MORGANTOWN — Republican MaryAnn (Babich) Folz is challenging Democrat incumbent Tom Bloom for the Western District seat on the Monongalia County Commission in the November election.
Folz is a political newcomer but a county native. She said her family has farmed county land for more than 100 years. After a 34-year career in corporate America, Folz returned to the family farm in 2022.
Bloom has been a county resident since 1971. He spent 14 years (1987-91) on Morgantown City Council before returning to local politics in 2012, when he was elected to the Monongalia County Commission. He’s seeking this third, six-year term on the body.
Both candidates recently sat down with The Dominion Post Editorial Board to discuss a variety of topics.
Subdivision regulations
Subdivision regulations have been on and off the county’s radar numerous times dating back to 1968.
The issue is a contentious one. As both deal with regulations tied to development, subdivision regulations are often conflated with zoning.
Zoning dictates what you can build in a given location. Subdivision regulations dictate how you support what you build — primarily by addressing roads, water, utilities and other infrastructure.
The most recent effort, now years in process, was set to come before the commission for a first reading in April before being delayed again — this time over concerns about legislative changes to West Virginia Code 8A.
Asked if he supports the regulations, Bloom said he remains undecided and believes the commission is likely split on the issue.
He pointed out that the county currently has four planning districts — West Run, Stewartstown, Cheat Lake and Cheat Neck. Only one, West Run, has elected to set up any type of planning and zoning process.
“The other three have chosen not to do that. There’s a movement right now to do away with the other districts and I’m against that part of it,” he said, explaining that keeping the districts in place allows for future regulation should there be a desire to put it in place.
Folz said she attends the Monongalia County Planning Commission meetings and supports passage of subdivision regulations coupled with more public education about what the regulations are and aren’t.
“Having these kinds of regulations in place really improves the results that a developer creates. The outcomes are better. You have fewer issues with water runoff, in terms of encroachment, in terms of not having enough landscaping. Those issues are taken care of when you have these regulations in place up front,” she said.
Opioid settlement dollars
The county received just over $1 million in its first direct allocation of opioid settlement funds. It’s expecting between $126,284 and $197,250 annually in each of the next five years.
Folz said she believes the commission should open the process of distributing the funds to the community.
“I would like us to hold a public forum to gather input from a lot of our citizens. As I’ve been working around the county and meeting folks, I’ve heard a lot of great ideas,” she said, explaining she’d like to explore pooling money with other counties to create centers for addiction and mental health.
“I’d like to provide more shelters that are specific to individuals’ problems, and I’d like to try, on a low-cost basis, new ideas on a trial-and-error basis to learn what new processes might work.”
Bloom disagrees, at least when it comes to public input.
He said his experience is that very few people show up to such public forums and many of those who do are there with “a chip on their shoulder.”
“I believe what we’ve been doing has been really positive,” he said, noting the commission recently distributed roughly $600,000 of those funds to 13 agencies through a grant process that was open to everybody.
He also noted there are stipulations about how the commission can allocate that money.
“We gave it to organizations, basically, for more housing, more counselors, more therapists and then let them use the funds we give to them,” he said.
Homelessness
Bloom said he was pleased to see Morgantown City Council’s recent vote to adopt a public camping ban.
“I believe this is one of the many steps to move forward in the treatment, housing, addiction and referral services that have been offered into this community,” he said.
Bloom said he’s been working alongside others on these issues for more than a decade and continues to do so.
“Here’s the problem. I’m one person working on this. We really need more productive community engagement; being able to decide and sit down and work together and not just have forums to talk about it or to complain and have divisive commentary,” he said. “There are 285 beds. Lauren’s Wish has had 10 beds open every day. The problem is how do we get those individuals to get the help they need.”
Folz said she believes the city and county find themselves in the situation they’re in because they failed to act “until the problem got to a crisis level.”
“We should have been addressing how we can address shelter issues, addiction issues and mental health issues all along the way. I have gone to several city and county commission meetings and said, ‘City and county, you guys need to be working together’ and gotten nowhere on that,” she said. “The fact we’re in the situation we’re in now is really the responsibility of both the city and county for not having worked together in the past.”
Folz said there’s a need for additional shelter beds and said the city’s camping ban is likely just going to move people beyond the city’s boundaries.
“It’s going to become a county problem, especially at Scott Avenue,” she said.
