The city of Westover plans to again go to circuit court to challenge the county commission’s decision to deny annexation of the Morgantown Mall.
It’s the latest chapter in an ongoing saga that now spans more than two years.
The city has twice applied to annex the mall to gain the additional tax revenue. City boundaries are adjacent to the mall.
But both applications have been rejected by county commissioners. However, after the first denial, Circuit Judge Phillip Gaujot ruled commissioners acted inappropriately by seeking out evidence, instead of considering only what was presented at public meetings. Westover city officials believe the commission again violated proper procedures.
Last week, Westover Mayor Dave Johnson submitted a letter to commissioners asking them to reconsider their annexation decision. Westover lawyers said newly seated commissioner Tom Bloom should have a say in the case.
When the commission put the issue on its agenda for Wednesday, attorneys for the mall filed a request for an injunction that would stop commissioners from any reconsideration. Gaujot denied the injunction Wednesday morning, but added that the commission could not reconsider the case. He said the proper procedure called for Westover to appeal the case to circuit court.
Later Wednesday at the regular commission meeting, Johnson officially withdrew Westover’s request and announced the city planned an appeal.
“We just decided, instead of going through all this and we’re going to appeal anyway, just to withdraw the letter,” Johnson said. “We will file the writ of error and I’m confident it will be remanded back.”
Commission President Eldon Callen and Johnson have been in a public spat about the commission’s decision. Callen is known to be the author of the 23-page document detailing how the commission reached its conclusion.
The opinion is at the center of the ongoing dispute between Westover and the county. Johnson claims Callen’s arguments do not follow the judge’s previous order; he says Callen did not properly cite where information within the document came from.
Meanwhile, Callen maintains he followed state code and he welcomes an appeal.
“The proper procedure is to appeal; it’s all I ever wanted them to do,” Callen said. “We’re done with it. We have too many important things to deal with.”
Callen said the letter from Westover never stood a chance of being seriously considered by the commission.
“It was a clear abuse of process,” Callen said. “What’s so ironic and idiotic about this is all I did is follow the law. I followed the law.”
Johnson said he planned to have an appeal filed by early next week and as soon as this week. He said Westover is united in its efforts to add the mall within its boundaries.
“Council and myself are resolute in this. We’re in it for the long haul,” Johnson said.
If the commission again denies annexation and “does it in the proper manner,” Johnson said, “then we’ll have to see what’s next.”
Callen said he’s confident his order followed the law and will stand. But he said he is open to changing his mind on annexation if a clear case is made.
“If there’s a change, I’ll be the first one to vote to give Westover the mall, if they can support it by law,” Callen said.
An attorney for the Morgantown Mall declined comment.