The City of Westover is interested in joining dozens of municipalities in West Virginia taking advantage of Home Rule.
“We’re looking at going before the Home Rule board to make the city of Westover a Home Rule municipality,” Westover City Clerk Sandie Weis explained during Monday’s meeting of Westover City Council.
“That would give us some leverage to make some rules of our own and to be able to go against some of the legislature that makes it harder for us to do our jobs.”
Home Rule began as a four-city pilot program in 2007 with the goal of giving the state’s municipalities freedom within the law to tackle unique challenges.
In October 2014, the pilot cities of Bridgeport, Charleston, Huntington and Wheeling were joined by 16 additional municipalities, including Morgantown, as part of the expanded program.
As of January 2019, Home Rule is permanent, and now has 57 municipalities participating, according to the West Virginia Department of Revenue.
The city of Morgantown has used Home Rule to address a variety of issues ranging from the granting of arrest powers to fire marshals to the implementation of a 1% municipal sales tax.
Weis said the latter could also be beneficial to Westover.
“We’re working on getting a narrative together and a whole packet. It’s a lot of work, but it would be worth it in the long run. It would allow us to charge sales tax as well. We’d be able to collect a 1% sales tax,” she said. “There are an awful lot of municipalities, some I’ve never heard of before, that are already in Home Rule and are already collecting sales tax. It could mean a lot of money to the city.”
City Attorney Tim Stranko said city administration will present council with a plan and seek its approval before moving forward.
In other Westover news, Jeanni Answorth and Debi Beard, representing the Morgantown Pickleball Club, asked the city to give its pickleball courts a little TLC.
Beard said Westover’s courts are one of only two outdoor spots available for a rapidly growing following of pickleball enthusiasts. She also noted they’re falling into disrepair.
Mayor Bob Lucci said the city intends to address some of the issues with the courts this summer and has budgeted $120,000 in the 2024 budget for a much larger project next year.
“We know a lot of people use it. We know it’s important. We know it’s a great, growing trend with all the people that use it, and we’re glad that you can and that we have a facility like that,” he said. “You’re just going to have bear with us some.”
