CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Kanawha County Commission along with Fayette County Commissioner Matt Wender called on WVU to hold a public meeting in the near future on its plans for the WVU Tech campus in Montgomery as they plan to move the school to Beckley.
Many Montgomery residents packed the commission courtroom hoping to stand up for the campus in their town. Kanawha County Commissioner Dave Hardy said he was unhappy with the way WVU handled the entire situation.
“There’s been some arrogance as far as I’m concerned,” Hardy said. “I think WVU did this very quickly. I think they left the town and the community hanging with no answers. And I don’t think it’s unreasonable for them to sit down with the leaders of Montgomery and say this is what our plan for the campus is.”
Rob Alsop, WVU Vice President for legal and governmental affairs insisted that the school would not abandon Montgomery, and that protocol was followed in making the decision.
“We think this move to preserve Tech as an institution is necessary, while it’s hard,” Alsop said. “We were deliberate. We noticed the meeting in the way that we were required to. We made a proposal to the board and they acted.”
A state law does exist that requires the WVU Tech headquarters remain in Montgomery, which all commissioners acknowledged was vague and WVU President Gordon Gee dismissed as something that could be altered.
“He’s right the law can be changed,” admitted Hardy. “But I think the better solution is to look at that campus, look at the 120 year history on that campus and see if there’s a way that WVU can still maintain a viable presence in Montgomery.”
Wender appeared at Thursday night’s meeting as a guest representing Fayette County, as Montgomery straddles the line of both counties. If WVU were to hold a public meeting in Montgomery, he wanted to exercise caution as to who would be present.
“I think we first need to have a meeting with WVU. We need to be careful about who else is invited. We need parties with something at stake in the outcome here,” said Wender. I think we need to be careful not to set a stage for some political posturing or grandstanding.”
Kanawha County Commissioner Kent Carper called for both Senate President Bill Cole and House Speaker Tim Armstead, a Kanawha County Delegate, to stand up for the current law and for Montgomery. Alsop wouldn’t commit to an exact meeting date, as all the commissioners wanted, but promised to talk with Gee about holding a meeting in Montgomery within “weeks not months.”
With the industry coal struggling, the presence of the Tech campus and its students has been a leading source of income for Montgomery and the Upper Kanawha Valley. WVU plans to move the school to Beckley by the Fall 2017 semester.
Wender said the Fayette County Commission previously voted to join a lawsuit against WVU if one were filed, and asked the Kanawha County Commission to do the same, but they declined for until more details of such a lawsuit became available.