Mona Ridder
Cumberland Times-News
January 12, 2008 08:25 pm
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Metro Government proposals in West Virginia are being met with some interesting reactions around the state, and, granted most of them are somewhat negative.
Metro Government, as you may remember, was spearheaded in the state Legislature by Sen. Brooks McCabe, who was looking at ways the state’s government entities might save money on services while also improving efficiency in delivering taxpayer services in counties and municipalities.
The process of considering Metro Government or consolidation of services between various local governments requires study.
In Fairmont, the former Metro Government Charter Review Committee looked at a potential merger between the county’s three most populated municipalities, Pleasant Valley, White Hall and Fairmont.
The local officials didn’t exactly jump on the idea.
Pleasant Valley Mayor Jack Bish said there does not appear to be any interest. White Hall town recorder Charlie Mason, the only official who attended a meeting on the topic, said he doesn’t believe it will happen. He cited the fact that the municipalities would likely lose their individual identities as the result of such a merger.
Fairmont Mayor Scott Sears said he doesn’t see the potential advantages to the city to consider a merger.
This city-to-city merger thus appears pretty unlikely.
In Raleigh County the Chamber of Commerce approached the Jobs Foundation to study the feasibility of establishing a Metro Government with Beckley and the county. An ad hoc study group was formed.
After several meetings, the committee concluded there are two significant issues that proponents wish to address. One is greater economic development and the other is consolidating government services leading to a savings in administrative costs and elimination of redundancies.
Currently the city of Beckley and Raleigh County are cooperating in the delivery of several services. The committee recommended expanding this cooperation by identifying other areas where they develop policies to deliver service jointly.
The committee also identified factors weighing against a Raleigh County/Beckley Metro Government. These include the public’s general cynicism; those vested in the status quo, a perceived attempt by the city of Beckley to take over most of the county with little benefit to county residents and certain limitations on services that might not benefit from consolidation. An example would be that business and occupation taxes could not be levied on businesses outside the original city limits.
Again the general consensus is that Beckley/Raleigh County won’t see Metro Government anytime soon.
In Wheeling, Mayor Nick Sparachane sees his city intricately linked with Ohio County. Because of that he wants to see a study on unified government for the city and county.
But many in the city and county see no value in the concept, apparently.
In fact, home rule is a much more appealing concept to some city officials though they did pass a resolution to study the matter.
Martinsburg and Berkeley County are also taking tentative steps to look more closely at Metro Government.
Meanwhile in Kanawha County, Sheriff Mike Rutherford gets kudos from many for his plan to hire seven additional deputies to take over the midnight to dawn patrol of eight upriver towns. The plan relieves the municipalities of the burden of hiring extra officers or keeping daytime ones on call late at night.
The municipalities put the money they would be putting into individual police forces into the county sheriff’s budget instead where it goes further and provides greater protection.
Whether it’s full scale consolidations or just sharing services, these are ideas that need to be explored whether ever implemented or not.
Contact Mona Ridder at mridder@times-news.com.
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