Marlinton Mayor’s Corner

This week’s Mayor’s Corner is more of the monthly Mayor’s Report to Council. That report has not been completed for a couple of months.

March came in like a lion. Strong winds brought down a large pine tree at the cemetery. The tree came crashing down between headstones with limbs going in every direction. Fortunately, no grave stones or markers were damaged. Let’s hope the month goes out like a lamb.

The City of Alderson sent a man with a sewer camera to help find a location of the water problem on Fourth Avenue. Some repairs have been made to lessen the surface water standing in the street.

Yes, some of you may have seen the storm water connection at Eighth Street is very near the surface of the street. But that is the best that could be achieved. Elevation is one of the problems in this area. So, more work will need to be done. Expect the barricades to be around the ditch until we schedule concrete delivery. That should be in about another week. Moore’s Ready Mix does not start their batch plant until the first of April. Locations of other water or sewer repairs will be prepared for street patches from the same load.

Doug Arbogast, with WVU, was in Marlinton for another meeting on March 5. He came to talk through and clarify the Marlinton community assessment for our recreation economics initiative.  The meeting covered points of progress already started or in place.

I traveled to White Sulphur Springs to look at the city’s new Kenworth trash truck. Our previous advertisement had not included certain features and the bid will be prepared a second time. The same day, I returned home to a yard full of robins, that signaled the robin-storm.

The webinar with Oak Hill was informative, and their use of the ESRI program will benefit Marlinton as we begin to ease into the same program. Amanda Smarr with Region 4 came to help start the ESRI program for the Town of Marlinton.

Various meetings have included planning meetings, school board and budget, Region 4, Day Report and Pocahontas Senior Citizens Board, various and several Discovery Junction committee meetings, the 25th annual Eighth Grade Luncheon and the annual Chamber of Commerce dinner meeting.

I am still shocked that Interstate-Hardwoods at Bartow currently has 35 positions that need to be filled. The workforce situations are the worst I have ever seen. 

Churches, organizations and communities must keep working toward a drug-free society with a healthy respect for work. Otherwise, who is going to pay the bills? Contrary to popular belief, it will not always be the government.

As the weather warms up, so will the clean up of junk cars and trash in general.

The Day Report Program helped pick up trash along Rt. 219 in the Riverside area.

Watch for a Notice of Town Spring Cleanup in next week’s paper.