Town of Marlinton residents: please pay attention to upcoming council meetings, and to this week’s Mayors Corner.
The reason I take time to respond to concerns posted on Facebook about the municipal ordinance is because of the accusations that the Town of Marlinton is trying to do something behind the scene. If it were not so sad, it would be laughable.
Please pay attention.
First of all, according to State statue, the Town always posts the Regular and Special meeting dates and Agendas at least three days prior to the meeting. (An emergency meeting is different). The agendas are forwarded to The Pocahontas Times, WVMR and posted at the the town’s entry of the municipal building. The Agenda is posted to Facebook and the town’s web-page.
Since March 2020, Zoom-access has been a virtual option for every meeting.
It is more than a little paranoid to think anything could be accomplished in the dark.
Mayors expect a number of people to run off at the mouth because some would rather do that than to try to understand facts and provide answers to problems. Others attend a meeting or two, often do not fully understand the facts at hand, and it becomes easier to believe council has not considered other options, or sincerely believe there is no problem.
That is what is disappointing.
One resident actually asked, “Why does the Town even need a police officer? What would Council expect a police officer to do?”
In other words, if no problem is realized – there is no need for a solution to the problem.
Yes, the Town of Marlinton had a police chief and four officers at one time, without additional fees. I happened to be a council member and the police liaison in those days. Two separate grants paid the bills at that time. Cops Fast and Cops More.
A fee should have been enacted then, but was not. Probably for the same reasons as now.
Nevertheless, the grants went away and the cops went away. Even then, young officers would leave because the town never paid enough to compete with other departments. The alternative since has been part-time officers – coming and going.
So, I go back to the Comprehensive Plan. It was not a town council plan!
It was a plan created by the people who live here!
Now, Council is trying to implement the people’s plan, and we are finding that police-presence may not have been a number #1 priority if people had known it would come at a cost to the beneficiaries of the service. Everyone should understand that everything costs and someone has to pay – or not.
Still, I have to believe that, while numerous residents who were attending Planning Commission Meetings during 2016, and in the three years that followed, those residents participated in the sixteen public meetings and three open-houses.
Apparently, these other well-intended residents are now saying the early efforts and work of other residents does not matter.
The need is worse now than then.
The current nay-sayers must have been going about other business and paying absolutely no attention to the plan that was already in progress and was being put together by concerned individuals that submitted goals and filled out surveys stating what they would like to see the future of Marlinton look like – the town we call home.
Other high priorities of the plan included doing something with abandoned and dilapidated properties. Nothing consistent had happened in 25 years and maybe longer. None of the recent progress had been accomplished, nor could have been accomplished with part-time people. Consistency is not a part-time job.
I don’t like to see three employees riding in one truck without good reason. The fleet of town vehicles allows more access to do more work. Council sold older equipment that had not been used in many years and purchased good used vehicles that cost less than a single new unit would have cost. This is another case of liking the results but expecting results to come at no cost. Yes – wages have increased, but are not enough yet to attract many of the people who complain about “extraordinary salaries.”
So, Town of Marlinton residents need to pay even closer attention to upcoming Town Council meetings. The municipal fee ordinance came up in about October and council listened to the people in that meeting and worked on cutting the language in the ordinance. Then, we listened to our legal counsel – that a previous council hired. He suggested leaving the legal language to conform with state code, and we did.
Now pay closer attention to the Special Meeting Agenda item #3, as posted last Thursday for the meeting this Thursday, January 18. You should note, item #3 “Review and Discuss Municipal Fee Ordinance,” without any mention of act upon. Council will be discussing proposed fees and or if we are to vote at the “regular posted February meeting.
The end result is fairly simple. If council does not have the means to work toward building a professional police department, then I would agree the Town of Marlinton should not proceed with a police department. But you may want to first talk to the people who are experiencing break-ins and robberies or others with squatters in or under their buildings.
Knowing and understanding is always better than saying “I don’t know and I don’t care.”
Also, last week’s flood drill included a full sewer system, and the problems it created reminded me why we continue to work toward the sewer project improvements.