):
here that you're going to open this up to more
members of the WVU campus community. Tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Yeah, thanks for bringing that up, So Wes is gonna
help us with this event as well. And yeah, last
time we did this in May, we were after graduation
and after move out day, so we weren't able to
include some of the student organizations in our last cleanup.
This time, because it's after move in day, we we
(12:25):
are able to and we're We've been able to reach
out to the infraternity Council and they plan to participate
as well. So we're really excited to be able to
include the students in this effort. We think that's important
to kind of give them some agency and some pride
in their community as well too. So yeah, I'm really
looking forward to having those guys join us. It's it's
(12:47):
awesome that they were able to make it.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
I think that's awesome too, in a couple of ways.
The first way is number one, teaching them a little
bit about giving back in a general sense. But you know,
a lot of these young people are new members of
our community. They might not know a lot of people
outside of the campus community. This gives them a great
window into people like you and the elected officials of
(13:13):
the city.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Absolutely, Yeah, it's a great opportunity to meet. Yeah, other
city folks and and your neighbors too, potentially. We had
a great turnout last time, and the one in May,
we had over fifty people attend and that was really
an excellent turnout. So it ended up being a good
opportunity to kind of meet people that you might not
normally interact with in your usual sphere. So yeah, it's
(13:37):
an awesome little social opportunity as well.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
You know, I was wondering, and I'm looking at the
press release here, but I'm wondering what the possibility would
be of maybe getting one of those WVU student organizations
to adopt a street, maybe near campus.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
So we've actually had the Mountaineer Maniacs reach out about
the Adopted Street program. They have not done their first
clean up yet, but they are in talks with me
about it. So we do have some of those WU
organizations that have kind of found out about the adopted
Street program and have reached out about it, and so
that's definitely I think you're on the right track with that.
(14:17):
That's definitely something that some of those organizations are interested in,
and we love to support them in that effort.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Sure. Now, one of the cleanup zones does include Decker's
Creek and that's more brush clearing. But I know that
the last time that we did some work down there,
it involved some mulch that had to be moved around.
Can you give us an update on that.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Yeah, last time when we did that in May, they
did some work on sort of a trail system that
had kind of been existing but hadn't really been officially
established yet. The mulch that was down there, I believe
was mobs. I'm not sure exactly, but that was something
that they had spread out and used as sort of
(15:04):
an effort in establishing that trail out further. So we've
got leads for that area that will be kind of
managing the volunteers down there. I think their plan this
time is some more brush clearing and maybe not as
focused on the trail corridor itself, but I'm not sure
of the exact details on that. But yeah, the last
(15:26):
time it was sort of get the trail corridor established
in that area sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
You know, up until maybe about the last year when
some of these partnerships with the DOH the County Student
Government Association, Morgantown City Council, and the Mond County Commission.
Before some of those partnerships were developed. There was a
lot of talk about, you know, kind of how how
run down the entrances to the city has looked and
(15:54):
run down different areas might have become. But really over
the last year, with some of the cleanups that we
have talked about, there have been not only the cleanup efforts,
but a lot of improvements along the trail. And I
guess the one that most people might visually recognize would
be that the big new mural on South High Street
(16:17):
on the back of that building.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Yeah, that area is looking absolutely beautiful with the mural now,
I think, you know, there's been a lot of improvements
in that area recently, and personally you know that that
I think the mural installation was was facilitated by Main
Street Morgantown, but just personally as a resident of Morgantown,
(16:39):
it's been really nice to see that and to see
how nice it looks. I've run down there sometimes too,
and so just seeing those efforts and the fruits of
some of those efforts of those groups and the work
that they've done down there is really nice to see.
And like you said, that mural looks great, especially as
you're coming across the bridge.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
Into downtown.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
So yeah, all right, now near mission and you've been
assigned at the mission Clean and Gold. It's coming up
on Sunday and check in will begin at the Courthouse
Square beginning at ten am. And now we have talked
about the suggested uniform of maybe some long pants clothes.
(17:19):
Told boy, I tell you it's thank you very much, Caitlin.
I appreciate that more than you'll ever know. But uh,
there is one more request of participants at this event,
and we ask you that, no matter what the result
of the game is, the day before, we would like
(17:40):
for you to wear golden blue. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
We would love to see people out there showing off
their mountin your spirit and stuff too during the event.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
And absolutely there's a.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Few people I heard around town that kind of bummed
out over the weekend.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
Oh yeah, yeah, I got that memo.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
I don't follow it as closely as I should as
a WV aligne. So so I will get myself in
trouble if I speak too much about.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Well, what do you call it?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Sports ball?
Speaker 5 (18:11):
Yeah, exactly about that.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, that's fair, that's okay, nobody, nobody's going to get
on you too much for that, Caitlin, Lewis is the
Community Development Services Coordinator, Caitlin, if we had a question
or something maybe that we talked about here this morning,
how can we get in touch with you?
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Yeah, if you want more information and if you want
to you know, sign up, we are asking that you
just meet us down there to sign up. There's no
pre registration that's required. But if you do have any
questions or you need more information, you're welcome to email me.
My email is C. Lewis, L E w I S
at Morgantown, West Virginia dot CoV. That's Morgantown, WV dot CoV.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Okay, perfect well, Caitlin.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
Always a pleasure to have you in Thank you awesome,
Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
You bet don't work too all right. FEMA and the
Small Business Administration that is the Federal Emergency Management Agency
and the Small Business Administration. There are operating offices in
Marion County. They have some at the Falcon Center on
the campus of Fairmont State University and also at the
(19:20):
Public Safety Building on Quincy Street in the city of Fairmont.
Coming up, after the Metro News break, we'll talk with
John Frederick. Frederick with the Small Business Administration and we'll
get an update on those locations, and then we'll also
talk to John about some of those benefits, because that
(19:41):
window of opportunity is soon to close, and we'll talk
to John and find out when that is.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Now back to the Talk of the Town.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Well, good Monday morning, and welcome to Talk of the Town.
Our text line is three to four Talk three four.
John Frederick is with the Small Business Administration and he
is for a lack of a better word, we'll tell
let him tell you what his official title is, but
he's the point man for the Small Business Administration in
(20:24):
Marion County as they accept applications for relief from victims
of Father's Day flooding earlier this year. Hey John, good.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Morning, good morning, good morning, good morning.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
Well, my official title is Public Affair Specialist, So you know,
basically I am the mouthpiece for the agency and my
job is to basically tell people about the options available
from the federal government in the form of a low
interest loan. If you have been impacted by the storms
that happened on Father's Day, that would be June fourteenth
and fifteenth. So if you have been impacted in and
(20:57):
you're in our primary counties of Marion in Ohio. You
might be eligible for a low interest loan. And as
we were talking about earlier, loan might be a four
letter word, but don't let it be one of those
four letter words that will, you know, prohibit you from
doing an application with us.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
That's exactly right, I think rather than a loan, I
think you should maybe think of this at least if
you're maybe hesitant about accepting help from.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
There, to use it as your safety net.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Exactly right.
Speaker 6 (21:26):
Well, yeah, I say, you know what, Just take the time,
come by one of our centers, well the one in
Fairmountains on Quincy Street.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Come by.
Speaker 6 (21:33):
We have our CSRS Customer service reps. We'll help you
put it all together. All you think you need to
bring is yourself and your cell phone and that will
get you in the process. So I use this as
my message as use this as a safety net because
there's no interest, there's no prepayment, there's no payments due
for the first twelve months, so as you're fighting with
(21:54):
your insurance company and even if you don't have insurance,
right so our goal is to reach out to all
those that may be impacted that have no insurance or
have insurance as well. So our goal is to get
you back to the way you were let's say June thirteenth.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Okay, now, times running out, and I don't mean to
sound the alarm, but there is a limited time to
submit these What's.
Speaker 6 (22:19):
The deadline to apply is September twenty second for physical damage.
So once again, you know it might be to your
benefit or you know, you have to do whatever you
need to do for your due diligence for your family.
But I kind of recommend if you have some time,
you can stop by the DRC, that Disaster Recovery Center,
(22:41):
or you can reach out to us at one eight
hundred and sixty five nine two.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Nine five five or SBA dot gov.
Speaker 6 (22:48):
You know, if you've been impacted, and fill out in
the application and.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Go from there.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Absolutely now, just remind listeners two weeks I'm sorry, the
twenty second. That is exactly two weeks from today, So
you've got fourteen calendar days to get this done if
you do need to do it now. One of the
things that we talked about the last time that you
were here was the increase in frequency of disasters declared
(23:18):
in this state. You've come back with some more information.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
Well, you know, I looked it up.
Speaker 6 (23:23):
In the past twenty four months, the state of West
Virginia has had six presidential declarations. And that is a lot,
you know. So it's not a question if right, it's
a question of when it might happen next. It's a
good time to check with your insurance agents what your
coverages are. We have, you know, some disaster prener stuff.
(23:45):
I also recommend too that people download the FEMA app.
You know, we're a little bit different than FEMA. We're
alone and there to help you get safe and sanitary
and kind of like a helping hand, and we are
there to get you back to the way you work predisaster,
so the way you were January or janu excuse me,
June thirteenth, right, So, and that comes in the form
(24:06):
of low interest loans. And since it's the loan, you
do have to qualify for it. But if you do
qualify for it, there's money is available for your real
estate five hundred thousand dollars. For renters your personal property
is one hundred thousand dollars and also two for homeowners
their rental I mean their personal property is one hundred
thousand dollars. And for businesses that may be impacted, there's
(24:28):
two million dollars that's possibly available.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
And also for businesses, I think it's important to bring
up the opportunity for maybe a business that was in
old Mond County or possibly Harrison County Wetzel County that
is affected.
Speaker 6 (24:44):
By those are the counties that are eligible for our
economic injury loans. We call those idols. So how that works.
That is a working capital loan. So if they were
servicing let's say our business in Marion, Ohio, and those
businesses are down and they need to keep their doors
open right now, and you know that working capital loan
is to make sure that they can pay the bills
as their customers come back online. So the deadline to
(25:07):
apply for the economic injury loans is April twenty second, right,
so we know sometimes that impact is not visible right away,
so you have a little bit more time to apply
for that. So once again, that is for businesses that
need working capital. That's what the Economic Injury Disaster loan
is for.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Okay, Now, what about the pace of the receipt of applications.
Speaker 5 (25:33):
Are people coming in and applying?
Speaker 6 (25:35):
Oh, we do have some people coming in the process.
We have approvals already. The process can go very quickly.
It's all dependent on the applicant. So this is how
it works. You'll go into the DRC Disaster Recovery Center.
They'll get you started to get your application going, and
then you'll get contacted by our loan officer and our
(25:57):
inspection team.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Right.
Speaker 6 (25:58):
And that when an inspection team to talk to you,
they'll tally up where your damages are and that determines
your loan amount. Now, if you need more than that,
you might be able to get that. That's why you
talk to your case manager and your loan officer. If
it's too much, you can ask for less.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Right.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
There's always a process to get exactly.
Speaker 6 (26:15):
What you need, but you have to apply first, right, Right,
So we kind of encourage everyone if you are in
one of the declared disaster areas in the two counties
of Marion, Ohio, Ohio County, don't be afraid of that.
Be in the middle of our acronym because we are
the small Business Administration. But guess what, most of the
(26:35):
loans are going to go to homeowners and renters.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Right.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
What are the hours of your disaster centers.
Speaker 6 (26:42):
They are open from nine to five, okay, Monday through
from Friday through Friday.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Monday through Friday nine to five. One is on Quincy
Street at the Public Safety Building. There's another inside the
Falcon Center on the campus of Fairmount State University. And
the deadline to submit these applications is coming up on
the twenty second.
Speaker 6 (27:06):
Yeah, and if you can't get to us at one
of the centers, please give us a call at one
eight hundred sixty nine five two nine five five, or
you can reach us on the web at SBA dot gov.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Okay, that number is eight hundred six nine five two
nine five five and sb A dot gov. The disaster
Recovery centers open from nine to five Monday through Friday. Well, John,
anything else, sir.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
No, I thank the people of West Virginia.
Speaker 6 (27:35):
I've been here a number of times, so yeah, I
appreach everybody, appreciates every everyone's hospitality. I got to see
a few things and and hopefully you won't see me again.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Well, you know what, John, I tell you what we're
We're glad that you're here to help our residents, that's
for sure. And yeah, if we have to see you
again at the expense of a disaster, I'll pass, but
you ever passing through.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Sure, and say hi, okay, go mountaineers.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
There you go, there you go.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Thank you, all right, thank you.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
There's a there. We need to hear that on a
daylight today, after the weekend, after a tough loss. So
thank you, appreciate that. All right. It is nine forty two.
We'll be back with more talk of the town coming
up after this on AM fourteen forty f m one
oh four point five w AJR.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
We are talking about your town. Now back to the
talk of the town.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Well, good Monday morning. It is nine forty seven, fair
and fifty in the University City Metro News. Aki Weather says,
today Sonny and I have seventy two degrees. I've received
some input favorable and less than favorable about that Mark
Down's interview that we did last week. We Downs talked
(29:01):
about the possibility of adding to the shelter bed inventory
by expanding in the upper floors of the former Ramata
Inn now the Hazel's House of Hope. Downs also talked
about some proposed legislation that he has to address. Well,
it really wasn't too specific, but it did address the
(29:25):
availability of affordable housing. Now, he did say that the
East End development that's about ten acres of Richwood Avenue
properties once held by mister Juliani that will soon be
the first ever mixed use development in the city. He
pointed to that at the a is maybe the possibility
of a template for improving the housing stock in the
(29:51):
city that we all know certainly has a lot of
age on it, maybe from the late forties, early to
mid fifties and and up now in a city with
that aging housing stock, Down said, that could be a
blueprint for moving forward, But you know, really the big
questions would revolve around affordability and who, And likely the
(30:16):
latter question is probably the most important, and that is who.
Would it be a private development or possibly would counsel
or Downs consider proposing a piece of legislation that would
move an effort directed through the Fairmount Morgantown Housing Authority.
(30:37):
Could that be the municipal answer to the problem that
we're talking about now? However, the private sector is out there,
and the benefits brought by the private sector investment. I
guess the primary benefit would be speed, because the private
investor wants to spend his money, complete the project, open
(30:58):
it up, and then begin to provide places for people
to live. But that then comes with a price, and
that price it'll be commensurate with the speed, quality, and
amenities offered within the development, whereas more likely a municipal
option through the Fairmont Morgantown Housing Authority that could be
(31:20):
more of a no frills answer, fewer bells and whistles
and maybe just what we might call a spartan place
to live, which certainly isn't bad in any stretch of
the word, that's for sure. The text line is three
to four talk, three four municipal and public leaders.
Speaker 5 (31:44):
They'll find the balance over the next few years, and
it could take five years or more because when we
take a look back at the Richwood Avenue development, and
this is in no way of the Mon County Economic
Development Authority or the Morgantown Area of Partnership or the
(32:06):
development the be a four family but estimates for the
Richwood development said that we'd see some building happening by
this past July. However, in any major development, there are
several hurdles, and that continues to be the process at
the East East End Village the new mixed use development.
(32:31):
But as a City of Morgantown, with the inability to
annex new territory, redevelopment will have to be the plan
of the future, and Richwood Avenue could certainly fit part
of that bill, although it might not completely address the
questions of affordable housing. Now, let's take a look back
(32:54):
at the shelter bed issue.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
The shelter bed issue is one that has has been
talked about for at least the last two years, NonStop
ad nauseum, and it would appear as if maybe those solutions,
such as expanding into the upper floors of Hazel's House
of Hope, are really just a question of who makes
(33:18):
the investment, and then who manages that property, and then
who maintains the investment after it's made. But the fact
remains that over the next few months, we're definitely going
to hear number one about the warming shelter. We'll find
out where the warming shelter will be, who will operate it,
(33:40):
and how it will be operated. That'll be a big
question that is answered over the next sixty days, if
not sooner. Along with that particular question will also come
shelter beds. Shelter beds will be the next question that
gets answered, and while we digest those answers, will likely
(34:02):
see the next move from Morgantown City Council. That could
be in the form of proposed legislation by city councilors
in order to help those in need of housing, affordable
housing and help homeless individuals find the care and the
services that they need, because you know what, care that's
(34:23):
also been in the conversation as well, in the form
of wrap around services, which was why Hazel's House of
Hope was established as a clearing house for all those
options of care for the folks who need them. We'll
be back to wrap things up coming up after this
(34:43):
on Talk of the Town AM fourteen forty FM one
four point five WAJR, Fair Skies, fifty degrees in the
University City. We'll be back after this. Well, good Monday
morning and fifty in the University City. A couple of
(35:04):
texts to address. One with some technical questions about the
loan procedures with the Small Business Administration at the disaster
recovery centers in the Fairmont area. I really can't answer
that level of detail, but what I can do is.
Speaker 5 (35:23):
Tell you.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Can give them a call at eight hundred sixty nine
five two nine five five. That is the SBA Disaster
Assistance line. You can also go to SBA dot gov
or those locations. There's one on Quincy Street in the
Public Safety Building and the other one is in the
Falcon Center on the campus of Fairmont State University. In
(35:48):
response to the Richwood Avenue redevelopment question, the Texter says,
I don't see that Richwood project happening anytime soon up
so far that as your text has certainly been the
tone of that project, I think that there were a
(36:09):
lot of high hopes to get some things really cooking quickly. However,
we'll have to wait and see and watch what's happening
with that project and find out exactly what the next
steps will be, because I think the goal was was
to certainly have some agreements in hand and some construction
(36:31):
started as of July. I do know that the last
time that I talked with anybody that had knowledge about
that project was that there were some deals being negotiated
with some major companies, national companies to possibly move in
and open up business in the new East End development
(36:53):
here in the city of Morgantown. We'll keep our eyes
on that. You make it a great Monday and have
a productive day as you return back to the office.
Fair Ski's fifty Morgantown Metro News talk line coming up
next on the
This is the Talk of the Town from Morgantown to Klerksburg.
If it's happening, we're talking about it. Call the show
toll free at one eight hundred seven sixty five eight
two fivey five. Now Here is your host for the
Talk of the Town, Mike Nolting.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Well, good morning, welcome to Talk of the Town and
Happy Monday. Ethan Collins is producing the program today. You'll
find Ethan at eight hundred seven six five A two
five five. We also have a text line. That number
is three oh four Talk three oh four. I'm Mike Nolting.
You'll find me out on x as your news guy.
(00:41):
And this morning on the program, the city of Morgantown
is hosting a community cleanup. It's the Mountaineer Mission Clean
and Gold. Coming up this Sunday, We're going to talk
to Caitlyn Lewis coming up at nine point fifteen about
their plans and how you can get involved. Then at
nine thirty, John Frederick. Now, if you remember John was
(01:02):
in just about two weeks ago. He's from the Small
Business Administration. He'll join us at nine point thirty with
an update from Marion County where flood recovery efforts continue
following Father's Day flooding earlier this year. The SBA and
FEMA still operating disaster centers where residents can submit relief applications.
(01:23):
We'll get an update on that process and more helpful
information from John coming up at nine point thirty. A
couple of headlines to address a rescue cruise from the
Valley Volunteer Fire Department. They used ropes and pulleys early
Sunday morning to pull an accident victim victim up an
(01:44):
embankment following in ATV accident. Deputies from the Marion County
Sheriff's Department and rescuers said the ATV went down about
one hundred feet over the hill. The injured mail was hurt,
but conscious and alert when cruise got to him. He's
been treated for unspecified injuries. Three were transported from a
(02:04):
crash on I sixty eight eastbound Saturday afternoon around two
twenty five. Rescuers from the Bruceton Brandonville Volunteer Fire Department
responded to a pickup truck on its side in the
median at the seventeen mile marker. One victim had to
be extricated. All three transported with unknown injuries. The interstate
(02:25):
was restricted until just about four o'clock Saturday afternoon for
the cleanup and investigation. State lawmakers there at the state
capital for interim committee meetings. Today's schedule includes an update
on the state's finances and the state highway system. The
Department of Health and the Department of Health facilities also
(02:48):
in that agenda. The meetings will also take place tomorrow.
Lawmakers not expecting a special session from Governor Morrissey on
the peia issue. A judge in General County has denied
a preliminary injunction for a family that was seeking a
religious exemption to the state's vaccination requirements.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
Now.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
That ruling came on Friday. Brad McIlhaney has that full
report at wv metronews dot com and Aaron Rodgers one
is debut with the Steelers thirty four to thirty two.
That was a nail bider over the Jets thanks to
a sixty yard Chris Bosswell field goal. And Tonight Monday
(03:32):
Night football returns, Vikings make the trip to Chicago to
play the Bears at Soldier Field. We've got Westwood One
play by play coverage right here on WAJR tonight when
we come back, I'm going to spend a few minutes
with Caitlin Lewis from the City of Morgantown. We'll be
talking about I've got it right here. It's the Mountain
(03:53):
Air Mission Clean and Gold. It's coming up on Sunday.
It's coming up next on Talk of the Town fourteen
forty FM oneh four point five w A Jr.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Join the conversation at one eight hundred and seven sixty
five eight two fivey five. This is the Talk of
the Town.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Good Monday morning. We're glad you're with us now. The
text line is three oh four Talk three oh four
something on your mind. We'd certainly love to hear it.
First guys and fifty degrees as we begin this conversation
with Caitlyn Lewis, she's the Community Development Services Coordinator, and
we're going to spend a couple of minutes here talking
(04:46):
about the Mountaineer Mission Clean and Gold that's coming up
on Sunday. Caitlin, good morning and welcome. How are you.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Good morning, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 5 (04:55):
I'm good absolutely good weekend.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
Yes, great weekend.
Speaker 5 (04:58):
Hope you did as well, Yes, you know it.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
It's kind of wild to hear all of the complaints
about the weather on Saturday, but I was certainly one
of those complaining. But you know, the previous two weeks
to that one Saturday, we're absolutely perfect.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
I know, we've had some beautiful fall weather. It just
kind of hit all of a sudden, But it's been
I've been I've been happy about it.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Is that.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Okay, the Mountaineer Mission Clean and Gold coming up on Sunday.
What can you tell us about it?
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Yeah, so we're doing we may remember we did one
in May as a city effort to clean up downtown,
and we're going to do one again. Last one was
on Saturday. This one's going to be on Sunday, after
the pit game. We anticipate that we'll have some a
little bit of activity downtown after the pit game, and
so this is kind of an effort to clean up
after after that and to show some of our Mountaineer
(05:49):
pride the day after the game. So yeah, well we'll
be doing that on Sunday, and that is going to
be held. We're all meeting at Courthouse Square right of
the Courthouse at ten thirty on Sunday morning.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
And for those of you who will need an address
to put into your map machine. Address is two forty
three High Street in Morgantown. The check in begins at
ten forty five, and then you will offer a safety
briefing as well.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Yeah, that's right. Just in case we encounter any broken
glass or sharps or anything, we like to go ahead
and cover that with our volunteers, just to make sure
that everybody's being safe and that we're prepared for the
kind of hazards that we might encounter on these kinds
of cleanups.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
So, talking about hazards, if Kitlyn Lewis, and I'm sure
you will be down there, what will Kitlyn Lewis be
wearing in order to protect yourself at an event like this.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Yeah, so we're asking that people wear long pants, close
toed shoes, and then we'll be handing out reflective vests
and gloves as well, so that people will be visible
and have the tools that they need to be safe
on site as well.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
You know, in the last few years, a lot of
people talking about the fact that they'd like to get
young people involved in volunteerism at a very early age.
What about maybe bringing your son, daughter, or you know,
your significant person. You may be a guardian for.
Speaker 4 (07:19):
Yeah, yeah, we would love to have kids to come
out and help. If you want to bring your kids,
we definitely encourage that. We just asked that if somebody
is under the age of eighteen, they have a legal
guardian there with them or somebody that's over the age
of eighteen, because we will be asking folks to sign
a waiver, So those people who are under eighteen will
need someone to sign for them. And yeah, we'll have
(07:41):
a variety of activities going on that day in a
variety of places throughout downtown. So if you have kids
with you, will make sure to put you with the
group that is maybe in one of those less hazardous areas.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Okay, you know one of the best kept secrets in
the city of Morgantown, I believe could be that the
tool trailer tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Yeah, So this is an effort that is supported by
the Moto Toolbox. That's the name of our tool lending library.
We still have not officially launched this program to the
public yet, but we are getting very very close to
being able to do that, and this is an effort
that we're able to support with some help from the
Tool Library. And one thing we wanted to do with
(08:26):
the tool library, and with this event is sort of
model a clean up day, so that a local organization
may be able to take the tool library and do
something just like this within their own neighborhood, like within
Award or just within your block for example.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
So very nice. Now tell me if you can, or
tell me what you can about what's inside that trailer.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
Yeah, certainly.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
So.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
We have an inventory of over five hundred tools right now.
We've got some power tools and we've got hand tools
as well. We'll be able to hook people up with
a lawnmower if you need one, or a weed whacker.
We have a hedge tremmer. We've got a powerwasher. We've
got power tools as well. So if you have a
project in mind, odds are we've got the tools to
(09:10):
help you out with it. And we hope to expand
our inventory in the future too.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
So now I'm not trying to get ahead of the
cart here, but there's been talk about a citywide ID program.
Would this be in conjunction with that?
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (09:27):
I think so. With the tool Lending Library, one thing
that we'll be asking for it'll work. The intention behind
it is that it'll work a lot like the Book Library,
so you might have we'll check your ID to make
sure that you're over the age of eighteen with the
tool Lending Library when that launches. Something that may also
be something that we would check in lieu of your
(09:49):
proof of residency or your ID for example, could be
that municipal ID. So that's just sort of another method
of accessing the tool Lending Library that municipal IDEA.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Okay, very nice. Now, this event will run from ten
thirty until one in the afternoon on Sunday, and they
will have some water and light refreshments for the volunteers
during the event. And you've got this organized into zones.
Tell us what the zones are.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Yeah, so we are going to try to tackle this
by a couple of different zones. Like you said, we're
looking at downtown in the north areas. We're trying to
cover some of that student housing that we think will
you know, probably see a lot of activity after the
football game. We're looking at just the core of downtown
as well. That's Spruce Street, High Street, Chestnut Street, Fayette Street,
(10:41):
right in the middle of downtown. Then we're going to
move to the south of downtown, which is sort of
that area around kirk Street sort of near where Sheets
is and then underneath the South high Bridge. We're hoping
to do some brush clearing efforts to kind of maintain
that mushroom trail area that's been done down there in
(11:02):
some of the area around that mural that's been installed
as well. And we've also included Sunnyside in here as
sort of an aspersonal secondary area if we have the
volunteers and the time to tackle that as well.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
Okay, Caitlin Lewis is the Community Development Services coordinator. They
are holding the Mountaineer Mission Clean and Gold. It's a
community cleanup event that will run from at ten thirty
in the morning until one in the afternoon coming up
on Sunday. You know, Caitlin, One observation I would like
(11:36):
to make is maybe over the last year, I've noticed
that third Board councilor weees, Michael has done a great
job in including maybe the WVU Student Government Association, some
of those other organizations in some of the median cleanups
that have happened around the city. And then I see
(11:56):
here that you're going to open this up to more
members of the WVU campus community. Tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (12:05):
Yeah, thanks for bringing that up, So Wes is gonna
help us with this event as well. And yeah, last
time we did this in May, we were after graduation
and after move out day, so we weren't able to
include some of the student organizations in our last cleanup.
This time, because it's after move in day, we we
(12:25):
are able to and we're We've been able to reach
out to the infraternity Council and they plan to participate
as well. So we're really excited to be able to
include the students in this effort. We think that's important
to kind of give them some agency and some pride
in their community as well too. So yeah, I'm really
looking forward to having those guys join us. It's it's
(12:47):
awesome that they were able to make it.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
I think that's awesome too, in a couple of ways.
The first way is number one, teaching them a little
bit about giving back in a general sense. But you know,
a lot of these young people are new members of
our community. They might not know a lot of people
outside of the campus community. This gives them a great
window into people like you and the elected officials of
(13:13):
the city.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Absolutely, Yeah, it's a great opportunity to meet. Yeah, other
city folks and and your neighbors too, potentially. We had
a great turnout last time, and the one in May,
we had over fifty people attend and that was really
an excellent turnout. So it ended up being a good
opportunity to kind of meet people that you might not
normally interact with in your usual sphere. So yeah, it's
(13:37):
an awesome little social opportunity as well.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
You know, I was wondering, and I'm looking at the
press release here, but I'm wondering what the possibility would
be of maybe getting one of those WVU student organizations
to adopt a street, maybe near campus.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:56):
So we've actually had the Mountaineer Maniacs reach out about
the Adopted Street program. They have not done their first
clean up yet, but they are in talks with me
about it. So we do have some of those WU
organizations that have kind of found out about the adopted
Street program and have reached out about it, and so
that's definitely I think you're on the right track with that.
(14:17):
That's definitely something that some of those organizations are interested in,
and we love to support them in that effort.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Sure. Now, one of the cleanup zones does include Decker's
Creek and that's more brush clearing. But I know that
the last time that we did some work down there,
it involved some mulch that had to be moved around.
Can you give us an update on that.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
Yeah, last time when we did that in May, they
did some work on sort of a trail system that
had kind of been existing but hadn't really been officially
established yet. The mulch that was down there, I believe
was mobs. I'm not sure exactly, but that was something
that they had spread out and used as sort of
(15:04):
an effort in establishing that trail out further. So we've
got leads for that area that will be kind of
managing the volunteers down there. I think their plan this
time is some more brush clearing and maybe not as
focused on the trail corridor itself, but I'm not sure
of the exact details on that. But yeah, the last
(15:26):
time it was sort of get the trail corridor established
in that area sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
You know, up until maybe about the last year when
some of these partnerships with the DOH the County Student
Government Association, Morgantown City Council, and the Mond County Commission.
Before some of those partnerships were developed. There was a
lot of talk about, you know, kind of how how
run down the entrances to the city has looked and
(15:54):
run down different areas might have become. But really over
the last year, with some of the cleanups that we
have talked about, there have been not only the cleanup efforts,
but a lot of improvements along the trail. And I
guess the one that most people might visually recognize would
be that the big new mural on South High Street
(16:17):
on the back of that building.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Yeah, that area is looking absolutely beautiful with the mural now,
I think, you know, there's been a lot of improvements
in that area recently, and personally you know that that
I think the mural installation was was facilitated by Main
Street Morgantown, but just personally as a resident of Morgantown,
(16:39):
it's been really nice to see that and to see
how nice it looks. I've run down there sometimes too,
and so just seeing those efforts and the fruits of
some of those efforts of those groups and the work
that they've done down there is really nice to see.
And like you said, that mural looks great, especially as
you're coming across the bridge.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
Into downtown.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
So yeah, all right, now near mission and you've been
assigned at the mission Clean and Gold. It's coming up
on Sunday and check in will begin at the Courthouse
Square beginning at ten am. And now we have talked
about the suggested uniform of maybe some long pants clothes.
(17:19):
Told boy, I tell you it's thank you very much, Caitlin.
I appreciate that more than you'll ever know. But uh,
there is one more request of participants at this event,
and we ask you that, no matter what the result
of the game is, the day before, we would like
(17:40):
for you to wear golden blue. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
We would love to see people out there showing off
their mountin your spirit and stuff too during the event.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
And absolutely there's a.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Few people I heard around town that kind of bummed
out over the weekend.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
Oh yeah, yeah, I got that memo.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
I don't follow it as closely as I should as
a WV aligne. So so I will get myself in
trouble if I speak too much about.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Well, what do you call it?
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Sports ball?
Speaker 5 (18:11):
Yeah, exactly about that.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Yeah, that's fair, that's okay, nobody, nobody's going to get
on you too much for that, Caitlin, Lewis is the
Community Development Services Coordinator, Caitlin, if we had a question
or something maybe that we talked about here this morning,
how can we get in touch with you?
Speaker 4 (18:29):
Yeah, if you want more information and if you want
to you know, sign up, we are asking that you
just meet us down there to sign up. There's no
pre registration that's required. But if you do have any
questions or you need more information, you're welcome to email me.
My email is C. Lewis, L E w I S
at Morgantown, West Virginia dot CoV. That's Morgantown, WV dot CoV.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Okay, perfect well, Caitlin.
Speaker 5 (18:56):
Always a pleasure to have you in Thank you awesome,
Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
You bet don't work too all right. FEMA and the
Small Business Administration that is the Federal Emergency Management Agency
and the Small Business Administration. There are operating offices in
Marion County. They have some at the Falcon Center on
the campus of Fairmont State University and also at the
(19:20):
Public Safety Building on Quincy Street in the city of Fairmont.
Coming up, after the Metro News break, we'll talk with
John Frederick. Frederick with the Small Business Administration and we'll
get an update on those locations, and then we'll also
talk to John about some of those benefits, because that
(19:41):
window of opportunity is soon to close, and we'll talk
to John and find out when that is.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Now back to the Talk of the Town.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Well, good Monday morning, and welcome to Talk of the Town.
Our text line is three to four Talk three four.
John Frederick is with the Small Business Administration and he
is for a lack of a better word, we'll tell
let him tell you what his official title is, but
he's the point man for the Small Business Administration in
(20:24):
Marion County as they accept applications for relief from victims
of Father's Day flooding earlier this year. Hey John, good.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
Morning, good morning, good morning, good morning.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
Well, my official title is Public Affair Specialist, So you know,
basically I am the mouthpiece for the agency and my
job is to basically tell people about the options available
from the federal government in the form of a low
interest loan. If you have been impacted by the storms
that happened on Father's Day, that would be June fourteenth
and fifteenth. So if you have been impacted in and
(20:57):
you're in our primary counties of Marion in Ohio. You
might be eligible for a low interest loan. And as
we were talking about earlier, loan might be a four
letter word, but don't let it be one of those
four letter words that will, you know, prohibit you from
doing an application with us.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
That's exactly right, I think rather than a loan, I
think you should maybe think of this at least if
you're maybe hesitant about accepting help from.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
There, to use it as your safety net.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
Exactly right.
Speaker 6 (21:26):
Well, yeah, I say, you know what, Just take the time,
come by one of our centers, well the one in
Fairmountains on Quincy Street.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
Come by.
Speaker 6 (21:33):
We have our CSRS Customer service reps. We'll help you
put it all together. All you think you need to
bring is yourself and your cell phone and that will
get you in the process. So I use this as
my message as use this as a safety net because
there's no interest, there's no prepayment, there's no payments due
for the first twelve months, so as you're fighting with
(21:54):
your insurance company and even if you don't have insurance,
right so our goal is to reach out to all
those that may be impacted that have no insurance or
have insurance as well. So our goal is to get
you back to the way you were let's say June thirteenth.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
Okay, now, times running out, and I don't mean to
sound the alarm, but there is a limited time to
submit these What's.
Speaker 6 (22:19):
The deadline to apply is September twenty second for physical damage.
So once again, you know it might be to your
benefit or you know, you have to do whatever you
need to do for your due diligence for your family.
But I kind of recommend if you have some time,
you can stop by the DRC, that Disaster Recovery Center,
(22:41):
or you can reach out to us at one eight
hundred and sixty five nine two.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Nine five five or SBA dot gov.
Speaker 6 (22:48):
You know, if you've been impacted, and fill out in
the application and.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
Go from there.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
Absolutely now, just remind listeners two weeks I'm sorry, the
twenty second. That is exactly two weeks from today, So
you've got fourteen calendar days to get this done if
you do need to do it now. One of the
things that we talked about the last time that you
were here was the increase in frequency of disasters declared
(23:18):
in this state. You've come back with some more information.
Speaker 3 (23:21):
Well, you know, I looked it up.
Speaker 6 (23:23):
In the past twenty four months, the state of West
Virginia has had six presidential declarations. And that is a lot,
you know. So it's not a question if right, it's
a question of when it might happen next. It's a
good time to check with your insurance agents what your
coverages are. We have, you know, some disaster prener stuff.
(23:45):
I also recommend too that people download the FEMA app.
You know, we're a little bit different than FEMA. We're
alone and there to help you get safe and sanitary
and kind of like a helping hand, and we are
there to get you back to the way you work predisaster,
so the way you were January or janu excuse me,
June thirteenth, right, So, and that comes in the form
(24:06):
of low interest loans. And since it's the loan, you
do have to qualify for it. But if you do
qualify for it, there's money is available for your real
estate five hundred thousand dollars. For renters your personal property
is one hundred thousand dollars and also two for homeowners
their rental I mean their personal property is one hundred
thousand dollars. And for businesses that may be impacted, there's
(24:28):
two million dollars that's possibly available.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
And also for businesses, I think it's important to bring
up the opportunity for maybe a business that was in
old Mond County or possibly Harrison County Wetzel County that
is affected.
Speaker 6 (24:44):
By those are the counties that are eligible for our
economic injury loans. We call those idols. So how that works.
That is a working capital loan. So if they were
servicing let's say our business in Marion, Ohio, and those
businesses are down and they need to keep their doors
open right now, and you know that working capital loan
is to make sure that they can pay the bills
as their customers come back online. So the deadline to
(25:07):
apply for the economic injury loans is April twenty second, right,
so we know sometimes that impact is not visible right away,
so you have a little bit more time to apply
for that. So once again, that is for businesses that
need working capital. That's what the Economic Injury Disaster loan
is for.
Speaker 2 (25:27):
Okay, Now, what about the pace of the receipt of applications.
Speaker 5 (25:33):
Are people coming in and applying?
Speaker 6 (25:35):
Oh, we do have some people coming in the process.
We have approvals already. The process can go very quickly.
It's all dependent on the applicant. So this is how
it works. You'll go into the DRC Disaster Recovery Center.
They'll get you started to get your application going, and
then you'll get contacted by our loan officer and our
(25:57):
inspection team.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Right.
Speaker 6 (25:58):
And that when an inspection team to talk to you,
they'll tally up where your damages are and that determines
your loan amount. Now, if you need more than that,
you might be able to get that. That's why you
talk to your case manager and your loan officer. If
it's too much, you can ask for less.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Right.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
There's always a process to get exactly.
Speaker 6 (26:15):
What you need, but you have to apply first, right, Right,
So we kind of encourage everyone if you are in
one of the declared disaster areas in the two counties
of Marion, Ohio, Ohio County, don't be afraid of that.
Be in the middle of our acronym because we are
the small Business Administration. But guess what, most of the
(26:35):
loans are going to go to homeowners and renters.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Right.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
What are the hours of your disaster centers.
Speaker 6 (26:42):
They are open from nine to five, okay, Monday through
from Friday through Friday.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Monday through Friday nine to five. One is on Quincy
Street at the Public Safety Building. There's another inside the
Falcon Center on the campus of Fairmount State University. And
the deadline to submit these applications is coming up on
the twenty second.
Speaker 6 (27:06):
Yeah, and if you can't get to us at one
of the centers, please give us a call at one
eight hundred sixty nine five two nine five five, or
you can reach us on the web at SBA dot gov.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Okay, that number is eight hundred six nine five two
nine five five and sb A dot gov. The disaster
Recovery centers open from nine to five Monday through Friday. Well, John,
anything else, sir.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
No, I thank the people of West Virginia.
Speaker 6 (27:35):
I've been here a number of times, so yeah, I
appreach everybody, appreciates every everyone's hospitality. I got to see
a few things and and hopefully you won't see me again.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
Well, you know what, John, I tell you what we're
We're glad that you're here to help our residents, that's
for sure. And yeah, if we have to see you
again at the expense of a disaster, I'll pass, but
you ever passing through.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Sure, and say hi, okay, go mountaineers.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
There you go, there you go.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
Thank you, all right, thank you.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
There's a there. We need to hear that on a
daylight today, after the weekend, after a tough loss. So
thank you, appreciate that. All right. It is nine forty two.
We'll be back with more talk of the town coming
up after this on AM fourteen forty f m one
oh four point five w AJR.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
We are talking about your town. Now back to the
talk of the town.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Well, good Monday morning. It is nine forty seven, fair
and fifty in the University City Metro News. Aki Weather says,
today Sonny and I have seventy two degrees. I've received
some input favorable and less than favorable about that Mark
Down's interview that we did last week. We Downs talked
(29:01):
about the possibility of adding to the shelter bed inventory
by expanding in the upper floors of the former Ramata
Inn now the Hazel's House of Hope. Downs also talked
about some proposed legislation that he has to address. Well,
it really wasn't too specific, but it did address the
(29:25):
availability of affordable housing. Now, he did say that the
East End development that's about ten acres of Richwood Avenue
properties once held by mister Juliani that will soon be
the first ever mixed use development in the city. He
pointed to that at the a is maybe the possibility
of a template for improving the housing stock in the
(29:51):
city that we all know certainly has a lot of
age on it, maybe from the late forties, early to
mid fifties and and up now in a city with
that aging housing stock, Down said, that could be a
blueprint for moving forward, But you know, really the big
questions would revolve around affordability and who, And likely the
(30:16):
latter question is probably the most important, and that is who.
Would it be a private development or possibly would counsel
or Downs consider proposing a piece of legislation that would
move an effort directed through the Fairmount Morgantown Housing Authority.
(30:37):
Could that be the municipal answer to the problem that
we're talking about now? However, the private sector is out there,
and the benefits brought by the private sector investment. I
guess the primary benefit would be speed, because the private
investor wants to spend his money, complete the project, open
(30:58):
it up, and then begin to provide places for people
to live. But that then comes with a price, and
that price it'll be commensurate with the speed, quality, and
amenities offered within the development, whereas more likely a municipal
option through the Fairmont Morgantown Housing Authority that could be
(31:20):
more of a no frills answer, fewer bells and whistles
and maybe just what we might call a spartan place
to live, which certainly isn't bad in any stretch of
the word, that's for sure. The text line is three
to four talk, three four municipal and public leaders.
Speaker 5 (31:44):
They'll find the balance over the next few years, and
it could take five years or more because when we
take a look back at the Richwood Avenue development, and
this is in no way of the Mon County Economic
Development Authority or the Morgantown Area of Partnership or the
(32:06):
development the be a four family but estimates for the
Richwood development said that we'd see some building happening by
this past July. However, in any major development, there are
several hurdles, and that continues to be the process at
the East East End Village the new mixed use development.
(32:31):
But as a City of Morgantown, with the inability to
annex new territory, redevelopment will have to be the plan
of the future, and Richwood Avenue could certainly fit part
of that bill, although it might not completely address the
questions of affordable housing. Now, let's take a look back
(32:54):
at the shelter bed issue.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
The shelter bed issue is one that has has been
talked about for at least the last two years, NonStop
ad nauseum, and it would appear as if maybe those solutions,
such as expanding into the upper floors of Hazel's House
of Hope, are really just a question of who makes
(33:18):
the investment, and then who manages that property, and then
who maintains the investment after it's made. But the fact
remains that over the next few months, we're definitely going
to hear number one about the warming shelter. We'll find
out where the warming shelter will be, who will operate it,
(33:40):
and how it will be operated. That'll be a big
question that is answered over the next sixty days, if
not sooner. Along with that particular question will also come
shelter beds. Shelter beds will be the next question that
gets answered, and while we digest those answers, will likely
(34:02):
see the next move from Morgantown City Council. That could
be in the form of proposed legislation by city councilors
in order to help those in need of housing, affordable
housing and help homeless individuals find the care and the
services that they need, because you know what, care that's
(34:23):
also been in the conversation as well, in the form
of wrap around services, which was why Hazel's House of
Hope was established as a clearing house for all those
options of care for the folks who need them. We'll
be back to wrap things up coming up after this
(34:43):
on Talk of the Town AM fourteen forty FM one
four point five WAJR, Fair Skies, fifty degrees in the
University City. We'll be back after this. Well, good Monday
morning and fifty in the University City. A couple of
(35:04):
texts to address. One with some technical questions about the
loan procedures with the Small Business Administration at the disaster
recovery centers in the Fairmont area. I really can't answer
that level of detail, but what I can do is.
Speaker 5 (35:23):
Tell you.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Can give them a call at eight hundred sixty nine
five two nine five five. That is the SBA Disaster
Assistance line. You can also go to SBA dot gov
or those locations. There's one on Quincy Street in the
Public Safety Building and the other one is in the
Falcon Center on the campus of Fairmont State University. In
(35:48):
response to the Richwood Avenue redevelopment question, the Texter says,
I don't see that Richwood project happening anytime soon up
so far that as your text has certainly been the
tone of that project, I think that there were a
(36:09):
lot of high hopes to get some things really cooking quickly. However,
we'll have to wait and see and watch what's happening
with that project and find out exactly what the next
steps will be, because I think the goal was was
to certainly have some agreements in hand and some construction
(36:31):
started as of July. I do know that the last
time that I talked with anybody that had knowledge about
that project was that there were some deals being negotiated
with some major companies, national companies to possibly move in
and open up business in the new East End development
(36:53):
here in the city of Morgantown. We'll keep our eyes
on that. You make it a great Monday and have
a productive day as you return back to the office.
Fair Ski's fifty Morgantown Metro News talk line coming up
next on the
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