Challenges ahead for the DOH

MORGANTOWN — A truck driver with a commercial drivers license (CDL) earns $11.77 an hour driving for the West Virginia Division of Highways (DOH).
In contrast, the city of Morgantown is raising the minimum hourly wage for municipal employees to $15.
It doesn’t take much digging to see why DOH District 4 Engineer Don Williams said the goal of keeping a roster of 43 employees in Monongalia County is essentially unreachable given existing circumstances.
“We’re at 33 [employees in Monongalia County] right now, and I think we’ve even lost some since then. I’ll be very honest with you, we’ll never get to that quota,” Williams explained during last week’s visit from West Virginia Secretary of Transportation Tom Smith. “As you’ve heard me say, I don’t make excuses. We’ll do the best we can with the numbers we have — with the 33 we have.”
Morgantown City Engineer Damien Davis said the city pays CDL drivers closer to $18 or $19 hourly.
That said, Morgantown is likely one of the DOH’s lesser competitors when it comes to attracting applicants. Both the city and state run up against the private sector. Davis said pay for CDL drivers climbs north of $20 in private firms, like the many oil and gas concerns in the area.
Even so, he explained that the city gets applicants from the DOH regularly, regardless of the posted openings.
“We post for laborers and get equipment operators and drivers from DOH applying,” Davis said, adding “We just had interviews. I’d say the majority of them were DOH truck drivers wanting to be laborers for the city.”
Both Smith and Williams said they don’t begrudge anyone an opportunity to earn a livable wage.
“If [Davis] posts two jobs for CDL drivers at $19 an hour. My guys are earning $11. I don’t blame them for wanting to work for the city of Morgantown,” Williams said.
Smith explained that having the money to tackle major road projects must go hand-in-hand with having a skilled, motivated work force to do the work.
He went on to say the recent raises for public employees only highlighted just how far off the mark state wages are in many positions within the highways division.
“A lot of the time, I feel like I’m drowning on this very point. We’re very appreciative of the raises given to public employees for all the reasons [Williams] said. We think it’s great,” Smith said. “For highways, it’s not enough. We’re going to have to do more. We’re going to have to come back and look at ways to do that. Our truck drivers are going to be your laborers because of how bad the pay is. That’s incredible.”