FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. — The Fayette County Commission’s unanimous vote to enter a collaborative agreement with WVU may represent the final nail in the coffin for any hope of WVU Tech remaining in Montgomery in any capacity, but Commission President Matt Wender said there is some good that will inevitably come out of the agreement.
“All we’ve accomplished is just some good intent and some good ideas and some good things that are all on paper, but certainly that nothing that represents any real accomplishment that can be measured with any kind of economic monetary value,” he said.
Despite that lack of “monetary value” Wender is talking about, the new agreement between Fayette County Commission and WVU puts the state’s flagship university at the forefront of economic analysis for the Upper Kanawha Valley.
“And that sort of set a blueprint for here’s what we can work on, here’s what we need to address,” he said. “But these are the assets and liabilities that we have. Clearly, what it is that we can take forward and try to develop this community with.”
Wender said he wasn’t looking forward to learning just how big of a loss WVU Tech would be, but that with assistance from WVU they can find ways to “fill the hole” left by Tech.
“It will be a discouraging number when we realize how much the impact is, but nonetheless it is something we need to know,” he said. “I think we need to know how deep the hole is we’re trying to fill.”
WVU will undertake an economic growth analysis for the area, an economic impact study on the loss of WVU Tech, a comprehensive plan for Montgomery and Smithers, increased use of WVU Extension services, short-term assistance on identifying state and federal grants available to local governments in the area, and health care initiatives that aim to improve health of these communities.
In return, Fayette County will not be party to any litigation against WVU.
“This agreement sort of reaffirms that this is a position that we’ve taken,” he said. “And clearly having signed this agreement, [a lawsuit] is something we wouldn’t do.”
Wender said he believed WVU did their best to make the school successful, but that the economic situation no longer made WVU Tech in Montgomery a tenable situation.
“Again, with declining numbers of students, declining number of students in a close geographic area that is the primary base supplying students to Tech, it makes it a greater challenge each passing year,” he said.
“I happen to be one of those folks that believes that WVU did give it their best effort to make it a successful school,” Wender said.
WVU will also maintain the WVU Tech facilities in Montgomery as part of the agreement.