MORGANTOWN — For the first time since the 2017 election, Morgantown’s 3rd Ward will have the name of a candidate on the ballot who wants to be elected.
Louise Michael.
But you can call her Weezie.
“I actually prefer to go by that. I don’t know how many people even know my name is Louise,” she said. “When I owned a business it was called Weezie’s and so that’s just how I’m always addressed.”
That business, Weezie’s Pub and Club, operated in Star City, then Westover, for a decade or so before Michael sold it in 2014. Since then, she worked primarily at Mylan Pharmaceuticals, and currently as a non-certified campus safety officer with WVU Police, meaning she patrols campus but doesn’t carry a firearm or make arrests.
Michael, 58, was born and raised in Buckhannon. She said she’s lived in Morgantown for about 30 years.
“I love politics and I’ve always been involved in politics. Back in the day, I considered running for a House seat, but with all my work I never really had the time,” she said. “But I decided to run for city council because I don’t like what I’m seeing with the roads, the homelessness. It just seems like Morgantown has changed a lot and maybe needs to be rebooted a little.”
While she concedes many of the roads most in need of attention are state-maintained routes, they still affect the lives of city residents and ultimately, she added, represent a city problem.
“I do think council can impact that. I feel like if we had a better relationship with the state of West Virginia we could maybe get them here to fix our roads,” Michael said. “We all drive on these main roads, and yeah, that’s a state issue, but clearly this city doesn’t have a voice right now in Charleston.”
As for homelessness and challenges downtown, Michael said she’d like to become more familiar with council’s efforts in recent years before commenting on some aspects of the issue.
“One thing I do believe is that we have to get the Morgantown Police Department downtown beat back and established. It was the daily presence of officers who were really well-liked that made it work before,” she said. “I really believe that would help. I think the businesses would appreciate it and I think a familiar presence downtown would be helpful.”
Michael said she’s also in favor of exploring whether the city’s elections should be moved in line with county, state and national elections in an effort to increase turnout.
In 2021, the city saw 1,519 or 7.89% of its 19,246 registered voters get to the polls.
“I do think that’s a good idea, at least to look at it. We can’t continue to have 6 or 7% of the city voting. We’ve got to get that number up,” she said.
Michael went on to say that her primary goal as a newcomer to council will be to engage with her 3rd Ward constituents. She said she wants to initiate regular ward-wide community meetings and cleanup efforts.
“I’m starting it in my ward and I’m hoping we can get it going everywhere in Morgantown. I really want to engage with the people of my ward. I think it’s a good thing. Let’s get together and let’s clean up the garbage,” Michael said. “I’m pretty excited about it actually.”
Council’s 3rd Ward seat has been its own subplot in recent years.
In 2019, Zack Cruze became the first write-in candidate elected to city council after sitting councilor Ryan Wallace’s announcement that he would not serve another term came too near Election Day to have his name removed from the ballot. His was the only name on the ballot and garnered 200 votes despite efforts asking voters not to do so.
Cruze (740) ultimately beat out two other write-in candidates — Wes Nugent (376) and Richard Dumas (132) — to claim the seat.
In March 2021, Cruze resigned the seat to move out of state for work. A couple weeks later, council selected Deborah Bergen out of a slate of five contenders to fill the vacancy for about 100 days, until the 2021 election was held and a new representative was selected.
There were no candidates on the ballot in the 3rd Ward in 2021 election, only write-ins — Ixya Vega and Paul Liller.
Vega defeated Liller 512–400 and has served the last two years. She is not seeking re-election.
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