MORGANTOWN — Morgantown City Councilor Ixya Vega announced Tuesday that council’s May 16 meeting will be her last.
She became emotional as she shared the news that she will be moving back to Chicago to be with her family.
“There’s a lot of changes going on in my family and I have been living in Morgantown by myself for seven years,” she said. “I have no family here; no cousins, no aunts, uncles or anything like that. So, I’ve made the decision to make my move.”
Vega was elected to a two-year term as a write-in candidate in 2021 and did not seek a second term in last week’s municipal election.
Her term officially ends June 30.
Louise “Weezie” Michael was unopposed in the 3rd Ward on the city’s April 25 ballot and will be sworn in with the new council on July 1 or shortly thereafter.
Vega said the announcement was made in an effort to be transparent about the fact that she won’t be staying until her term officially ends.
She went on to say that her departure won’t be an issue in terms of the city’s charter, which says council must fill any vacant council seat within 30 days of the vacancy or hold a special election.
The timeline to initiate such an election would be well after Vega’s term has ended and Michael has been sworn in.
In other election-related news, Councilor Bill Kawecki joined his colleagues in thanking City Clerk Christine Wade for her efforts in the recent city election, then offered a bit of commentary on recent discussion about the idea of the city moving its standalone election in-cycle with the county-run elections.
Star City has already made that move starting with the 2024 primary. Westover is about to begin that process.
Kawecki said he bristles at the suggestion Morgantown should do likewise.
“What it does is removes the importance of local government, local initiative and local issues and turns it into something that becomes more partisan in terms of national influence; and things get lost and it shouldn’t because it’s important here in your community,” he said, noting a better alternative would be for city residents to pay attention to the issues and participate.
“I sincerely hope the idea of moving the elections away from being city only doesn’t really gain momentum, although I really do fear there are people who are naïve enough to believe that simply because they can turn out more people that they’ll get a better product,” he said. “That’s not what we’re after. We’re after the best product we can get.”
Also on Tuesday, Assistant City Manager Emily Muzzarelli said the $1,267,011 Walnut Street streetscape project between Spruce and High streets likely won’t get under construction until spring 2024 at the earliest.
Council approved a supplemental agreement with the state pertaining to about $300,000 of that project’s funding — $60,000 of which will come as a local match from the city.
She added that the $1,478,524 Pleasant Street streetscape project between University Avenue and Spruce Street is slated to begin in July.
Both projects will include the construction and repair of sidewalks, tree pits and pedestrian-scale lighting. The Walnut Street project will also address underground vaults beneath the sidewalks.
“We’re all very excited about that. Everyone else may not be with the additional construction, but it’ll be good to get both of these projects moving forward. Especially Walnut Street,” Muzzarelli said, noting the original grant awarded in support of the Walnut Street work came in 2012.
