Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
At the July 1 Marlinton Town Council meeting, Marlinton Fire Department Chief Herby Barlow returned with his annual question concerning flow testing of the town’s hydrants.
It has been three years since the fire department turned the duty over to the town due to lack of manpower and the fact that the town – as the water company for Marlinton – is required to test and maintain the hydrants.
Last summer, when Barlow asked about the hydrants, council explained that it was in the process of applying for grants to replace water lines and hydrants in the town.
Since then, not much has been done with the hydrants.
“I’m here wondering what you’re doing with the hydrants,” Barlow said. “Are we testing this year or did you get a reprieve from your second opinion person that you didn’t have to do them again this year?”
The second opinion person was Fred Hypes, with Thrasher Engineering, who was at the meeting.
Instead of answering the question, Mayor Sam Felton turned to Hypes and asked him if he could address the hydrant issue.
“As it stands right now, the Public Service Commission is reviewing the recommendations of the task force that Chairman [Charlotte] Lane put together after the incident last year in Charleston… Those recommendations and requirements, as I understand, should be issued probably this month, or at the latest next month, that will have a standing set of testing requirements and painting or marking requirements that show the flow rates that are available at each hydrant.”
The incident in Charleston that Hypes referred to was a house fire that occurred in October. Three fire hydrants near the house failed to deliver water which led to the home being destroyed by fire. This incident caused Chairman Lane to form a Fire Hydrant Task Force to ensure this never occurs again in West Virginia.
Hypes went on to say that the town of Marlinton has a $5.5 million water system improvements project underway that will replace 24 fire hydrants in the downtown area, as well as 20,000 feet of water pipe.
Unfortunately, this information did not answer Barlow’s question.
“It’s been many years since the hydrants were tested by the fire department,” Barlow said.
“There’s stuff that hasn’t been fixed that’s been on that list for years. I want to know what your plan is because the task force that he’s referring to was brought about by Governor Justice. If you don’t have a plan or convince me that you’re going to create a plan, I’m going to send a letter to the task force and request action.”
“I think we have a plan,” Felton replied.
“He said it’s going to be the end of the year before he does anything,” Barlow said, referring to Hypes. “Are you going to test the hydrants this year? Yes or no?”
“Test them this year? That is a qualified maybe,” Hypes responded.
Felton said he understood Barlow’s concern and knows that it is important to test the fire hydrants, but the town is stretched thin with regard to manpower. He asked Barlow if the fire department could test the hydrants this year instead.
“Will you give us the $10,000 back that you gave us every year when we did do it?” Barlow asked.
“Is it going to cost you $10,000 to do that?” Felton asked.
“Is it going to cost you that much?” Barlow returned. “You’re stretched thin with paid people. I’m stretched with volunteers. So no, it’s your responsibility to test them, Sam.”
Felton said that he understood that the flow testing could happen every five years and that the town still had time since the hydrants were tested three years ago.
Barlow said that the ISO, which rates fire departments, follows a different standard.
“ISO doesn’t see it that way, Sam, so when your insurance raises and your neighbor’s insurance raises because our ISO rating goes up, I’m going to send them to see you because I’ve been here every year asking the same thing,” Barlow said.
Councilmember Olivia Dean asked how much time it takes to test fire hydrants and if it was possible for town employees to do so during down time.
Barlow said the fire hydrants have to be opened to let the water flow for at least two minutes to let the monitor get a reading.
“The last flow we opened was up next to the ARC building,” Barlow said. “It ran rusty water for probably two minutes. I opened it until clear water came out of it.”
To answer Dean’s question, Felton said he didn’t think there was any down time for town employees and that maybe they would have to do overtime work in the evenings to get it done.
“We may have to do some overtime hours,” he said. “We might do that. Do them in the evening or something.”
“I’m saying in our slow time,” Dean said.
“If you identify slow time, why yeah, we could do that,” Felton said.
Felton said the town would advertise when the flow testing will be done, explaining that it must be advertised in the newspaper two weeks prior to testing. Barlow said that it didn’t need to be done immediately due to drought issues and said the town should wait so that water isn’t wasted.
In other updates:
• J.L. Clifton addressed council with his concern regarding an item that was voted on at the last town council meeting. At the June meeting, council voted against paying an invoice for curb replacement near Clif-ton’s home.
He said there are two main issues that he has with the way the the matter was handled. He said he did not send the invoice to the town, that contractor Mike Garber did. He also stated he did not know the item was on the agenda, and that is why he did not attend the June meeting.
Clifton went on to explain that there were some misleading statements made regarding the curb replacement issue and gave a timeline of what occurred between the work done on Third Avenue in 2019 and the June 2024 meeting.
Clifton said that during the work to replace sewer lines on Third Avenue, the curb near his home was damaged. He addressed this issue with Felton, who he said told him to find a contractor to fix it and the town would pay for the work.
Clifton did so and had the curb replaced because the town did not take action on it for six years. He also contacted the Department of Highways which informed him that if the damage was caused by the town, it was up to the town to put it back in as good or better shape than it was when the work started.
After a discussion and review of the information given by Clifton, council voted to pay the bill and to put in back fill where the curb was replaced.
Marlinton Town Council meets the first Monday of each month, excluding holidays, at 7 p.m. in the Municipal Building auditorium. The public is welcome to attend in person or online through a Zoom link.