SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Early voting is over for the upcoming municipal election in South Charleston.
Saturday is the day of the 2019 General Election in the city that features multiple races including a heated mayoral battle.
Current South Charleston Mayor Frank Mullens is up for re-election against former mayor of the city Richie Robb.
Mullens told MetroNews that South Charleston is in great shape moving forward.
“We’re growing,” he said. “Our business community is growing. We are physically growing through annexation. Our finances are in good shape so our future is bright.”
Mullens, a Republican, took over as mayor in 2007 for Robb, a Democrat, who had served as mayor since 1975. Robb decided not to run for reelection in 2007.
In 2015, Mullens defeated Robb in the same race with 60-percent of the votes, 1,617 to 1,087.
Robb said Mullens needs to go because of the current state of the city.
“He tripled the sewer bills, I want to roll them back,” Robb said. “He is spending millions to build a shopping mall, the city government building a shopping mall in a swap. If it’s such a great idea where is the private investor doing all of it?
“Thirdly, he has let crime, drugs, and blighted housing run amuck in the community.”
The increase in sewer rates has become one of the lead topics of the race.
Mullens said the city had to come up with a financial plan in 2016 under federal law, as the Sanitary Board was operating on violation as part of the Clean Water Act.
He said the issue should have been solved during Robb’s tenure in the ’90s, as the funds will be used for upgrades to comply with federal law.
“Almost all the rates did not triple,” Mullens said. “He’s referring to the folks that are paying the minimum who went from seven dollars and change to 20 dollars and change. That’s who he is referencing which is a small percentage of the people that are in our sanitary sewer system.
“That’s what had to be done. They can’t be rolled back. All this stuff about rolling back, they will not be rolled back. If they roll back, you’re going straight to federal court and there will be a consent order and the rates will be higher than what they are now. That rollback stuff is a bunch of campaign rhetoric.”
Mullens is critical of more of the work that Robb had done is in time as mayor, that he said left the city in major debt.
Mullens said he has paid off more than $10 million in debt from Robb’s time leading, including the last of the debt from the city ice rink and a new fire station at the end of this term.
He continued by saying he has saved the police and fire pension funds that Robb had on the path to bankruptcy.
Robb said Mullens should not be talking about debt.
“He is a liar,” Robb said of Mullens on the debt issue. “He’s lying. That debt was $10 million and that was for a community center, for a library, for an ice arena, for a community club, all of public assets.
“He is incurring first stage 15 times as much, $150 million plus, for that fiasco of a swamp mall. That’s nothing but bunk and he knows it.”
Robb is referencing the groundbreaking last week for a retail development at the former FMC Fly Ash Pond just off the Interstate 64 MacCorkle Avenue exit.
Mullens is proud of that groundbreaking and other announcements over his last term, in which he said that now that all the “heavy lifting” is done, its time to reap the rewards of growth.
“We took a city that was archaic in how it did business, we took a city that was financially in debt, we took a city that was pretty stagnant and we gave it a shot of energy,” he said.
“Financials are in good shape. Our business community is growing, we are physically growing through annexation.”
City Clerk Margie Spence told MetroNews that were close to 700 early ballots cast, nearly double the previous early voting period last general election.
She is expecting a large crowd on Saturday, depending on the weather.
“There’s been a little more interest this time in the election than the last election,” Spence said. “Just the aggressiveness of the candidates this time has a lot to do with it.”
A South Charleston resident for over 70 years, Joe Bennett was out on Wednesday early voting and said he cast his ballot for Mullens.
Bennett has liked the way Mullens has conducted business so he said why change now.
“I think Frank Mullens has done a good job,” Bennett said. “So I voted for Frank and I am a Democrat. He’s done a good job so if you do a good job I will vote for you.”
Other voters on Wednesday, such as lifelong resident Thornton Cooper, voted for Robb.
Cooper said that he wants city council meetings to be more open and does not like how Mullens handled the sewer rate situation.
“Richie has run a very hard race,” Cooper said. “When you are the incumbent, you’re the underdog. Richie has signs all over the city so he is working very hard.”
The polls in South Charleston are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
“If they want to keep paying too much for their sewer bill, if they want to throw money away $150 million in a swamp mall, if they want to see crime and drugs and blighted housing continue, vote for him (Mullens),” Robb said.
“If they question it and they want to revisit it and stop it, vote for me.”