WHEELING, W.Va. — Officials in the City of Wheeling are denying all allegations made by West Virginia Northern Community College President Daniel Mosser during Tuesday’s city council over the potential of Bluefield State College using part of the city-owned Ohio Valley Medical Center property for a branch campus.
Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, Vice Mayor Chad Thalman, and City Manager Robert Herron released a joint statement Friday evening, bringing down statements made by Mosser. The president said city officials made a ‘personal deal’ with Bluefield State College (BSC) and have not disclosed certain lease agreements and figures. Elliott denied the allegations to MetroNews on Wednesday.
“Let us be very clear: The allegations made against the City Officials referenced herein are unequivocally untrue. And the making of these allegations in a public forum without any supporting evidence represents the height of irresponsibility,” the statement read on Friday.
The opposition to BSC potentially coming to Wheeling was made public by Mosser, Ginny Favede, President of Wheeling University and W. Franklin Evans, President of West Liberty University last week in a joint statement. The public statement reiterated the message sent in a letter to Elliott in February, that the institutions are able to provide the educational needs of the region. It’s a region that BSC’s main campus in Mercer County sits nearly 300 miles from.
Signed on January 5, BSC and the City of Wheeling entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MOU) to assess the feasibility of a long-term lease deal on the campus for a new Engineering and Manufacturing Center for educational purposes. BSC has said that local business leaders in the Wheeling area welcome those specific programs.
BSC President Robin Capehart was seen meeting with Wheeling area manufactures on the accredited engineering technology program on Thursday night.
During the city council meeting on Tuesday, Mosser said there was much more to the MOU, including an agreement that would cost the taxpayers $2 million annually. He also believes that the city wants to rehab the space to be leased by BSC at a cost of $1.5 million.
Mosser, as he told MetroNews on Wednesday, said there was a ‘Friends and Family plan’ because of Thalman’s connection to Capehart. Thalman said during the meeting on Tuesday that Capehart was married to his mom’s sister and they divorced several years ago. The vice mayor said everyone on the council was aware of that. Capehart is the former president of West Liberty University from 2007 to 2015 and is well known in the Wheeling area.
In the joint statement Friday, city officials laid out the allegations made by Mosser during the tense council meeting that they say are false.
– That the City Officials (i) have secretly arranged for the City to fund the rehabilitation costs for space to be leased by BSC at a cost of $1.5 million and charge BSC zero percent interest on the lease and buildout and (ii) have concealed this arrangement from other members of City Council and the public;
– That the City Officials’ undisclosed agreement with BSC will cost the City’s taxpayers approximately $2 million annually;
– That the City Officials have “created a ‘Friends and Family’ plan just for their ethically challenged and politically connected friend, Robin Capehart [president of BSC]”;
– That Vice Mayor Thalman had concealed his prior familial relationship with Robin Capehart, who was previously married to the former’s aunt;
– That through the aforementioned actions City Officials “deliberately gamed and misled” residents of the City of Wheeling and “dragged City Council members into their scheme”; and
– That the City Officials “think they will convince City Council members to buy into their GOB [Good Old Boy] scheme.”
VIEW: The entire statement from City of Wheeling officials
Favede and Evans signed up to speak at the city council meeting during the three-minute time period allowed for public comment. With the exception of approximately one minute of time used by Evans himself, both he and Favede yielded the entirety of their time to Mosser.
In the joint statement city officials said they expected voice opposition Tuesday but were surprised with what happened, “…What everyone on City Council failed to anticipate is that these three highly respected individuals in our community would collectively utilize the public-comment portion of an official meeting to make unfounded and highly inflammatory allegations of ethical and criminal misconduct by the City Officials.
“Defamatory allegations of this nature have the potential to do lasting harm to the reputation of those they are leveled against, and they therefore demand supporting evidence. And yet no supporting evidence whatsoever was provided by Dr. Mosser in his oral or written statement, which was submitted to the local media. While none of the specific allegations in question were made by Dr. Evans or Ms. Favede, these allegations were in part made during the time slots that each had yielded to Dr. Mosser.”
The statement went on to address Evans and Favede’s actions, or lack thereof, during the meeting.
“Neither took the opportunity at the meeting to disassociate themselves with any of these allegations, and both posed for a photograph with Dr. Mosser in front of the Council dais immediately afterward. And since the meeting, neither has reached out to any of the City Officials to disassociate themselves with anything that was said by Dr. Mosser.”
Brent Benjamin, executive vice president and general counsel for BSC also denied any type of financial agreements to MetroNews on Wednesday.
Benjamin stated, “The only thing that is there is a non-binding memorandum of understanding which simply allows the parties to explore it a little further.”
City officials further stated Friday, “The MOU is a non-binding agreement customary in the commercial real estate context that sets forth expectations and allows both the City and BSC to explore the feasibility of a lease upon the OVMC campus.
“The MOU does not stipulate any of the terms suggested by the allegations above. It does, however, stipulate the following:
That BSC shall be responsible for all routine maintenance associated with the leased space;
That BSC shall pay a proportional or allocated share of the utilities associated with the leased space; and
That BSC shall pay a proportional share of all capital costs expended by the City that may be required to maintain the quality and integrity of the OVMC campus.”
Wheeling officials asked Mosser, Favede or Evans to “bring forth any evidence to support these alleged financial arrangements or the accompanying allegations of misconduct by the city officials and that “now would be an appropriate time to produce it.”
“Otherwise, we are left to conclude that those making as well as those implicitly endorsing these allegations have done so either with knowledge of their falsity or with reckless disregard thereto. And we would respectfully request that each issue a public retraction immediately,” the statement ended.
Benjamin told MetroNews Wednesday that the plan for BSC is to have three accredited programs in Wheeling: two-year degrees in civil engineering technology, electrical engineering technology and mechanical engineering technology with in-person courses in January 2022. The decision would ultimately come down to the WV Higher Education Policy Commission in the spring.
Benjamin, former state Supreme Court Justice, also said BSC has worked well with city officials in looking into a portion of the hospital property which is located blocks from the West Virginia Northern Community College downtown campus. The 800,000 square-foot campus was bought by the city in June of last year following the hospital’s abrupt closure in September 2019.
Mosser said his college could have helped bring those programs to Wheeling but there was no call. He believes the city officials are “in a deep hole with the OVMC property and it’s their own fault.” He also stated to MetroNews on Wednesday that the city is in ‘desperation mode’ to find a tenant.
An attempt was made for a comment Friday night from WVNCC.