Commission hopefuls eye jobs

Liz Beavers
Cumberland Times-News

April 13, 2008 01:30 am

— KEYSER — The four primary candidates for the one seat coming open on the Mineral County Commission this year are looking to the need for more business, industry and jobs in the county, as well as ways to ease the escalating costs of housing inmates in the state’s regional jails.
Democrat Donald C. Ashby is running unopposed on his party’s ballot in the May 13 primary election, while Annette Favara, incumbent Janice LaRue and Roger D. Leatherman are facing off on the Republican ballot.
“What are we going to do to bring industry into the state and into the county?” Ashby of Elk Garden asks.
“We’ve got people sitting in the county offices who want raises and want more deputies and more cars, but what we’ve really got to do is get more money coming into the area.”
Ashby notes that a large number of the county’s young people are being forced to leave the area in order to find good-paying jobs, and he feels the officials of the county “need to look at what we can do for them” in order to make it possible for them to stay in the area and raise their families.
Ashby feels there are two potentials for growth in Mineral County — industrial or recreational — but the officials need to identify which of the two they want to develop and focus their energy on making their goals of growth, development and prosperity happen.
“We need to work together and also work closely with our neighboring counties to get it done,” he said.
An employee of Automated Packaging for more than nine years, Ashby is currently working on a business management degree through Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College.
He served on the Mineral County Board of Education for six years, and was also active in helping raise funds and construct the baseball field at Keyser High School.
Favara of Keyser also agrees that jobs need to be the No. 1 priority for Mineral County.
“We are losing families and tax revenue because we have no jobs,” she said. “We need to have tax incentives for industry ... and infrastructure is so important to expand jobs.
“I want our young people to stay here and raise their families,” she said.
“We also need to build and expand our school system so that all our children get a well-rounded education and training for jobs, and we also need arts-in-education programs.
“Schools attract businesses and we must achieve those goals so we can bring industry into our area,” she said.
Favara also feels the county needs to be more responsive to the needs of the senior citizens.
“We need to provide more services for the elderly so their families can take care of them at home with low-cost prescription drugs and in-home health care that will not be a financial burden,” she said.
A native of Long Island, N.Y., Favara moved to Mineral County 34 years ago. She has owned Vinetta Specialty Company and Auto Licensing Service for 28 years, and is the previous owner of the Route 46 Car Wash.
She is a notary public for West Virginia and Maryland, and is a licensed and bonded Maryand settlement agent serving Allegany and Garrett counties.
“I think one of the most pressing problems facing Mineral County is the regional jail costs,” Piedmont resident LaRue said, adding that the county has been proactive in this area, utilizing home confinement, community service and the development of a Community Corrections program that allows alternative sentencing for non-violent offenders.
“Even with these cost-saving measures, however, the county has paid $440,865 to house inmates in the regional jail during the first nine months of this fiscal year.”
LaRue estimates that the bill will exceed $540,000 by June 30.
“This drain on the county budget limits our ability to address other important issues, such as funding to assist in moving key infrastructure and economic development projects forward.”
LaRue said Mineral County has been and hopes to continue working with the other counties who are experiencing the same problems.
“We are continuing to lobby our state legislators to relieve us from this and other unfunded mandates that are continually being placed on local governments,” she said.
LaRue, who is completing her first term on the commission, is a Piedmont High School graduate and has studied at Potomac State College, the Mineral County Technical Center and Allegany College of Maryland.
She was employed in the Mineral County Assessor’s Office for 25 years prior to being elected to the commission.
As commissioner, she was elected and has served on the West Virginia County Commission Board of Directors for the past three years, and was just recently appointed by Gov. Joe Manchin to serve on the Property Valuation Commission, overseeing all 55 county assessor’s appraisal plans.
Keyser resident Leatherman also agrees that “jobs are the big issue facing Mineral County. Jobs, and the amount of taxes we pay as citizens of the county.”
Leatherman said he feels there are alternatives that the county officials could and should explore in order to “come up with funds for the county without taxing the people more.”
If elected, he also hopes to work to put an end to the often tense relations among the county elected officials.
“All this bashing and disagreeing and arguing among our elected officials .... when it comes to the betterment of our county, some things just need to be put aside,” he said.
He also wants to seek some outside help in recruiting jobs into the area.
“We need to contact an agency that would come into this area and put us on a list for companies looking for a place to build,” he said.
Leatherman, a bus driver for the Mineral County School System, is pastor of the Knobley Church of the Brethren.
He attended Potomac State College and Bridgewater College, and took his pastoral studies as Bethany Seminary in Illinois.
He has been a resident of Mineral County all his life. His wife Irene and their daughter are both employees of the Mineral County School System, and their two sons are deputies with the Mineral County Sheriff’s Department.
Contact Liz Beavers at lbeavers@times-news.com.