KINGWOOD — Roads and reliable broadband are key to tourism and other industries, the director of the Greater Morgantown Convention and Visitors Bureau (GMCVB) said Monday.
“It really has been detrimental to us here for tourism,” Commission President Craig Jennings said of the condition of county roads.
“There’s usually two things when people say ‘What do you need for tourism?’ when we’re involved with the legislature,” GMCVB Director Susan Riddle said, “roads and consistent broadband. West Virginia can’t be open for business, I don’t care what the business is, if you can’t maintain a signal from one side of town to another.”
She said she has been hearing for weeks about road conditions, with MountainFest approaching this weekend.
Roads are a common thread in Preston Commission meetings this year since commissioners declared a state of disaster due to the disrepair of Preston’s roads. Commissioners also started the North Central Caucus on Roads, with representatives of all counties in the Division of Highways (DOH) District 4 lobbying for better roads.
Wesley Wolfe, of southern Preston County, congratulated commissioners Monday on their efforts to improve roads. He said more skip paving is being done on main roads, but secondary routes like Watson-Criss Road, where he lives, are still ignored.
“I’m still using my tractor to try and clean out the ditches,” and trying to get some gravel put down, Wolfe said.
Wolfe said State Transportation Secretary Tom Smith may be misinformed about what is being done to the roads. He asked commissioners to suggest to the DOH it keep millings when roads are taken up and use them for repairs.
Jennings agreed the “main routes” are looking better but that he doesn’t think anything has been done to other roads.
“We’ll keep after them,” Jennings said.
Riddle was at the meeting to give commissioners her group’s annual report and to ask it to adopt a revised version of the hotel/motel tax ordinance. The GMCVB is asking all towns and counties with the ordinance to adopt the same one, she said.
Lodging tax receipts are up 28 percent ($129,000) over last year, Riddle said. A total of $28.2 million was spent in Preston County during 2016-2017 in the tourism industry, Riddle said.
Commissioners will review the ordinance.
Also Monday, commissioners:
agreed to pay Stone Asphalt, LLC, of Reedsville, $90,321.85 to pave the road to the 911 center. Another$10,400 will be paid Stone for putting the shoulder on the road.
approved Kingwood Water Works’ acquisition of Public Service District 2, pending approval by Kingwood Council.
agreed to Prosecutor Melvin C. Snyder III hiring Amy Bolyard, an experienced legal secretary, for $13 per hour, 35 hours per week, beginning Aug. 1. Snyder said the office needed additional help.
noted someone is still needed to volunteer to serve on the Public Defenders Board. Anyone interested should call the commission at 304-329-1805.
Morgantown Area News
'Friday, April 19, 2024'
