LOGAN, W.Va. –Logan County Commission voted unanimously during a special meeting Friday not to sell two public service districts to West Virginia American Water.
“I believe this course of action best serves the interest of the community, and with that being said I just want to say Logan County is not for sale,” commissioner Eric Porter said before they voted against the sale.
Director of Business Development for WVAWC Jake Glance said the company offered $81 million dollars to buy both Buffalo Creek and Logan PSDs. He said that would have paid off $45 million dollars in debt for the county and would have the left county $35 million dollars to use how they needed to.
Glance said that they visited the sites of the two PSD’s during the winter and after they did that, they had a public meeting at Logan High School in February just to give residents an idea of what their proposal was.
He said that a lot of customers from the Logan area were against it. However, he said that customers from Buffalo Creek were all for it.
“What we heard consistently, was that the people in Buffalo Creek, were one hundred percent in favor of us becoming the water and wastewater provider over there,” Glance said.
However, commission president Diana Barnette said that she was a little behind on making the decision, but she listened to the public and all of the feedback and made a decision she felt was right for now and for the future.
“I wanted to be sure that the decision I made, which would affect everybody, and futures to come, would be the right decision for me,” she said.
Commissioner Billy Dickerson said that it definitely wasn’t a decision they took lightly.
“We have spent countless hours discussing, looking, trying to decide what is best for the county,” Dickerson said.
And Glance said although the commission decided to vote the way they did, WV American Water will be there to help them if they need it.
“It’s disappointing that the county commission has chosen to go down this route, however West Virginia American Water has been a good neighbor to Logan County, we sent a tanker down this winter when they were out of water,” he said. “So, we have been a good neighbor, and we will continue to be a good neighbor if they have problems in the future.”