By Stephen Baldwin
RealWV, www.therealwv.com
On a cold and rainy night in the River City, approximately 30 citizens came to hear mayoral candidates share their vision for Ronceverte.
Incumbent Mayor Deena Pack is being challenged by Kim Erskine, David Withrow, and Shawn Honaker in the June 3 election.
Pack, Erskine, and Withrow took the stage at River City Music Co on Tuesday night alongside moderator Scott Womack. (Honaker did not attend, citing a work conflict.)
Following the Pledge of Allegiance, Womack laid out the forum’s three ground rules. “Be respectful and refrain from personal attacks. Focus on policy issues. Limit your answers to two minutes each.”
The candidates agreed and then were then asked questions in rotation.
Top three issues facing Ronceverte?
“What are the top three issues facing Ronceverte?” Womack asked.
Pack named the water system, affordable housing, and keeping people from leaving town as the top three issues facing Ronceverte.
Erskine named the water system, sidewalks & roads, and retaining businesses as the top three issues.
Withrow agreed that the water system was the main issue. “We can’t lower the water, but if we can keep it where it’s at that’ll be a big plus.” He also pointed to residential streets and recruiting new businesses as major issues.
How will you address those three issues?
“How will you address those three top issues you mentioned?” Womack asked next.
Erskine replied, “With the water rates, what we would do is check with other municipalities that have the same issues we have. Find out how they’re able to keep their rates reasonable. Then we need to involve our legislators down there in Charleston to see how they can help us.”
“For roadways and walkways,” Erskine continued, “we would check on grants.”
“As for keeping businesses, we would talk to them (current business owners) and see what their plans are. If they have a plan, let’s get them moving. If they’re not wanting to do anything, let’s talk to them about selling to someone else,” she concluded.
“As far as the water,” Withrow began, “I’m not sure right now. I need to check. Does the City of Ronceverte own the sewage treatment plant?”
He looked to Mayor Pack, and she responded, “Yes.”
“Then my thought is, we take all the sewage from Lewisburg, Maxwelton down,” WIthrow continued. “I don’t know why we can’t do some kind of tradeoff? We take their sewage and they give us water. Maybe they could do a water price cut.”
“For the roads, I’m gonna put that to grants,” said Withrow. “That’s the only way I can think of to get the streets fixed in Ronceverte, other than the state part like Route 63 and 219. That would have to be with the state.”
“As far as businesses and jobs, I don’t know what we could do for that. I want to say tax cuts but I don’t know if that would be enough to draw people here. We could just go ask, talk to the building owners like Kim was saying. I don’t think the city has enough money to subsidize or anything, but it’s something I wouldn’t know until I’d done some more investigate work, looking at what we can do.”
“I would love to do a tradeoff with Lewisburg,” Pack said. “But unfortunately, the rates are determined by the Public Service Commission. That’s not something we can control. We could petition the PSC and petition them for an increase in sewer rates. We could also look into further grant opportunities. We are getting ready to start the third water project. We’ve been able to significantly reduce our water loss, which has been helpful with the water we purchase from Lewisburg.”
“Then on housing,” Pack continued, “one of the ways we’ve been able to start moving forward on that is we received grants between $200,000-$300,000 for tearing down dilapidated buildings. Both commercial and residential. Some are owned privately, some are city properties. We need other ways to bring new home owners into the area.”
“As far as businesses go, I think there are more businesses downtown than when I started,” Pack said. “I’m very proud of that…We do have an ordinance to push property owners to not keep their buildings vacant. It has worked in some ways. As an aside, we have people contacting us all the time about wanting to bring their business to Ronceverte.”
How would you handle managing the Police Department?
Candidates then turned their attention to a question from Womack about their managerial priorities for the Police Department and other town employees?
Pack first clarified that only the Police Department is under the mayor’s purview. Other city employees report to the city administrator.
“At the police department,” she said, “we focus on maintaining the policies and procedures manual and following the hierarchy in the department. Obviously there are issues that arise from time to time. We always make sure we are following the necessary steps, whether we are hiring new staff or dealing with issues. We have annual reviews. That’s another way we make sure our employees are doing what we need them to do.”
“My main focus would be to make sure everybody is following the policies and procedures, because it’s a huge liability,” Erskine answered. “I would like to have the police officers out more in the street, doing more community policing.”
Withrow took a deep breath and said, “I’ll just put this bluntly. I want the police officers to do their job. I don’t want to see them sitting up in their office. They need to be on their job, policing the whole town, even the residential areas. It sounds like a drag strip in front of my house. It’s crazy. You don’t see the police officers on Pocahontas Avenue, ever…I just want them to do their job.”
“If it takes a meeting everyday for me to tell them, ‘Do your job and don’t sit at the bottom of the hill trying to get everybody breaking the speed limit, there’s other crimes.’ That’s where you see them. They need to do their job. That’s all I’ve got to say on that.”
In what ways would you seek input from residents if elected?
Womack later asked the candidates how they would seek the input of residents if elected to serve?
Erskine responded first, saying, “A lot of people know me for walking the streets of Ronceverte. I have no problem talking to anyone, walking with them. I would be available a lot of time. Not 3am, I don’t want people knocking on my door, but I would always be available.”
“I would have an open door policy,” Withrow began. “Not 24/7, but probably most of them. At least 18 of them hours, I would be open to listening to questions. I don’t know a stranger. They can call me. I have no problem answering my phone. If there’s a problem in town in the middle of night, I can get up and go. That’s what your job is. You do your job.”
Pack began by saying all the candidates are running because they love Ronceverte and want the best for the town. “As far as being able to respond 24/7, if one of you are elected you will get contacted 24/7. It’s part of the job. Various issues at the park or downtown. It’s what you sign up for. I spent about an hour on the phone last week with a woman on Morgan Hollow Road, which isn’t in city limits. I pointed her in the right direction to try and help her resolve her issue. When you sign up, even though it’s advertised as a part time position, it’s a full time. around the clock job. You answer when duty calls. I’m proud that I’ve done that to date. If you want to see the best things happen, you have to put your money where your mouth is. Show up. That’s what being mayor is all about.”
Following the mayoral candidates, Matt Bergman answered several questions from the moderator. He shared his experience in moving back to town and working to provide economic development.
Bergman is one of six people running for two seats on city council, and the only candidate who came to answer questions before the public. The other candidates for city council in addition to Bergman are Trey Rogers, Scott Vogelsong, Emilee White, Eric Mercer (write in), and Monique Molina (write in),
Election Day is June 3 at City Hall in Ronceverte. Early voting is ongoing now each weekday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at City Hall. Residents may also vote early this Saturday.
Watch a video of the full candidate forum online at www.therealwv.com.
