DeMarco, Wilson have vision for Shinnston beyond their resignations

SHINNSTON, W.Va. — New leadership will occur for the city of Shinnston in 2018, as two city officials announce their positions will be open.

Long-time Mayor Sam DeMarco has said he will not be running for reelection to Shinnston City Council when his term ends in July, thereby ending his two-decade reign as mayor.

Additionally, City Manager Amy Wilson is leaving her position to become the executive director of the Harrison County Economic Development Corporation. Wilson’s last day is Jan. 22.

“I think we’re both comfortable that we’ve put everything in place,” Wilson said. “We have a lot of very qualified people that are moving up, that we’ve worked with and I’ve worked under that will be able to carry things through.”

DeMarco said he wanted to announce his intention early enough that if someone wanted to run for council to represent that ward of Shinnston, they have plenty of time to consider it.

“I didn’t want to wait until the last minute and have people scrambling around,” he said. “We want to make sure we have good people running, and hopefully we can continue the momentum we have going in Shinnston.”

After serving on council for 22 years, DeMarco admits it will be hard to walk away in July and will likely still have some type of community involvement.

“I live in the community, I’m friends with a lot of people in town and my family has a business in town, so I’ll still be around,” he said. “Hopefully there’s some committees, or the development authority in Shinnston that we have, that I may still be a part of.”

During DeMarco’s reign as mayor, the city of Shinnston has gained a popular pool and park, complete with bocce courts and other activities for community members.

“A lot of cities use the philosophy, build buildings and businesses and people will move there,” he said. “What we’ve tried to do is build a community where people want to live and then the businesses will come, and I think that kind of philosophy has been working for us.”

Similarly, looking back on her time as city manager, Wilson has helped the city achieve downtown sidewalk projects, demolition projects, various construction projects and an upcoming water line project that goes to bid this February.

“We don’t have the access to the interstate, so we have to find our niche,” she said. “Our niche is community, it always has been.”

For Shinnston, that niche has been harvesting its outdoor recreation opportunities and the rail trail, and Wilson said she hopes that continues growing.

“It’s regional and a big part of the Parkersburg to Pittsburgh connectivity. I would like to see that carried on here in Shinnston,” she said. “We’ve gone from two to three 3k and 5k races to now almost eight or nine that are scheduled.”

In fact, this year’s Turkey Trot in Shinnston had over 1,000 participants.

“That’s been one of our goals to create some physical activities where families can exercise in the area to both build community spirit and help them with their health,” DeMarco said.

While serving as Shinnston’s city manager, Wilson has been a member of the Harrison County Economic Development Corporation since its inception two years ago and said she is very excited to now serve on its executive board.

“I’ll still be living in Shinnston and still be very much in touch with everything that’s going on here and be able to stay, I think, in tune and attached to a lot of the projects that I’ve been able to work with closely over the past couple years, just at a different level, at the Harrison County level,” she said. “Anything that’s going to happen in Shinnston, of course, is going to affect the county, so I’ll be able to work on a different level, different context, different networking.”

The position is left vacant by Jamie Metz, who leaves behind several projects, including the board’s strategic plan.

“I’d like to see that completed. It kind of gives us the road map of where we’re going to go,” Wilson said. “The energy sector is still going to be growing, but we need to look at the job force and look at transportation to the jobs that we have. Those are two major issues that I would like to see, in the next year or two, be somehow addressed.”

Both Wilson and DeMarco are optimistic that the city council will carry on with the positive impact Shinnston has experienced under their respective reigns and are eager to see what the future holds for the town that they call home.

“I think what we’ve seen is that even in a small community, if we work together as a community, we can accomplish a lot of things,” he said.





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