HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Public safety, homelessness and the drug epidemic are among the top issues candidates who are vying to become the next mayor of Huntington say they want to work on if elected.
There are six candidates on the Primary Election ballot including three Republicans, two Democrats and one Independent. One of them will replace Mayor Steve Williams who is running for the Democratic nomination for West Virginia governor this year.
Huntington business owner, U.S. Air Force Veteran Patrick Farrell is running against combat-wounded Vietnam Veteran Andy Battista, of Westmoreland, and Guyandotte resident Richard Luther for the GOP nomination.
Farrell, a Huntington native, told MetroNews he has a lot of experience that makes him qualified to lead the City of Huntington.
“As a veteran, I have a lot of military leadership experience including in combat. As a business owner, I’ve lead multimillion dollar companies through economic ups and downs. As a leader at the Marshall Board of Governors, I’ve helped make difficult decisions that were instrumental in reversing decades-long enrollment decline and now we’re paving the way for the university to grow again,” he said, referring to the construction of a new Cyber Security Center.
Farrell was the chair of the Marshall BOG when Brad Smith was chosen as Marshall’s president.
The Democratic candidates are former police officer and Cabell County Magistrate Judge Dan Ferguson and former Huntington City Councilmember Jennifer Wheeler.
Ferguson said he knows about the drug problem from working as a magistrate.
“I spend the last seven years as a magistrate and when I would arraign someone and I’d ask them where they’re from, they’d say Huntington and then I’d have a genuine talk with them and find out they’re really not from Huntington. They just developed an address here and came here for help,” Ferguson said.
Many people come to Huntington for drug treatment and recovery services, but Ferguson said the city will need to “get back to the basics” in order to create real change for those who want to improve their lives.
“I want to help these people, but there’s only so much you can do,” he said. “We have to change and shift gears. The homeless people are not criminals, but they commit crimes in order to live.”
Wheeler said she’s already been working with other city leaders across state lines who are making progress on housing issues.
“There are several cities that have experienced a decline in the homeless population and one of those cities is Columbus, Ohio, so I’ve already been meeting with prominent leaders from Columbus to determine what they’re doing that we can emulate,” she said.
Farrell said he believes the city needs to work with Marshall University and Cabell Huntington Hospital in order to tackle the ongoing opioid epidemic.
“I think the three of our anchoring institutions — the city, Marshall and the hospital — need to come together to solve our biggest problems,” he said.
Infrastructure is also top of mind for candidates following the most recent flooding along the Ohio River earlier this month.
“Nobody dreams of living in a home where the basement floods every time there’s heavy rain. We need to fix the infrastructure and fix the recurring flooding problems that we have,” Farrell said.
A big part of Wheeler’s campaign to address public safety and infrastructure focuses on Walkable Illuminated Neighborhoods or what she calls “WIN.”
“One of the things that I want to do is dedicate resources to making sure that we have paving in the neighborhoods, adequate sidewalks. We want to change out the high-pressure sodium bulbs so that they’re LED lights,” she explained.
Ferguson said his goal is to also make neighborhoods safer by improving the city’s police department.
“We need to bring our city back, clean it up and take a look at the police levels. We need more police officers in order to do the effectiveness on the streets that we need,” he said.
Jay Michaels is running on the independent ticket. He will automatically be on the general election ballot in November.
Primary Election Day in West Virginia is May 14.