MORGANTOWN — In what could only be described as a baptism by fire, Byrd White, West Virginia’s Secretary of Transportation since Tom Smith’s dismissal three weeks ago, spent Wednesday afternoon in Monongalia County — the heart of the state’s road maintenance discontent.
In an hour-long work session with the Monongalia County Commission that featured far more questions and assurances than answers and plans, White admitted the state highway department has a mountain to climb and has thus far largely failed in properly communicating how it plans to do so.
“I want to try be clear. I’m hoping in the next very short term to be able to give you all what we hope to do in Mon County between now and June 30, and then what we hope to do in Mon County between now and the end of the year,” White said. “It won’t have times on it. It’s simply a list. This is our plan.”
Commission President Tom Bloom laid out the frustrations that ultimately led to the creation of the North Central Roads Caucus — a group of local and state officials representing DOH District 4 formed to bring attention to perceived slights in the state’s allocation and use of road maintenance funds.
Those slights would ultimately be confirmed through audits of the DOH, which pointed out that despite constant development and economic growth coming out of District 4, the increases it received in road maintenance funds were far outpaced in other parts of the state.
Further, the audits backed up previous District 4 Engineer Donny Williams’ assertion that the district was receiving about half of the funding it would need just to keep its roads maintained to the level prescribed by the DOH’s own core maintenance plans.
The commissioners pointed out that 20 percent of the state’s GDP comes out of District 4, which is comprised of Monongalia, Preston, Marion, Harrison, Doddridge and Taylor counties. It is second only to District 1, which includes Kanawha County, at 23 percent.
“But in the past five years we’ve increased 15 percent in regard to our GDP and District 1, where Kanawha is, has decreased three percent. So this is where it’s at. There’s a lot going on here,” Commissioner Sean Sikora said.
Asked if he was confident that he could address some of the crippling issues at the DOH, such as the aforementioned lack of communication and chronic staffing issues at the local level, Byrd said yes, but noted it won’t likely be a quick fix.
“[The Governor] gave me the ball and said, ‘Go,’ and I do feel pretty confident. Are we going to make progress this week? A little bit. Are we going to make progress this year? Yeah, we are. We’re working on getting the right people in the right seats. We’ve got some really bright people in the DOH,” White said.
“Yes, I’m confident we can get something accomplished this year — some fundamental changes I hope.”
White said he knows people have lost patience with the condition of their roads, but the DOH is not going to waste money paving until it deals with underlying issues like ditching and canopy maintenance, a lack of which leads to water on road surfaces, hastening deterioration.
Ultimately, the commission told White its intent was not to scapegoat or cast blame, but offer what assistance it could in addressing a problem decades in the making.
Or, as Monongalia County Commissioner Ed Hawkins said, “You’ve been given a terrible task,” later noting “But this can be a cooperative partnership. We’re all in here together.”
While Bloom agreed, he said someone in Charleston is going to have to start making difficult decisions.
“A politician can say anything. A leader has to make difficult decisions. When we see funds being given to a county that doesn’t need them to repave a gorgeous road, a leader could say, ‘I’m sorry, this is needed in this other area.’ We would hope they would make those difficult decisions,” Bloom said.
Members of the Preston County Commission attended the meeting but did not participate. Representatives from WVU and the City of Morgantown were also in attendance, as was a number of state legislators and members of the public.
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