KINGWOOD — Craig Jennings may be a little wistful Wednesday when, for the first time in
12 years, he doesn’t attend a Preston County Commission meeting.
But it will be a little like the feeling when he graduated from Fairmont State, he said, and people asked if he’d miss playing football. It was the end of one phase in life and the beginning of another.
“I’ve done this a third of my life now,” he noted. “I’ll miss the people. I’ll miss the feeling of being able to help people in the community … but I’ll still have plenty of things going on.”
Jennings did not run for a third term on the commission, clearing the way for Samantha Stone to be elected to the spot.
Jennings was 25 years old when he started on the commission.
“I was actually just looking into helping some campaigns, and I was talking to Darwin Wolfe down at Fellowsville one time,” Jennings recalled. “I figured he’d have some yard signs or something like that. He said, ‘Well, you know I’m thinking about retiring. Why don’t you run for my spot?’ ”
He did and won. His preparation for the job was the “30-second overview that Darwin gave me. But he was pretty good about helping me when I had questions about what they did.”
Twelve years later, it’s still hard for him to explain exactly what the job entails.
“It depends on the time of year you ask me,” Jennings said. “If it’s election time, we oversee the elections. If it’s budget time, we’re the fiscal agent for the county. If it’s during board of equalization and review, we look over all the taxes for the county.”
And, “almost everybody thinks you’re in charge of economic development when you actually have almost nothing to do with that.” That mainly falls to the economic development authorities and state agencies, he said.
As soon as a new commissioner takes office, he or she has to sit on the board of equalization and review. In quick succession, work on the new budget starts.
“And that’s one of the good things about having the commission set up as a three-person panel is having the other two there that have at least been through it for a year or two, or two or four or in Dave [Price’s] case 18,” he noted.
The more experienced commissioners help newcomers learn the ropes. And working together and asking why things are done a certain way, sometimes over the years they’ve found a better way to do things, he said.
Looking back over the last 12 years, Jennings said he is pleased with many things, including some that weren’t planned. “Hurricane Sandy, and how we reacted to that, I think that was probably good. We got some federal pats on the back when that happened.”
When Sandy closed many roads in the county and left thousands without power, commissioners worked with FEMA on a plan to hire local contractors to clear the roads. They were paid by the county, which sought reimbursement from FEMA.
Preston’s 911 Center was built during Jennings’ tenure, and the building and equipment are state-of-the-art, he noted. Redistricting was also a huge effort, he recalled.
“A lot of it, you deal with it. It comes to you,” he said. Other things, like the North Central Caucus on Roads, originated with the commission and Jennings in particular.
“I always say to people, ‘Don’t tell me no, tell me what we’ve got to do to get it done. If we have to go around a few things, that’s fine. You just tell me how to get from my Point A to my Point B.’ I don’t really care about the small details in between. If we have to sign three little pieces of paper in between instead of one, I don’t care as long as we get to the other side,” Jennings said.
It’s a trait he may have gotten from his grandfather, he said. It’s, “Let’s not argue about that, let’s make the big picture happen.”
Having “great people,” working for the commission helps, he said. They have helped him find how to do things. “I just tried to stay out of their way,” he noted. “Whenever I asked them to complete a task, I didn’t want to sit there and micro manage.”
When he first ran for office, it was on a platform of improved broadband and cell phone service in the county. With the help of 911 sharing county towers and additional towers by companies, that service has improved, he believes.
Broadband is an ongoing effort, and, at Jennings’ request, a representative of Citynet recently came to the commission with a proposal that may help improve service in the county’s more rural areas.
But Jennings never intended to make county commissioner a long-term job. He has always had another job, and new opportunities have arisen there.
Also, his oldest child is 10 years old, so there’s only eight more years probably to spend time with him at home.
“Somewhere along the line, I just had to give something, and I thought, well, it’s just time for somebody else to get in here and ask the ‘Why are we doing it this way?’ questions.”
He would like to help get young families to come back to Preston County, Jennings said.
And if an opportunity arises to help, as he currently is with the committee to help pass the school levy, Jennings isn’t ruling that out. He wants to focus on the things that are most important to him.
County Administrator Kathy Mace said Jennings’ final commission meeting was, “a bittersweet moment for me. Commissioner Jennings and I have been here together his entire tenure … and it’s been a wonderful time. I believe the county has gotten wonderful service from you and I thank you for all the support you’ve given me, and your staff and the county as a whole.”
Jennings said he’s excited to see Stone take a seat on the commission and has confidence in Commissioners Price and Don Smith.
“I think things will just be fine,” he said.
