MORGANTOWN — WestRidge, work orders and what happens when the person who takes care of “that thing,” retires or goes on vacation.
So went Tuesday night’s special session on facilities management for the Monongalia County Board of Education.
Mon’s burgeoning growth was a key topic.
Each new subdivision with each young family regarding the foyer of a new split-level carries the possibility of a kindergarten spike that fall for the closest school.
The challenge, board member Mike Kelly said, comes with trying foresee where a developer might build — and if the project lives up to its sales pitch.
Or, location, location, location, in (three) other words.
“I’m wondering if we can’t get Realtors on board,” he said. “They can tell us what people are asking for.”
It’s also a matter of what might potentially bring people in, such as the aforementioned WestRidge.
The mixed-use enterprise is putting down footers along Interstate 79, from Granville to Westover.
WestRidge’s biggest tenant to date is Leidos, a Fortune 500 high-tech company building a Morgantown branch there.
With its exposed steel beams, polished concrete floors — pool table and caffeine bar, standard — Leidos said a hipster-aesthetic will be incorporated into every bit of the building’s 30,000 square feet.
The idea, they say, is to bring a little bit of Silicon Valley to Almost Heaven.
With entry-level engineering jobs that offer a median pay of $76,000 a year, that also means that people might want to stay, get married and have a family once they get here.
Which means their kids will go to school here.
While Mon’s schools are nearing capacity, they are holding steady — save for enrollment surges at Morgantown High School and University High.
Whether to build new or to add on goes back to Kelly’s musings.
Not to mention daily upkeep in the meantime.
Assistant Superintendent Donna Talerico said maintenance staff handles about 14,000 work orders of varying complexity a year.
Which got Board President Ron Lytle to thinking about scheduled maintenance obligations for equipment and other inventory.
And, whether computer reminders could be programmed in — say, if a longtime custodian retires and a new hire moves in.
“That way you don’t have this ‘book’ that no one is ever gonna look at,” he said.
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