MONTGOMERY, W.Va. — Following the Governor’s signature of a bill that permits WVU Tech to officially relocate from Montgomery to Beckley, Fayette County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Harrah suggested groups opposed to the move have a “tough battle” ahead of them.
“I’m saddened,” Harrah said Monday morning on MetroNews Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval. “When you’re talking about an institution that’s over 100 years old and has been in Fayette County for that long–and a lot of people graduated from their and a lot of good memories there–it’s a sad day for Fayette County.”
WVU and the Fayette County Commission agreed earlier this year to a collaborative agreement, which requires the state’s flagship university to provide an economy analysis for the Upper Kanawha Valley and maintain the buildings on the Montgomery campus.
Harrah said the buildings need to be maintained if there is any shot for additional use by another institution down the road.
“Certainly looking to come in to either purchase those buildings or whatever kind of structured agreement would be, it would be difficult to sell that to another institution,” he said.
“What’s going to happen with this campus?” Harrah said. “That’s certainly one of the main concerns. We don’t want a bunch of dilapidated buildings sitting right in the heart of Montgomery. So what do you do with them?”
Harrah, a Tech alumn and former professor, said it’s going to be difficult to quantify the loss of WVU Tech to Montgomery, Fayette County, and WVU Tech.
“Montgomery really supported Tech,” he said. “Those folks are really, really troubled by this, and they have a right to be. I absolutely understand that. I’m an alumni of Tech. It’s tough to swallow that that institution is not going to be there anymore.”
WVU will attempt to quantify those issues, though. First, in the aforementioned economic analysis of the area. Second, the agreement with the Fayette County Commission offers increased use of WVU Extension Services and short-term assistance in identifying state and federal grants available to local governments in the area.
Litigation in the matter is still pending. Judge Duke Bloom denied a request for an emergency injunction in January, but a hearing is scheduled for May 12 and May 13 in the lawsuit filed by two residents of the Upper Kanawha Valley.