KINGWOOD — A grass roots Preston County organization gathered thousands of signatures on a petition demanding better roads.
We Stand United for Better Roads grew out of the North Preston Area Watch, a citizen’s group. Preston County Commissioners mentioned the roads group at their meeting Monday.
The group has petitions throughout Preston County which say, “Let’s send a message to Governor Justice and demand responsibility, accountability and transparency.”
According to The Zip 26525 Facebook page, 4,000 people have signed so far. The group will also be at county fairs to take signatures. People can also buy rubber duckies and write a personal message to the governor on it.
“Everybody’s trying to come together for the roads effort,” Commissioner Samantha Stone said.
“We told them the people were angry, and now there’s the group,” Commission President Dave Price said.
Commissioners have made a road report part of their weekly agenda since earlier this year.
Stone said the Division of Highways promised to get back to her this week on when repairs will begin to a slide on W.Va. 72 that has closed a portion of one lane for more than a year.
“It is my understanding that everything was going through the process and it was being sent out and everything has been submitted for that,” she said. “To my knowledge they have not awarded the bid yet.”
Commissioner Don Smith said work should begin this week on Sigler Street after Kingwood got permission to cut the road to work on it. Part of one lane has been closed on the street leading to Pleasantdale for weeks.
All commissioners said they receive many calls about when lines will be painted on W.Va. 26 south where it was paved. Rain, fog and darkness can make the road hazardous without lines, they said. Roads have to be dry and a certain temperature for the paint to stick, Smith said.
Also Monday:
County Administrator Shannon Wolfe said the house donated to the county animal shelter by the late Dolores Ryan had a high bid of $12,100 on govdeals.com Friday. Commissioners put the house back up for auction when it ended with a high bid of $17,171 earlier this month.
The county bought two ads on the house for a total of $120, Wolfe said. The auction will close July 31.
Smith asked when commissioners can hear about how the county’s cyber security will be updated. Last month, Harrison County paid $1,500 ransom after a cyber attack hit county records. The county did not regain full access to all files.
Wolfe said the county’s technology team is looking into the matter and there will be a report at next week’s commission meeting. Smith said he would rather pay a software firm to provide security than pay ransom.
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