CLARKSBURG, W.Va. — It will be at least another week before the Harrison County Commission appoints a replacement for the late Frank “Chunki” Angotti.
Commission President Ron Watson said that he is hoping to find someone that has the skills to hit the ground running.
“I look for who has the most tools in the toolbox so that [Commissioner Bernie Fazzini] and I don’t have to mentor for the next 10 months. Particularly those that’s dealing with intergovernmental affairs, such as Charleston and the governor and his staff, and somebody with fiscal skills.”
A replacement with a fiscal background in government as it pertains to creating a budget and setting levy rates is crucial to both commissioners, given all that must be dealt with in March.
“Somebody with some experience really would help at this time of year because it’s budget time,” Fazzini said. “If the appointment was in July, you would have six months to train somebody before you have to worry about it.”
The two major requirements that must officially be met by an appointee are they must be a registered Democrat and the must live in one of the four magisterial districts not currently represented by Watson (Southern) or Fazzini (North Urban).
Otherwise, the appointment will come from the list of candidates being compiled by the two commissioners.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to be a county commissioner,” Watson said. “It would be great to have [someone with] the ability to already have some government experience, some budget experience. Not that they can’t learn it, but after 10 months, they’re gone.”
At Thursday’s meeting, the two tossed out a few names as potential candidates, including former commissioner, former legislators and others that had shown interest.
Only one name was spoken by both commissioners as a leading candidate, former legislator Sam Cann.
“Probably out of the whole group, with all due respect to the perception that it may leave, Sam Cann is a well-qualified candidate that could come in,” Watson said.
Both commissioners said that if they agreed on Cann, it would be his decision on whether or not to take the seat. With him entering the race to win the seat outright in the upcoming May Primary election, they did not want to be affecting his chance with an appointment.
This will be the second appointment to serve out the term of Micheal Romano, who vacated the seat after his successful run to represent the state’s 12th Senatorial District.
The vacancy was filled by Angotti through the appointment of the county’s Democratic Party Executive Committee approximately one year ago, after Watson and Fazzini could not agree on Romano’s replacement.
Angotti died on February 4 after going into a coma nearly two week prior due to heart complications suffered while helping a neighbor remove snow.
The deadline for the commission to appoint a replacement is March 4, according to Watson. If the commissioners cannot agree by that time, the decision again goes to the Executive Committee.