KINGWOOD — Preston County Commissioner Samantha Stone will co-chair the North Central Roads Caucus, along with Mon County Commissioner Tom Bloom.
The announcement came Monday as Preston commissioners talked about the poor condition of roads.
Commission President Dave Price said that in cleaning his office recently, he came upon a file of road complaints from residents, dating back to 2014.
“I looked through this, and the same darn roads are in here,” as currently are being complained about, Price said. “I’m telling you, the frustration — I must be a really patient guy — because right here is more comments on Route 72 — it goes back years.”
County Administrator Kathy Mace noted legislators have been busy with the omnibus education bill this session.
“My point with this — and I understand that — is this road caucus and what we did last year is finally getting some attention by more than our representatives. It’s getting attention in the legislature, and we will not, cannot, let this drop,” Price. “We’ve got to keep pushing because it’s definitely worse than it was, and it was bad then.”
Price said the State Division of Highways (DOH) has agreed to help Terra Alta patch some of the holes on W.Va. 7. “I am not a fan of the ‘throw and go,’” Stone remarked.
”Everybody drives on the eastbound lane going west now because the right side,” headed on W.Va. 7 to Terra Alta is in horrible condition, Price said.
Stone said it has only been a few months since the DOH did skip paving on sections of W.Va. 26, “and it’s already out, it’s already coming up, the road is breaking up.”
Price said maintenance is one of the keys.
“Admitting that it’s bad is one thing, but we need action,” Stone said. “And I know they’re doing what they can do, but what they can do isn’t good enough, unfortunately. It’s getting worse.”
The caucus includes county commissioners and state elected officials from DOH District 4, which includes Monongalia, Preston, Marion, Harrison, Taylor and Doddridge Counties.
Former Preston Commissioner Craig Jennings initiated the caucus last year in response to the DOH’s failure to maintain roads in the district. Stone replaced Jennings on the commission Jan. 1.
Also at this week’s commission meeting, Mace asked commissioners to reject all three bids on security improvements to county buildings and to rebid the project The problem, she said, is that none of the three bidders bid on the equipment as requested because it is outdated already.
That’s because the process of seeking bids on the grant-funded project took 18 months because of delays by FEMA, she said. Also, Mace said, the bid specifications were not detailed enough.
New bids, citing current equipment, will be sought, and bidders will be able to bid on the security cameras and door access system separately or together.
