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Writers of 2016 law praise concept of ‘roads caucus’ in North Central West Virginia

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The authors of a 2016 law that gives more power to County Commissions to facilitate road projects offered their praise to the concept of a “roads caucus” representing a region of the state.

“Road improvements require leadership,” said Jason Donahue, who helped co-write Letting Our Counties Act Locally Act. “We have to have leaders who are willing to make road improvements a priority, and I would argue one of the reasons we don’t have significant road improvement is that we’ve lacked leadership to make them a priority.”

Formerly H.B. 4009 in 2016, Donahue and co-writer Bill Helmick said this type of legislation was designed to help County Commissioners deal with infrastructure improvements. In DOH District 4 — which comprises Monongalia, Marion, Preston, Taylor, Doddridge, and Harrison counties — commissioners have expressed unhappiness over the state of local infrastructure — hoping additional state funding can make headway in dealing with some of the issues impacting their local thoroughfares.

“This will allow Monongalia County to create its own destiny with respect to road improvements, road projects,” Helmick said. “Not just for the next three to five years on what’s available for bonding, but going beyond. What’ll be out there for the next 10 to 15 years as you look for a very strong future?”

Helmick said local leaders who try to get out in front of future infrastructure problems will put themselves ahead in West Virginia.

“(The Road Bond) is going to make things great for the next three to four or five years,” he said. “But on the horizon, when those bonds are still being paid off over the next 15 to 20 or 30 years, there’s still going to be a funding shortfall that’s going to come out in years eight or ten. We’re helping to get ourselves, filling that hole up. But we’re not getting out of it entirely.”

Many of the roads, particularly those in Preston County, that have caused County Commissioners to demand a unified front from local legislators — in a bid to bring more state dollars to address the problem — are not addressed by the 2017 Road Bond, according to Helmick. These roads are also not addressed by the Letting Our Counties Act Locally Act.

“The intent is for new roads or amendments to a new project,” said Monongalia County Commissioner Tom Bloom.

The law may not help in the short-term, but Helmick praised the thought process behind local officials who want to prioritize roads.

“When you start this process and you start looking forward to five or ten years, the projects that we’re going to see out of the current road bonding are going to be projects that are going to have great impact and will get us through the next three to five years,” Helmick said. “But it is only a small piece of what the long-term needs of the state will be.”

By design, the law has a number of safeguards. To raise the revenue through a one percent sales tax, the law requires county’s to submit a detailed plan to the Commissioner of Highways, hold numerous public hearings, requiring the consent of any impacted municipalities, and then requires a county-wide referendum.

“Those local funds are used locally,” Donahue said. “It really is a way to compliment existing sources and sort of prioritize. If a community is willing to put forth the money, then the state and the federal government should be receptive to somebody who wants to help pay for the solution and wants to help be a part of the solution and not the problem.”

In the instance of fixing heavily used secondary and tertiary roads — which is a primary goal for the Commissioners who dubbed the North Central West Virginia Roads Caucus — the law doesn’t provide much assistance. In the instances where the law does have jurisdiction, the length of the process wouldn’t help address what commissioners in DOH District 4 are calling a pressing issue — so pressing that Preston County Commissions declared a “state of emergency” as it relates to road conditions in April.

Monongalia County Commissioner Tom Bloom said, even if Letting Our Counties Act Locally Act was a viable solution, it wouldn’t be until 2020 — at the earliest — that a referendum would reach a ballot.

“Waiting two more years (is not an option) when the answer is right in front of the Legislature — looking at how District 4 is funded and if needs be coming up with more funding to fix the roads,” Bloom said.

Commissioners from Preston, Marion, Monongalia, and Taylor counties met with about two dozen legislators last week to implore them to find a way to bring greater funding to DOH District 4. During that meeting, representation of Commissioners and legislators was more heavily tilted towards Marion, Monongalia, Taylor, and Preston counties. Since then, Bloom said at least two delegates representing part of Harrison County have reached out to express their interest in the caucus.

“The North Central caucus is not looking for blame,” Bloom said. “It’s looking for solutions.”

Helmick said the North Central region of the state — with the right infrastructure changes — has enormous potential for growth.

“The opportunity for growth in Morgantown is just something that the rest of the state envies,” Helmick said. “Getting out ahead of it with this type of local thinking, local proactive leadership that we’re now seeing at the local level in Mon County is a way to actually position yourselves to deal with what, inevitably, is going to come back in five or ten years without another new funding source.”

Helmick and Donahue were guests Tuesday on WAJR’s “Morgantown AM.”





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