MORGANTOWN — As one of five candidates interviewed to fill Morgantown City Council’s 1st Ward vacancy, Joe Abu-Ghannam said he wasn’t sure what to expect when council sat in special session Tuesday evening to make its selection.
But judging from his reaction after the meeting, what he wasn’t expecting was to be council’s unanimous choice to fill the seat.
“Really shocked, actually,” Abu-Ghannam said, when asked his initial thoughts on hearing his name put forward by Councilor Bill Kawecki.
“I didn’t know how it was going to go. There were five people up there. I know two of them and they’re really great guys, so I would have been satisfied with anybody representing our neighborhood,” he said. “So when he said it, I was a little shocked, but I’m also excited … I’m kind of at a loss for words.”
Abu-Ghannam, 35, is getting ready to start his second year teaching at Morgantown High School and his seventh teaching for Monongalia County Schools. His wife teaches at South Middle School.
Abu-Ghannam — along with Seth Collins, Jenny Thoma, Michael Bradley and G. Darren Taylor — interviewed for the 1st Ward vacancy created when Patrick Hathaway won the seat in April’s municipal election but ended up unable to serve due to an impending move.
Abu-Ghannam will be sworn in at the start of council’s next regular meeting Aug. 10.
Also on Aug. 10, council is expected to vote on a first reading of rate increases proposed by the Morgantown Utility Board.
Council opted to move the issue forward for consideration on Tuesday, following a presentation from MUB General Manager Mike McNulty and members of MUB’s leadership team.
The increases consist of:
- A 13% water rate increase in all areas served by MUB, except for the area previously served by the River Road Public Service District.
- A 12% sewer rate increase in all areas served by MUB, except for the area served by the Cheat Lake Wastewater Treatment Plant and areas previously served by the Canyon PSD and the Scotts Run PSD.
- An 18% stormwater rate increase in all areas served by MUB.
- A 3% inflationary rate increase for water, sewer and stormwater customers for the fiscal years 2024, 2025 and 2026.
The average customer paying all three increases will see a bimonthly bump of $13.13.
McNulty admitted such topics aren’t popular, but nonetheless necessary. Even with the increases, he added, MUB’s rates are among the state’s lowest.
“Consider the rates for water and sewer in Charleston, Bluefield, Weston, Princeton and Huntington. Those rates are more than double ours. Their water rates alone are more than our water and sewer rates combined, even after the proposed rate changes,” McNulty said.
The last time MUB raised rates was 2016 in order to fund $100 million in upgrades to its Star City Wastewater Treatment Plan and build a $50 million, 370-million gallon reservoir as a backup water source — projects that, according to McNulty, are not only the largest of any public utility in the history of the state, but put Morgantown years ahead of the state’s other utilities.
While Deputy Mayor Danielle Trumble said the timing of the increase could be questioned considering the lingering impacts of COVID-19 on family budgets, she said the service provided by MUB cannot.
“I think I speak for many members of the community in expressing appreciation that residents of Morgantown don’t have be concerned with what’s coming out of our tap when we turn the water on,” she said.
TWEET @DominionPostWV
