Latest / The Dave Allen Show / 02/12/2024 The Dave Allen Show on 580 Live - MEGA MAYOR MONDAY

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02/12/2024 The Dave Allen Show on 580 Live - MEGA MAYOR MONDAY · The Dave Allen Show

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Motormile US one nineteen and Chatmanville. All right, so we're doing something a
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little bit differently today. The West Virginia Municipal League is in town for their
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meetings and conferences and so on and so forth. So we've got we've actually
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put together a show of mayors all over the state of West Virginia. Now
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we're gonna hear from mayors from Lewisbourg, Winfield, Fairmont, Moundsville, Summersville,
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and Martinsburg. Throughout the show today, We're just gonna talk to them
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about some things that are going on in their particular towns, good, bad,
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what. To be honest with you, a lot of these mayors are
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going to share a lot. I mean there's gonna be things that are going
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on in one town that could be problematic in another town, or good things
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that are going on in one town that are also going on that particular town.
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So I've talked about the setup enough. Let me bring in Travis Blasser,
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who was with the state's municipal Travis, Good morning, Welcome to the
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show. Good morning, Dave, Thank you for organizing this. Man.
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I walked out. I walked out from my upstairs office and I come down
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and we've got like eighty eight people in the green run Man. This is
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but that's all good. But the more the merrier. I hope everybody enjoyed
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the deli trays. Well, we didn't do deli track, No, I
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wish they wish they would have had some Danish. Well they should have brought
2:53
me something from their town, you know, That's that's what we should have
2:57
see We're still living because last week we had to folks from Tutors and mister
3:00
b and here to talk about their new collaboration for Make a Wish with the
3:05
sausage and gravy potato chips that mister Bee's come out with. So Tutors comes
3:07
in with this giant suitcase full of biscuits. By the way, that was
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name of my third album, Suitcase full of Biscuits. So what you guys
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will just learn how to take me eventually. But so the bar was kind
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of set, you know. So I should have had reached out to these
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guys before and said, tell me the best thing in your hometown, to
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bring it to me so we can Brian and I can eat it. Let's
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talk about the Municipal League as an organization, Travis. What exactly is the
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Municipal League? Yeah, so the Municipal League is essentially an entity created by
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all of our cities, towns, and villages in the States. So all
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two hundred and twenty nine of them are incorporated municipalities formed us and essentially where
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there you know, kind of body that lobby is the legislature for them on
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issues that are important to cities and keeps them informed about things that are happening
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at the legislature as well as we do some programs for our members to help
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with you know, whether it's their property, casualty insurance, workers compensation insurance,
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unemployment insurance. We work with them to provide more cost effective measures for
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them in their communities. And so we run some programs, We put on
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conferences and events to train our members, and so we're essentially just their giant
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resource outlet here in the capital city. What kind of trainings do you offer
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these municipalities. Yeah, so it varies. I mean, we handle all
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municipal court judges in the state are trained by us. We put on a
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training twice a year for municipal court judges. And then our you know,
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mayor's council members, city managers, city clerks. At our whether it's our
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annual conference or our minimum conference, we put on you know, a bunch
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of different sessions. Sometimes they're over you know, ethics, open meetings,
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you know, sometimes it's on economic developments. I mean the topics range pretty
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dramatically each each year, depending on what we're hearing from our members and what
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they're kind of looking for to get information on. And I suppose it's no
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coincidence that you have this conference while the legislators in town right, correct,
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because you guys are very involved with the legislature. We are, I think
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you know, our elected officials locally, I think understand the legislature is a
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partner for them and someone that they have to work with and have for years
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had to work with on trying to advance things. West Virginia cities have certain
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powers and authorities vested to them that the legislature has granted them. But there
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are some things that we have to work with the legislature on and have them
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help and facilitate and be partners with us on what has peaked your interest so
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far as an organization with the legislature. I think at the moment, what's
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peaking our interest is I think a huge focus recently that the legislatures had on
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economic development and incentives as well as they've put you know, everybody knows,
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including the legislature, that the state is in a good financial position, and
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so I think they've shifted more money into you know, the Development Office to
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be able to you know, get paid ready sites. Well a lot of
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those sites and a lot of those places are inside corporate limits of cities across
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the state. And so you know, we're we're thankful to see the state
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not just as a partner there to kind of you know, pass laws for
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us to help our communities, but also to be there with kind of financial
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matches. As you know, we're all trying to bring down everybody of federal
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resource that's available and then tap into all the local resources and state resources to
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really make you know, projects, you know, to facilitate those projects and
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get them across the finish line. Travis Blosser from the Western Municipal League is
6:23
with us to Dave Allen showing five eighty live. It is brought to you
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apart by general hardware, number of wind field from kitchens to paints to deck
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straight framing wood and roofie metal on anything else you need, you'll find it
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a general hardware and number of wine. But let me talk to a couple
6:33
of our mayors. Here. We have Robert Schaeffer of Somersville may Or Shaffer,
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good morning, how are you, good morning? Dave glad to be
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here. Kevin Knowles and Martinsburg, how are you, sir? Good morning.
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Let me start with Sommersville. What's the if you give me the elevator's
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speech on Sommersville, why all of these mayors, I'm gonna ask them.
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There's gonna be some some recurring questions, why is Somersville the best town in
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West Virginia? And all the mayors are going to get this, by the
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way, so go ahead, good well, listen. You don't have to
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worry out the other forty out there, because I can take up the whole
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hour. No. I always say, Summersville is a small city with big
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city opportunity and attitude. And there is a whole lot going on in Somersville
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in a big exciting way. This last year, at the end of the
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year was a big announcement of the West Virginia's newest state park, which is
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Somersville Lake State Park. And so you know, so we already were seeing
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in uptech in tourism because of the new National Park, the new River Gorge
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National Park. I'm now in a really exciting way side by side. We've
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got a new National park and a new state park, and we capitalize on
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that big time as we already had incredible an incredible upswing because of the activities
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that continue to build out with the Lake and around the lake. The city
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also about eighteen months ago purchased one hundred and twenty eight acres and of which
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we're building an outdoor recreational complex. We're really excited about that because phase one
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is of course the the gateway into it, and then of course to the
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head of the trails, and we're building twenty miles of hiking, biking and
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walking trails, and of course what it's all going to be about now is
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connectivity to the lake in the new State Park. So to Kevin Knowles,
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Mayor of Martinsburg, why is Martinsburg the best city in West Virginia, Well,
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you know it's we're not summers, so we're a lot bigger and we
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just keep growing and growing and growing. And one thing that the City of
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Martinsburg has it has a lot of people moving into the area that aren't normally
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from West Virginia because we sit on the borderline of Virginia and like a community
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to the DC area in the Baltimore area. But it's drawing a lot of
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people and for a lot of different reasons. So one is because of the
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quality of life that we have here in Martinsburg. Martinsburg has developed a trail
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system that is eventually going to start from the city of Martinsburg and go all
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the way down to Charlestown, so you could walk her bike from from one
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point one city to another city. And we also have a lot of economic
9:05
development going on with huge investments by outside corporations, one being a company called
9:11
Monument. They're investing about one hundred and ten million dollars into a project of
9:16
an old interwoven mill that used to develop socks, used to make socks.
9:20
It was the largest sock factory in the world. Has been closed for many,
9:24
many years and that just sat in the middle of town. And they're
9:28
in phase one, just about finishing phase one with about one hundred market value
9:31
apartments to come online, which with another three hundred or more coming online down
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the road, and also with a lot of economic and commercial property also to
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be able to have a restaurant there, possible distillery. And we have a
9:48
lot of different things happening in our downtown quarter. You know, we have
9:52
a new main street. Main Street director who is young and vibrant, has
9:58
brought unbelievable events to the city and what that has drawn big crowds. We're
10:03
also fortunate to have one of the only roundhouses that work in the country,
10:09
and we're working in a lot of different areas there to try to make that
10:15
destination for individuals coming into town. So we're working on our arts, We're
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working on our arts and food venues within the city to attract more people into
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our downtown court. Why do you think people are leaving like the DC area
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of Baltimore whatever and moving to West Virginia in general, specifically Martinsburg. Well,
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you know, just like anywhere else is getting too crowded, you know,
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and there's a lot of a lot of crowds like that, there's a
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lot of crime and a lot of different things that the taxes are a lot
10:43
higher, and West Virginia has offered a lot of different incentives for not only
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companies but people to move here to the state of West Virginia. What challenges,
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what's the biggest challenge is Martinsburg's facing right now. I guess the area
10:56
in Martinsburg would be infrastructure. You know, infrastructure is always and I think
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that's probably going to be one of the things that probably every mayor on the
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show says today to is infrastructure. And we're and you know, we're very
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fortunate. We're very financially sound city, and we're very very good at the
11:09
good stewards of the City of Martinsburg's population. And we've done a lot of
11:16
innovative things to make things happen and to move things forward. I tell people
11:20
all the time, Martinsburg's moving forward, real quick, real fast. So
11:24
get on board and enjoy the ride. What about Somersville, what are some
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of the challenges mayor shape for the Listening to Marion Old speak about you know,
11:33
uh, developing and and and you know downtown, we're doing a lot
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of the same things. But of course our biggest challenge is listening to him
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say they've got a hundred apartment complex coming online. That's one of our greatest
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challenges is housing, you know, and it's the chicken in the egg workforce
11:50
or housing. And so as we continue to grow, interesting enough, you
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ask why people, you know, why people are moving to Martinsburg. I
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think why people moved to West Virginia is they're they're coming here to capitalize on
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our greatest assets. It's our culture, it's our people, it's our communities,
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it's you know, the good home down home respect and you know,
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we respect law enforcement. You know, just there's a whole lot of things
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about West Virginia culture that I think when you look across the board what drives
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people to move to West Virginia. And that's and that's really good to hear
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because on this show, you know, we get a lot of people on
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both sides that say it's the greatest place in the world, it's the worst
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place in the world, and people are leaving when in fact people and Travis,
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you can maybe weigh in this because you got the you have the numbers.
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I mean, people are moving into West Virginia. Yeah, I mean,
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you know, while the state may have lost this last census lost a
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little bit of I mean, we have cities that are gaining in population in
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the state and and I do think the trend is starting to turn. I
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mean when you look at you know, weird Before I came on board of
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the league, I was city manager up there to see now Form Energy constructing.
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They just put up their last piece of steel on the facility. You
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know that we're seeing economic development and movement, and especially as far as tourism
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goes. The tourism kind of just explode in this state. And so I
13:05
think the the numbers show that that cities are where people want to be at
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You're talking about people have moved from d C, Baltimore, different places.
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They still want to live in a city. They still want those services and
13:13
those amenities that those cities offer. They just don't want to the points of
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the mayor, some of the crime and also just some of the just sheer
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density right on top of each other. They want they want to be able
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to have at least a little bit of grass in their in their in their
13:26
lawn. How important is connectivity in West Virginia? So I think it's I
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think it's important. I think, you know, as as far as you
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know the I think the way I view connectivity is, you know, kind
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of you know that again, that culture, that relationship of people working together
13:46
and and people you know, taking care of one another. And so I
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think that that's uh, you know, everybody in this state, even the
13:52
transplants, I think, kind of recognized. They they know their neighbor,
13:54
they know they know their neighbor's kids. And I think that's important for folks.
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All right, let's go back to the mayor's as we'll close out this
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segment. The mayor Schaeffer I'm going to start with you tell me if I
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visit Somersville, which I have many many times. Okay, what is the
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one thing I have to see in town? And give me two or three
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place places I have to eat. I know you don't want to single people
14:16
out in your Just give me two or three. Okay, just give me
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two. So I would say that if you come to Somersville, you definitely
14:22
want to visit the Lake Somersville A. Yes, that's our that's our jewel.
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And then I really, you know, I know I'm gonna get in
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trouble. There's two reasons I'm gonna get in trouble because number one, I'm
14:33
an insurance agent and insure all kinds of restaurants. And number two, I'm
14:35
in a mayor and I try to eat them all. But let me let
14:39
me tell you this and I'll highlight one here. Okay, you know we've
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got a b stro We've got a vault, which you know, it's Downtown
14:46
Bank. It's a it's a it's a business and a bank. But a
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real quick story. A lot of people don't know this, but anytime a
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dam's put in, it's always named after the city that that loses its life
14:58
because of the dam. So the actual city that lost its life because of
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the damn god damn. Okay, yes, well they wouldn't call it.
15:07
Yeah, they wouldn't call it the gad dam And notice notice FCC he said
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g A D. But that's that was the name of the town, and
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so it would have been the gad Damn correct, g A D. Yes,
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and so and so interesting enough, a lot of people spend on that.
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So we have a really neat brewery in town that's called the Gaddam Brewery.
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So there's there's a list, and there's a whole array of restaurants.
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We're fortunate because and you know, you talk about the pandemic and all the
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bad it did for us. For some reason, in Somersville we saw the
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opening of four new restaurants during the pandemic. So the other thing I'd want
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to say real quick too, you talk about connectivity. The Musicipal League is
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the conduit that brings a platform to cities where we can network and and and
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what it does for me is a small city, is it helps bring resources
15:54
to my city that otherwise I wouldn't have being able to sit next to this
15:58
guy and listen to what he's doing and and you know, pick his brain
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and as we do, you know, through the networking in league. So
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again that's another good thing about coming to Charleston for this midwinter is the networking
16:08
and connectivity that it brings us. Mayor Knowles, what I need to see
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in Martinsby. You can tell you're an insurance sales that's well. I can
16:18
tell you that whenever anybody asked me what can I do when I come to
16:22
Martinsburg, I tell him you need to go to Adam Stevens House. And
16:25
Adam Stevens is the founder of the city of Martinsburg. And the original house
16:27
is still there and they have it all upgraded and everything for people to take
16:32
tours. We have the Roundhouse again is the roundhouse is the last last working
16:37
roundhouse in the in the United States. And and also there's you know your
16:42
downtown quarter. We got a lot of nice unique shops and anything. There
16:45
our frog Holler Hollow Trail that we that we just just made out of an
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old real railway railway path and a lot of different just the people and we'll
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talk about a place to eat. There's it's an individual that invested some money
17:02
into the city and he opened a place called the Garage. At one time
17:06
years ago, it was that's exactly what it was. It was a garage,
17:10
it was automotive and all that. Then it turned out to be an
17:11
appliance place and he turned it into a market, a food court type market,
17:18
and you know, you could go in there and you have six different
17:21
options and under one roof. And he's got a lot of different things that
17:25
he's going to be expanding on to that. So whatever taste do you want,
17:29
you could go to one place. There's lots of different restaurants. There's
17:32
not a place in town a day of the week that you can't go to
17:36
a different place in the downtown quarter. So that's exciting, all right,
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good stuff again, Kevinoles, mayor of Martinsburg, Robert Shaver, mayor of
17:42
Summersville. I appreciate you guys for being here. We're going to send a
17:45
couple of more mayors and here. Thanks a lot for being here. Gay,
17:48
thank you hang out with me one second. Going to be take care
17:51
of this to Dave Valence showing five eighty lie brought to you a part by
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eight fifty And now if you're just tuned into the show, the Western Municipal
20:37
League is in town for their winter conference. Mayors and other officials from the
20:41
cities all over the state of West Virginia or with us. Travis Blosser had
20:45
to get back to its. But we got more mayors we're going to be
20:48
talking to. We'll get two more. I refer to them as victims in
20:52
the green room, but they're not really victims. They're they're here their own
20:53
accord. We have a Sarah Woodshaw from Moundsville. Good morning, good morning,
21:00
welcome to the show. And this guy I know very very well,
21:03
it's been on the show in the past, is Randy Barrett of Winfield.
21:06
How are you, sir, I'm doing good. Dave up. There's glad
21:07
to be in your studio. Well, here's the thing, Scott Edwards and
21:12
mayor of Hurrican said, did not do that. You should not be allowed
21:15
in the studio, so we can I guarantee he said that it is.
21:19
There's a there's a very friendly rivalry between you and Mayor Edwards. Is that
21:22
I'm going to put it? Yes, they are. You're always wearing green
21:26
for the Winfield Generals. He's always wearing reds wearing green like the Scott always
21:30
wears red. I mean he's red. You think it's the same clothes he
21:33
wears or do you think he has different So his whole clothes is all red
21:37
shirt and brown pants. He said, he's probably got it down, pant.
21:41
He don't have to decide every day. It's the same. Hey,
21:45
he's got it down, pat. Yeah, you know, yeah, I
21:47
have mayor, but twelve years twelve years, Yeah, I enjoyed it up
21:52
there. There's a lot of work, but you meet a lot of people,
21:53
and it's that's the park. You meet a lot of good people.
21:57
Now I said that where you told me that you wanted to primarily talk about
22:00
to work with the municipalague. That's good, but I'm also giving folks an
22:03
opportunity to talk about their particular towns. So what's going on in Winfield And
22:10
what's a big selling point for Windfield because there's a whole lot of people moving
22:12
into all of Putnham County, you know, with new Core and whatnot.
22:15
What's this big selling point of wind Yeah, the big selling point I always
22:18
say is our schools and we're safe. We got three the best schools in
22:23
the state and we're very very safe. And up there we don't have you
22:29
know, I'm probably the smallest town that you're going to talk to up here
22:32
today, but we've got we're growing and as you know, Putlam County is
22:36
the only County South that's growing. And that's a lot to do with our
22:41
schools and some of the new business and stuff. And there's people moving to
22:45
Winfield because our schools and housing is is the shortage and the rent, oh
22:49
my gosh, is through the roof. And Winfield, I'm sure it is
22:52
over you're at too. But we've got a clean, safe little town up
22:56
in there. We don't We're working on men of these. We've got some
23:00
grants for some new parks and stuff. Uh, we're growing. We've done
23:03
a lot in the last since I've been there. We're growing every day and
23:07
that's a good thing. Up The talk about your work with the municipally,
23:11
well, i'm the I'm the president this year and it men travels, done
23:15
a lot of traveling and we've still got more traveling to do. Uh.
23:18
We was in Welchair a couple of months ago, and that place is coming
23:23
up. You know, I've heard you know the places that mayor down there
23:26
has got a lot going on, and they really do. And you know,
23:32
the league represents every little town. You know. I was looking at
23:36
this morning, Thurman. I think they've got less than single digits, but
23:40
we'll represent them all. So you know, we've got Amy's here, the
23:42
biggest city in the state, but the League is representing her and we're representing
23:48
Thurman, which has like what literally likes and so you know, we're here
23:55
to help them all up there, and we all work together, networking up
23:57
in there, and we've all got the same problems and we've got different ways
24:02
and approach. But working with the legislature and getting to know your your legislatures
24:07
that you have up here, and that's another perk up there, to know
24:11
those people and be able to work with them. It's a really good thing.
24:14
We had a text of the show somebody asked about did the state pass
24:18
the county jail or is the state passing the county jail fees onto the city?
24:22
Somebody ask that, No, up there, I haven't even heard it.
24:25
It's coming up started out committee this year. Up there. We hear
24:30
that every year, but they it has I don't think he's got no legs
24:33
this year. What I've heard up there. It always comes up, But
24:36
no, we're not. No Citi is paying that. Dave Alan chowing five
24:40
any line brought to you part by Morgan and Morgan, America's largest injury law
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firm again. We were devoting the show to I think Ryan, my producer,
24:47
called it Mega Mayor Monday. That's what we're doing today. We've got
24:49
to Sarah Woodshaw, who's the mayor of Moundsville. Welcome to the show.
24:52
What's going on in Mountsvielle these days? Thank you very much. We've done
24:56
a lot in Moundsville in the past five years. We've really invested in a
25:00
lot of what we call quality of life indicators. So with our one percent
25:03
sales tax that was established by home rule, we've been able to revamp our
25:07
whole entire park system in the community. We've established a vibrant arts and Culture
25:11
Commission which we host events from community concerts to free movie nights, anything that
25:18
any age demographic would be interested in. In the community, we've been able
25:22
to focus on economic development. We have a lot of small and larger businesses
25:27
moving into the community and the county county right now. As Randy said for
25:32
Winfield, we have invested in public safety as well. We have a very
25:36
safe community. We want to make our community a safe and welcoming to individuals
25:41
that would like to raise a family and help us increase our population in Mountsville.
25:45
So we've really put a strong focus on making it a friendly, welcoming,
25:49
safe place for anyone that would like to relocate and for our citizens that
25:52
live there. Now, talk about some of the struggles of Mountsville. Again,
25:56
I know, and I don't know whether you guys get to hear when
25:59
you're sitting in the green room or not, but there's gonna be a lot
26:00
of recurring themes in this show today that I ask you the positives and the
26:06
negatives, and sometimes the positives are the same and the negatives are the same
26:08
for these different communities. What some of the things that the Moundsville struggles with
26:11
now, One of our struggles specifically in Moundsville is lack of available land within
26:15
city limits. So when we look at particularly larger maybe manufacturing industrial complexes that
26:22
would be looking to come to a community, we do not have much available
26:26
land inside of city limits. We have had some larger industries located outside of
26:32
city limits into the county, which has been wonderful and we can benefit from
26:37
that as well. So that's one of our struggles. And then I would
26:38
say another thing we need to focus on is housing. With some of these
26:41
newer industries moving in housing from affordable rentals to condos to single family, multi
26:51
family homes. That would be something that we can focus on and increase in
26:56
our community. Our county just did a housing study which we were able to
26:59
provide a lot of feedback on, so that would be another challenge for that.
27:03
We just did the same thing here. A matter of fact, I
27:04
had Terrell Ellison from Advantage Valley a couple of weeks ago and they just did
27:08
this housing survey in Putnham Kinawa County and the surrounding areas, and ready you
27:12
may have seen that. It was pretty much exactly what's going on in Mountsville.
27:17
We need more houses, and not just housing developments, we need more
27:22
rental properties too, and that's something I know that there's not a whole lot
27:25
of rental properties in Winfield right. No. The Chamber had an update on
27:29
that just last week I attended. We got the guy there just right our
27:32
city limits. That's he's building thirty eight new units there up there. In
27:37
Another guy he's petitioned to come into the town and he's building twelve town homes
27:45
that he's going to rent, and he's going to come into the town up
27:48
there. It's just it's right right now. It's our sea limits. So
27:52
we got a lot of people love building them. But the rent and the
27:55
sale. The first guy he's sell on his and they're very expensive. And
28:00
the rent on the other ones is they're really high. But you know,
28:03
it's you know, it's it's hard for housing up in there. And when
28:07
it's at a premium, my parents hard to find. They're getting a lot
28:11
of money out of those things. I don't have some other people for them,
28:15
but that's but we need them for sure. Indeed, the Dave aland
28:18
showing five any Live. It's brought to part by Live Healthy West Virginia.
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health Today, let's go back to a Mayor Shaw. Just for a moment,
28:48
we'll talking about the business climate in Moundsville. Our business climate currently,
28:53
I would say, is very welcoming in the community. One thing we're going
28:57
to be looking at is some possible incentives for businesses that would be looking at
29:02
locating within city limits. But we were just accepted as one of three West
29:07
Virginia On Track cities for this year. We're very excited about that. So
29:11
that is a two year program focused on a downtown business district and revitalization.
29:17
So it's everything from promotion of that business district to historical preservation. Our business
29:22
district is a historical area, to visibility to diversification of your downtown business district.
29:29
So you receive technical expertise capacity building from the West Virginia Economic Development Office.
29:36
So we were one of three communities showsen this year and it's been five
29:38
years since they've selected a new cohort for on Track, so you're able to
29:42
do that program for two years before then being able to move into Main Street
29:47
America, which is a nationwide program and opens up your business district to even
29:52
more resources across the whole entire nation. So that's something we're very excited about
29:56
and that is more focused on a small business area, which we have designated
30:03
a certain area for that, and we're really excited about that program. So
30:07
we will come to Charleston on March fourth to officially accept that honor and be
30:11
able to learn a little bit more about what the timeline is going to be
30:15
and kick that off. Mayer Barry, you mentioned the term home rule,
30:18
and we've heard that term thrown about for the last ten to fifteen years.
30:23
What exactly is home rule. It's letting the cities have more of their own
30:27
say and things. Even like on an auction of a vehicle up there,
30:33
you had to follow rules. If anything over one thousand dollars, you had
30:37
to advertise it and stuff in there. Just stuff like that was rules that
30:41
we had to follow. Now you don't have to do. If you're under
30:44
home Rule, that you're able to do a lot of stuff your own.
30:47
It gives a little bit more power to the cities, I guess and stuff
30:52
because this is something that a majority of cities, I mean I know a
30:56
lot of mayors and a lot of councils around the state of West Virginia.
30:57
This is something that the majority of them have really really pushed for yeah,
31:02
and Winfield is in the process. Now we've voted on it. We're still
31:07
getting our taxes, and I think the home rule board meets in April.
31:11
I'm hoping we have all of our stuff ready by then. But we've got
31:15
some morphin streets they call it, that we don't take care of. They're
31:19
in the city, but we don't have the millions of dollars for the maintenance.
31:23
And you know, we've tried to annex a few times to pay for
31:27
that doll So I think we're able. If we're able to get that the
31:30
home rule and then at one percent sales tax, we're going to try to
31:36
take care of all these streets that needs to be taken care of, but
31:41
we just don't have the millions of dollars to do that. And I think
31:44
this, I'm hoping that this will do it. I well to talk about
31:47
tourism just a little bit before we close out this segment. Mayor. I
31:49
know that Winfield is an area that really really relies on its water system.
31:55
I mean when I say water, I mean the river. And over the
31:57
last couple of years, you've you and the council and Winfield have really done
32:02
a lot with your area with your docks and things of that nature. Talk
32:06
about that, Yeah, that we work with d n R. It probably
32:09
took almost five years to get the boat ramp built down there. We donated
32:15
property down there to a lot of leased it to them down there, and
32:19
that has been such a godsend for Winfield. It's such a beautiful area.
32:23
And then our community centers right beside. We've got a park with side of
32:25
it, and the County Commission they got grants every year so they've helped us
32:30
on our shelters and stuff. It's just such a beautiful area. And then
32:35
we got a water fast ward's gonna be in in June again right before scott
32:38
Yakfest up there. We try the it's the pre Yaqfest we try to have.
32:44
So I've been working with the Visitors Bureau over there on that and ev
32:47
and with the paddle boards and it's it's a great area right there on the
32:52
river right there above the locks and dams. It's pretty smooth there. It's
32:58
a beautiful area right there. Talk about visitors to Moundsville. What do you
33:01
use to attract people to people come to Moundsville for tourism type stuff? What
33:07
is there to see and do in Moundsville. I think the first thing you
33:08
think of when you hear Moundsville where a tourist site is always the former West
33:12
Virginia State Penitentiary. We have our Moundsville Economic Development Council that manages that on
33:16
a day to day basis, so they have a variety of historical tours.
33:21
You can do one at night, you can do them during the daytime.
33:24
We also have right across the street writ in city limits is our Grave Creek
33:30
Archaeological Archaeological Complex, which is one of the largest adena mounds in the nation.
33:36
So those are right across the street from each other. We have a
33:38
great facility right outside of city limits called Grand View Park. So there's treetop
33:43
cabins, ziplining, hiking, disc golf, wonderful amenities at the park.
33:47
So those three are huge drawers for tourism in our community. All right,
33:53
So if I show up into your town, Mayor, and I say,
33:57
thinking about moving here, give me a couple all the highlights of the town.
34:00
You talked about some of the things people can see and do whatever.
34:02
What are some of the other things that you use as a selling point for
34:06
the community of Moundsville. For the community of Moundsville, I think, as
34:08
I've said, we are a very welcoming community. We really try to make
34:14
sure we're getting individuals involved in our process of city government. So we're always
34:17
trying to recruit new folks to run for our commissions, our boards, encourage
34:23
people to communicate with us, come to city council meetings. I think in
34:27
smaller cities across the nation, you can really make a large impact when you
34:32
become involved. Whereas you live in someplace larger like New York City or Baltimore.
34:37
Specifically, as a young person, it's oftentimes can be hard to have
34:39
your voice heard or figure out how to get your foot in the door to
34:44
be able to communicate with the folks that you need to if you have a
34:45
new idea or want to improve your community. And I think we really encourage
34:50
that in West Virginia and in Moundsville. So I think that's a selling point.
34:53
And then, as I said before, all of our quality of life
34:57
indicators that we're really focusing on wanting to make Townsville a great place to raise
35:00
families. You know, I say this all the time, and we'll let
35:04
you guys go after this but I say this all the time to people.
35:07
We're all in a national political mindset, you know, and obviously that's very
35:10
important, you know, it keeps people like me in business, you know,
35:14
to be able to do this. However, the people that are sitting
35:16
on your county commission, the people that are sitting on your Board of Education,
35:21
your mayor's office, your city council. These are the people and these
35:24
are the ideas and the concepts that really impact the average citizen's daily life a
35:30
heck of a lot more than what's going on in Washington. Yeah, so
35:35
pay attention to these things and get involved. Yes, our cities make this
35:38
state run up there, but for cities the state we run this. This
35:45
makes our cities makes this state what it is. All right, Well,
35:47
guys, I appreciate you being here. Enjoy your time in Charleston, and
35:51
looking forward to visiting Moundsville. I've been to Moundsville. It's a very beautiful
35:54
town. Would love to come up there and hang out a little bit.
36:00
Where do I eat one of go to Moundsville. I'm putting the I'm putting
36:01
the pressure on all these mayors, and I know people listen back home,
36:05
going she did mention my place, but to give me a couple of fine
36:07
eateries in Mountsville. Just a couple, okay. We have some great eateries
36:12
in Moundsville, one that I particularly like, and it just depends on what
36:15
type of food you like as well, because we all great Randy, and
36:17
I would say, all, okay, okay. So one of my favorite
36:21
places is our local Mexican restaurant, Al Grahm Patrone. We have a great
36:24
it's called Bob's Lunch. It's particularly good for breakfast and lunch. One of
36:30
the most affordable places to eat in the community, and it's a staple.
36:32
You'll see everyone that you know there when you go in the morning for breakfast.
36:37
So I all those kind of places, yeah, I highlight those to
36:39
locates. Sara would Shaldimere of Moundsville, Randy be Barrett, the mayor of
36:43
Winnfield, appreciate you guys being here. Thanks a lot, Thank you very
36:45
much you for a break hanging out with me. One second, we'll get
36:47
the next one's in here, the Dave Allan Show in five any live.
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to know it tunes to five ADWCHSSE parents, find out what your kids are
38:55
doing, say what they're into. Consensus was finally reached on closing the primary,
39:00
but not doing it until twenty twenty six. There's some bad actors out
39:05
there that are hiding behind this exemption that they'd like to see her move.
39:08
Award winning coverage delivered around the clock from the area's only twenty four hour news
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room. The Voice of Charleston is five b b WCCHS fourteen away from Tama
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Dave Island showing five aydea I presented Department by Pinnacle Consultants. Whether you're replacing
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know can hirsche if you're just joining us what we are doing today. We
39:49
got the Westervirginia Municipal League conference going on in town, and we're spending some
39:52
time talking until we had Travis Bosser from the Municipal League on earlier, but
39:55
we're spending some time talking to some of the mayors that are in town for
39:59
this conference. And we have a couple more with us right now. We
40:01
have Anne Bullyard of Fairmont's good morning, how are you, Good morning,
40:05
Dave? And we have Beverly White, mayor of Lewisburg, how are you
40:07
morning, Dave? Very well, thanks for having us, Thank you folks
40:09
for being here. What's going on? What's new in Fairmont? Mayor?
40:14
Well, first I need to apologize to you, Dave. I should have
40:16
brought pepperoni rolls. I apologize you to get that out there. I said
40:22
that that's what I was gonna say. I may have if I have some,
40:27
I've priority gotten into the bag. But next time I will make sure
40:30
you get some pepperinniway, Okay, Vermont is the home of the original pepper
40:34
It is it is, indeed, and there's a big argument over pepperoni rolls
40:37
about this kind of like with hot dogs with pizza. You know, there's
40:40
the way that they're supposed to be. I'm my man Tony the Taylor here
40:45
in Charleston business owner. Do you know, Tony? I do? Okay,
40:47
I was gonna say you laugh like you know, Tony. Tony says,
40:52
a true West Virginia pepperoni role has to have stick pepperoni and no cheese.
40:55
So I'm going to agree with Tony the Taylor. That's probably the only
40:59
thing that I won't compromise on sticks, not slices in my pepperoni rolls,
41:04
and no cheese. Okay. So what's going on in Fairmont? What's new
41:07
in town? We have a lot of great things going on. It's getting
41:10
ready for fares and festival seasons, so that brings people outdoors. So we're
41:15
excited about some of the expansion on our rail trail. We're working with surrounding
41:19
municipalities as well as our concerted efforts to be a part of continuing and completing
41:24
the Pittsburgh to Parkersburg corridor. And how important is that? It is important
41:29
because it brings the West Fork River extension occurred in twenty twenty three, but
41:35
during COVID and actually there's a trail access near my home to tens of a
41:38
mile. So that's a great opportunity not only for people to get out physical
41:42
activity activity, but for biking, kayaking and other riverfront access as we build
41:47
out that part of the river. What about Lewisbourg? What's new in Lewisbourg.
41:53
Our biggest thing right now is trying to complete our sixty three point four
41:57
million dollar water treatment plant upgrade. We're excited about the progress that we've made.
42:02
And along that water treatment plant upgrade is the Greenbrier River Trail, and
42:07
of course it's a ninety eight mile trail and we were able to open it
42:10
up nine months earlier than promised Memorial Day weekend. For all the wonderful people
42:16
that come and visit Louisbourg, what's thee I mean, Louisbourg is just one
42:21
of the We have a lot of great cities in West Virginia, but Louisbourg
42:23
seems to be one of those that everybody talks about about how much they love
42:29
Louisbourg. What is the appeal of Louisbourg. It's our people. When you
42:34
walk down the street, they smile, they say hello. It's just the
42:37
friendliness and the warmth that they feel when they come to Louisbourg. And we
42:40
were voted most inclusive twenty twenty one by West Virginia Living. So I think
42:45
it speaks volumes that people feel safe when they come to Louisbourg. What are
42:50
some of the challenges that Louisbourg's facing right now? Housing? Like everybody else,
42:55
we have the osteopathic school there and so they have two hundred students that
43:00
come in every year. And of course the airbnbs. That is part of
43:06
what keeps folks from having residential homes as opposed to airbnbs. I'm not against
43:13
airbnbs, but I just feel that we need more housing, affordable housing as
43:19
well in Louisbourg like other places. What about Fairmount? What are some of
43:22
the challenges that Fairmont's going through right now? Mayor not to copy from my
43:25
colleagues, but I would say, and the other mayors as well, the
43:29
others, So I would I could that infrastructure because next week we will celebrate
43:35
one hundred and twenty five years of the city being chartered on February eighteenth,
43:38
So that infrastructure as well as housing. Okay, so what's being done to
43:45
try to rectify that situation other than just you know, saying please build houses,
43:49
because well, we have made a concerted effort with our dilapidated properties,
43:53
so those that we can preserve, storing those for single family dwellings as well
43:59
as though that cannot removing those for you know, increasing the safety of our
44:02
neighborhoods and the opportunity for someone to build a new home or new living accommodations.
44:08
All right to it. We're going to continue our conversation with these two
44:12
mayors who get Anne Bullyard of Fairmont and Beverly White of lewis Bourg. We're
44:15
going to take a little break. We'll be back in a matter of moments.
44:17
Dave Valence showing five vdyline bron two part by Hustin's Pizza. It's Heart
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an equal opportunity employer seven minutes away from ten. If you only knew what
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goes on behind the scenes here, we almost had a fight between the mayors
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or who had the better town. I'm kidding. They weren't really gonna physically
46:30
fight, but I don't know. I think I wouldn't want tangle with either
46:34
one of you. I'll just say that in the hard in West Virginia,
46:36
their exists a profound force that goes beyond the realm of sports, transcending limitations
46:39
and fostering a sense of belonging. Talking about Special Olympics a remarkable initiative easy
46:45
for me to say, remarkable initiative showcase in the latest episode of West Virginia
46:47
enriched in collaboration with Hontington. It stands as a testament to the power of
46:52
determination, unity and un wavering support. See of video highlighting Special Olympics at
46:55
Facebook dot com, Flash five adwch sand phone calls to the show a service
47:00
of big Ley Pigley Whiggley Jackson. Service is provided by Fruit Pharmacy, your
47:05
hometown Family Pharmacy. Mayor Boyer, you talked about some about the history of
47:09
how many years is Fairmont's been a chartered city February eighteenth, eighteenth, eighteen
47:16
ninety nine. So we'll be celebrating one hundred and twenty five years of Fairmont
47:20
being chartered in the great state of Western City. Big, big plans for
47:22
that, as you kind of alluded too early. We're going to put some
47:25
birthday candles and some pepperoni wrongs. Maybe I love it. I love it.
47:31
What I mean, everybody talks about Louisbourg, and we know it's kind
47:35
of tourist y type town. How do you market Louisbourg to people? I
47:37
mean, people in West Virginia know about it, but you've got a lot
47:39
of people that come in from all over the country to Louisbourg. How do
47:44
you how do you go about marketing that mayor Well, our CVB does a
47:46
great job of promoting our area actually in Louisbourg as well, and we accepted
47:53
folks from the SIN program, So it's really been worth When does that explain?
47:59
This SIN program that Brad Smith and Elise Smith brought in people that can
48:04
come and work remotely in West Virginia and Louisburg was one of the first three
48:08
cities that was chosen to accept the ASSIM program. And so it's really been
48:14
word of mouth of how great Louisbourg is and the people that are there.
48:16
You talking about working remotely. How's the high speed internet in Louisburg. It's
48:22
getting better? Is better? As I mean, I think we do pretty
48:27
well compared to some of the other areas. And they're looking at the broadband
48:30
through the county as well. Okay, Dave alland showing five eighty line bright
48:34
to you apart by your hometown baseball team, the Charleston dirty Birds. Applications
48:37
now available for the dirty Birds Kids Club is the dirty Birds Baseball dot com
48:40
or the dirty Birds social media pages scanned the QR code to sign your kids
48:44
up. Membership includes six vouchers good for any Sunday game, plus a fifty
48:47
dollars creditor birthdays at Gilmart Ballpark, and special giveaway coming up on the seventh
48:52
of August for all kids club. Remember how's how's the connection? Mayor in
48:57
Fairmont? It's very good. We have a few areas outside the city limits,
49:01
but overall great broadband access within the city. Have you seen people moving
49:07
into we have? And that's one of the amazing things about Fairmont that we
49:14
have not only those that have lived there for generations. For example, my
49:17
family's been in the city of Fairmont for overdred and twenty years. On the
49:22
east side. We see new families, younger people coming to live, work
49:27
and make their home in Fairmont. So we have a great mix. And
49:30
what is it exactly? I mean everybody says to people, and I get
49:34
that that's true Westernginion in general. But if people choose to live in Fairmont.
49:38
What are some of the selling points, What are some of the things
49:40
that make them want to live in Fairmont. Well, we are the friendly
49:45
city. That's our unofficial moniker, so that does some marketing for us.
49:49
That we have welcoming neighborhoods. So we have spaces, we have parks,
49:53
we have we're developing green spaces and other opportunities for families. We have still
49:59
a few community elementary schools. So it's something it is when you were in
50:05
the heart of everything almost And the thing one of the things about West Virginia
50:08
too, and this can be said about a lot of different towns, is
50:10
you can be a lot of different places in a short amount of time.
50:14
And this is one of the things that West Virginia's really tried to market itself.
50:16
That you know, you're you're within a couple of hours of Pittsburgh,
50:21
of Charlotte, of Columbus. And I'm not talking about we don't want people
50:23
to move there, but we're talking about that people from there could move here
50:29
absolutely, and you're still not that far from your family. At Pittsburgh,
50:32
you're approximately an hour and a half if you sometimes drive the way I do,
50:38
maybe a little bit less, but you're closed to We're two hundred and
50:40
fifty miles approximately from major metropolitan areas on the eastern coast Okay. Mayor,
50:46
if I go, if I show up in Louisbourg, all right, we'll
50:49
close the show with this and I'll ask you the mayor of Fairmunt about this.
50:52
I show up the Lewis Park and brand new, I don't know anything
50:53
about the town. What are you going to take and show me? Where
50:57
am I going to go? I'm going to give you a tour of downtown.
51:00
I'm going to take you to the green By River Trail so you know
51:02
that you can kayak and hike. And I'm gonna take you to the green
51:07
By Historical Society so that you can get a total history of Louisbourg. And
51:12
take you to our great restaurants and our boutique stores downtown and you will enjoy
51:16
every bit of it. And I will personally give you the tour. There
51:20
we go, all right, what are you going to do? May Are
51:22
you just coming for a day so much? See, I don't know that
51:25
one day we foremat first and foremot we go downtown, get a great cup
51:31
of coffee, maybe go Downloacast Avenue and get some great breakfast food in you
51:37
and then we're gonna personally also take you in the tour. We'll go to
51:40
our downtown, do some shopping, probably hit the rail trail near my house.
51:45
It's what I call the Meredith Tunnel, so we'll well, probably it's
51:49
but it's a long tunnel, so we'd get you know, blood pressure off,
51:52
and then have some great lunch and also kind of see our Marin County
51:55
Historic Museum, and then finish shat with a great dinner in one of our
52:00
many great restaurants. Okay, and if it's in the summer, maybe and
52:05
go over to Palatine Park and enjoy a great show on a weekend. Bottom
52:08
line from this show is is whether you're in Fairmont, Moundsville, Summersville,
52:14
Martinsburg, and louis Burg, Winfield, wherever you are, there's a lot
52:15
to see and do in West Virginia. Get out there and enjoy. Mayors,
52:19
I appreciate you coming to our city for the Municipal League conference. Thinks
52:22
lot Mayors, thank you all right, thank you all right again. Thanks
52:25
to Travis Blosser of the Municipal League for putting the show together today. Ryan
52:30
Nicholson was our producer. Coming up on the show tomorrow from the American Petroleum
52:34
Institute, Stephanie Catarina Whismand's going to be here Plus Canada for Knawa County Commission.
52:39
Chris Walsers will stop by the show as well. Hoppies on vacation this
52:43
week. Dave Wilson is in the host chair for talk Line. Coming up
52:45
A ten oh six. I will see you tomorrow till then, have fun
52:49
and love somebody finding the w c HS A m VTY six point five as
53:01
in Charleston one oh four point five Cross Lane on WVRC Media Station. We're
53:07
proud to live here too. H