Those of you who read The Pocahontas Times know by now that Marlinton Town Council did not approve its annual donation to WVMR.
I do not think people have forgotten that it is WVMR’s AM station, that has kept people informed and connected during power outages, the derecho and flood events. Also, I do not believe it represents a lack of loyalty or staying power.
I do believe it was a result of the agenda item about the annual donation after a group of citizens chastised council by considering a municipal fee to fund the town police department budget.
The citizen group suggested “council needs to consider other ways to save funds.”
Consequently, the motion to contribute died for lack of a second.
I suppose no tomato on your burger does represent a savings, but without tomato, do you really want the burger?
Most, if not all, want WVMR to remain, so I suspect the item will find its way back onto the council’s agenda.
Partner Community Capital has said they are approving the Family Resource Network’s application on behalf of the Town of Marlinton for a streetscape plan.
PCAP will be following up with a three-way agreement between PCAP, Family Resource Network and Destination By Design (DbD).
I will be relying on Sarah Cottingham with Downstream Strategies and Josh Nease, Executive Director of MFTP, Inc., to help keep the ball rolling.
Also, council members Olivia Dean and Roger Trusler have been helping with the DOH sidewalks design grant. This grant application is still pending. We do not expect any announcement of an award before the spring of 2024.
But the timing should work out great, in that the streetscape plan can be completed first and then help to guide DOH’s eventual engineering work needed to be accomplished for the sidewalks.
