WHEELING, W.Va. — The next mayor of Wheeling says he’s energized after Tuesday night’s Primary Election win and is now looking to move the city forward.
Denny Magruder, the retired longtime executive director of the Greater Wheeling Sports and Entertainment Authority, which oversees WesBanco Arena and the Capitol Theatre, was elected as the new mayor. Magruder was one of six candidates.
“There were five other great candidates. We had a great campaign,” he said. “It was a great run, we talked about the issues, and I was fortunate enough to come out on top.”
Magruder had 2,622 votes, which was almost 1,000 more that Wheeling Councilwoman Rosemary Ketchum who finished second with 1,643 votes.
JT Thomas finished third with 1,337 votes, Chad Thalman fourth with 1,065 votes, with Beth Hinebaugh and Carl Carpenter finishing fifth and sixth, according to unofficial vote totals.
Magruder replaces current Mayor Glenn Elliott who ends his second and final term at the end of June. Elliott, a Democrat, takes on Republican Gov. Jim Justice in the race for U.S. Senate this fall.
After Elliott leaves office, Magruder said he wants to bridge the gap with state and federal officials to address a number of issues in the city including homelessness.
“I want to rebuild some relationships. I want to make sure that we’re engaged with our representatives at the state level and at the federal level. We have a lot of great local organizations everything from social services, economic development and chamber of commerce. I want to get it them to make sure we’re on the same page,” he said.
A new exempted homeless site owned by the city has been labeled a “temporary fix” by Catholic Charities West Virginia. While the city has provided portable toilets and dumpsters for the site, Magruder said there needs to be more drug treatment and recovery services to help people with addiction.
“Our local law enforcement and the community, now that we’ve relegated it to one-managed camp, has I think gotten a good handle on it,” Magruder said. “We got to look at prevention, treatment and we got to look at trying to end that. Again, that ties in with our work with state legislators and others to provide more funding and more opportunities for people to seek treatment.”
Magruder, who has never been involved with politics, said becoming the city’s “cheerleader” means working with Wheeling City Council as well as leading the city.
He said Wheeling has a lot of road construction issues and is currently working to repave streets as part of the city’s Downtown Streetscape Project. He said he’s also about improving infrastructure in general.
“We have an older city, so we have a lot of older buildings and facilities. We need to begin to tear those down and eliminate those to make sure that we can make it a desirable place to live.” Magruder said.
Magruder spent 36 years overseeing events at WesBanco Arena and the Capitol Theater.
A graduate of then West Liberty State College, Magruder served in various capacities with the city, including utility rate analyst and budget director. He later joined the certified public accounting firm of Jack J. Ferlise Co., specializing in field audits and governmental accounting.
Magruder will be sworn in July 1.