MORGANTOWN — A systematic, statewide problem in which transparency takes a back seat to whomever has the ear of the highest ranking member of the Justice administration.
That’s how Morgantown Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization Executive Director Bill Austin and Brian Carr, the West Virginia Division of Highways representative on the MPO Policy Board, described the state’s decision-making process when it comes to road projects.
This state “problem” ultimately led to a very local shouting match during Thursday’s MPO Policy Board meeting after County Commission President Tom Bloom accused Morgantown Mayor Bill Kawecki, Deputy Mayor Jenny Selin — who is also the MPO Policy Board Chairperson — and, to some degree, Austin, of acting unilaterally to change the DOH’s thinking in regard to a $10 million plan to build a roundabout on Green Bag Road.
Bloom said he was annoyed to hear Kawecki publicly discuss changes to the DOH’s Green Bag Road plans — specifically that the project is being delayed for an environmental assessment — before the information was brought back to the policy board. Bloom explained that he felt those actions “undermined the entire process of the MPO.”
Further, Bloom asked why a meeting between Kawecki, Selin, Austin and the DOH described to the board beforehand as being specifically about incorrect descriptions for projects on Van Voorhis Road and Beechurst Avenue resulted in major changes to the Green Bag Road plans.
He then asked the chair to compel Kawecki to explain why Green Bag Road was discussed at the meeting in Charleston with the DOH and how the changes came about, saying, “If he doesn’t, it’s going to get ugly.”
Kawecki explained the information he presented about Green Bag Road both during the July 16 city council meeting and a subsequent appearance on The Talk of the Town radio program was shared informally by a DOH representative without prompting after the meeting.
He said the issue wasn’t mentioned during the meeting with the DOH and wasn’t brought up by himself, Selin or Austin. Kawecki said he didn’t fully understand Bloom’s objections, and after some increasingly intense exchanges asked, “What’s wrong with you, Tom?”
Kawecki later added, “You say it’s going to get ugly. Yeah. It is. You’re right. You’re making it so.”
Both Selin and Austin corroborated Kawecki’s comments about the meeting, as did Carr, who was also in attendance.
Carr said the fact is nobody is exactly sure how these changes — like the delay and potential redesign of the Green Bag Road project — come about. He said that it’s not uncommon to get one set of marching orders from Charleston, only to have them change without explanation, or seemingly, any process.
“This is a routine problem statewide,” Carr said, adding that plans last as long as it takes for someone to get the right person on the phone. “ … If the next morning a county commissioner from Wood County or a city councilman in Kanawha County calls up Secretary Byrd [White] and says, ‘Hey, I got a question,’ then guess what? All the information that I had, that I thought I knew, it’s no longer valid. It happens routinely. Every day. Every county.”
Austin said his understanding is the Federal Highways Administration stepped in to delay the Green Bag Road project after receiving public correspondence, including “letters that were received from a local elected official.”
Ultimately, Austin said, “As long as it’s subject to the whims of whoever is able to get the ear of the proper person in Charleston, and it’s not a transparent process, then we will have all these issues, because someone will always have the ear of the governor, and the MPOs and other jurisdictions within the MPOs around the state will always be undermined.”
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