MORGANTOWN — Morgantown City Council’s 6th Ward race features two Morgantown natives — Dave Harshbarger, a newcomer to the council scene and Jay Redmond, a former council member participating in his fourth election cycle.
Harshbarger recently sat with The Dominion Post Editorial Board to discuss a variety of topics. Redmond opted not to participate in that process, but instead provided a candidate statement. His comments in this report will be taken from that statement.
Redmond sat as council’s 6th Ward representative for one term, from 2015-’17, before losing the seat to Mark Brazaitis, who is not seeking re-election.
He said the decision to run again was not an easy one.
“My motivation to serve again comes from a strong sense of civic duty, along with a determination to guarantee that voters have an independent choice in the 6th Ward,” Redmond said. “I truly love Morgantown and want to do my part to help residents get the government they deserve.”
Redmond touts experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors, including the creation of five successful small businesses in Morgantown. He said his current focus is on volunteer work with organizations like CASA for Kids and the Morgantown Area Meals on Wheels.
He said there are specific issues that he would like to address include improving the city’s communication, strengthening relationships and improved leadership with a focus on the principles laid out in the city charter.
According to Redmond, council’s focus should be on providing the best possible services — police, fire, trash, utilities, street maintenance and recreation.
“Beyond these, city council should do little more than keep the playing field level, encourage and facilitate smart growth and development, and protect the quality of life in our neighborhoods,” Redmond said. “City council should not be a venue to address larger societal problems or issues over which we have no power to control.”
Redmond closed by lamenting the lack of participation in recent council elections and urging residents to vote.
“To say that the number of residents voting in the last three city elections is disappointing would be an understatement. To say that it’s led to representative government would be an overstatement,” he said. “Your participation matters.”
Harshbarger is a wellness professional who’s spent the last 24 years with WVU Medicine and a longtime volunteer with the Mon River Trails Conservancy.
“I’ve been a wellness professional for over 30 years … In that role, it’s really helping people, helping organizations and helping the community be safer, healthier and just trying to improve people’s well-being,” he said. “I would like to bring that perspective of decision making on issues to council, if elected.”
During his session with The Dominion Post Editorial Board, Harshbarger offered thoughts on a handful of issues, including:
Annexation
“I definitely support annexation. When you look at the City of Morgantown’s footprint, we’re providing services beyond that footprint. We have more people living in the county and coming into the city on a daily basis and it just makes sense to appropriately expand our footprint through annexation,” Harshbarger said.
While he’s not privy to the data council will use when it takes up the issue next month, Harshbarger said he hopes there is a focus on the city’s future and not just its financial present.
“I think incorporating green space as well as planning for the future of our city’s growth is important. That way it’s appropriate growth and it’s growth in areas where people are going to want to be, as opposed to just urban areas,” he said. “There is a revenue stream that comes in with annexation, but there’s also a cost, but in some of those areas we’re already providing services, indirectly.”
1 percent sales tax
Harshbarger said he supports the city’s plan to take up a 1 percent sales tax, but only if it comes with clear communication on why it’s needed and what the city intends to do with it.
According to city administration, the money would be used for BOPARC and police and fire pensions. Conservative estimates indicate it would generate between $5 million and $6 million.
According to Harshbarger, the sales tax is more fair than something like a user fee.
“In many ways it spreads the fairness in that it’s [a tax] on money spent in Morgantown, not just on the people who work in Morgantown,” he said. “It’s a little more equitable, I think, in terms of a cost share providing the services this 1 percent would go towards.”
City working on state roads
Asked if the city should be able address state roads and bill the DOH for the work, Harshbarger said he’s generally in favor of more local control over the state routes that run through the city.
“Obviously what we’ve been doing isn’t working, and this is just crazy that, year after year, we have to put with what we have to put up with,” he said. “If money is not being used by the state to take care of state roads in the city, then that’s ours and we should be able to get it back and use it to fix them or hire the people to do it.”
According to Harshbarger, one change that would dramatically reduce wear on state roads through the city would be the removal of truck traffic in areas like the downtown.
“The Green Bag Road is not that big of a deal to drive around and come in that direction, so I would love to see us take more ownership of our state roads within the city limits,” he said.
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