MORGANTOWN — Kevin Dailey is seeing red, literally.
Dailey appeared before the Monongalia County Commission on Wednesday to ask the body for assistance in getting the attention of the West Virginia Division of Highways and/or Department of Environmental Protection regarding rust-colored mine runoff flooding his Richard-area properties.
According to The Dominion Post archive — the paper reported on this very issue in 2017 — the problem is not runoff from the Richard Mine, which sits behind Dailey’s property, but from the also-abandoned Rock Forge Mine, which sits on the other side of W.Va. 7.
Dailey said he’s been dealing with red water in the basements of his properties since about 2005.
But when the water is particularly heavy, or when the DOH-designed leech bed and drainage infrastructure is left unchecked, red water backs up through the road surface, flooding driveways and yards.
That, he said, is the current situation, adding that he’s aware of the DOH clearing the system twice since 2017. He’s been unable to make any headway on his own.
“This red ooze is coming up. Silver oxide is coming up. We replace sump pumps at least once a year in these basements. We’ll deal with that. But I can’t have this stuff running into my driveway. I can’t access my property,” he said.
Also on Wednesday, the commission signed off on the polling locations, poll workers and rates, and early voting sites for the upcoming May 10 primary election.
“It is that time of year again,” Monongalia County Clerk Carye Blaney said, noting her office will begin sending out absentee ballots this week.
“So anyone who is interested or needs to get an absentee ballot for the primary election can apply for one now and those will begin to start getting sent out this Friday,” she said.
While voters who are immunocompromised or are of advanced age can still request an absentee ballot citing medical illness, Blaney said language citing fear of COVID-19 as a reason to vote absentee has been removed.
Blaney presented a list including 156 poll workers as provided by the Republican and Democratic executive committees.
Compensation for poll workers has been increased to $272, including Election Day ($222) and training ($50).
Early voting will begin April 27 and will be held at the county’s election center in the Mountaineer Mall as well as Mason-Dixon Historical Park, Westover’s VFW Post 9916 and the former Urtz Dodge location in Pierpont Landing.
Due to redistricting, the number of voting precincts in the county has increased to 43 while the number of poll locations is down to 26.
The county pays rent of $100 per day for each early-voting and Election Day location. In the case of poll locations held in schools, that money is used to pay custodians.
TWEET @DominionPostWV
