MORGANTOWN — It takes a couple minutes to walk from Morgantown City Hall to the Monongalia County Courthouse, but there have been times when leadership within the two buildings seemed a world apart.
Issues like the creation of the city’s Falling Run TIF district, county support for city parks, a sprawling city annexation plan and the county’s hands-off attitude in terms of regulating development have been among the points of contention over the past decade or so.
During a recent work session, the commission sat with new City Manager Jamie Miller, Assistant City Manager Emily Muzzarelli, Mayor Danielle Trumble and Councilor Jenny Selin to discuss, among other things, the current status of the city/county relationship.
“I’m all for communication, and I think communication has been great since I’ve been on [the commission]. There is a myth that we’re always fighting, but I think communication has been great,” Commissioner Sean Sikora said. “We serve on a lot of different entities together, and we always strive to work for our overall citizens because no matter where you’re from in this county, people are going to refer to you as being from Morgantown.”
Commission President Jeff Arnett concurred.
“When I ran for office, I always heard, ‘Oh, what are you going to do to improve relations between the city and county,’ but I personally have found, if anything, that it’s been great so far,” Arnett said. “I don’t know that I’ve seen a great deal of conflict since I’ve been on. Maybe I don’t pay attention as much, but I’d just like to continue that going forward, honestly.”
Miller, who started her tenure with the city in late June, said forming a strong working bond with the county is among her top priorities.
“I just wanted to make sure you all know that I value establishing this relationship as we move forward because I do feel that we are stronger together,” Miller said.
It was noted during the meeting that the city and county are working hand-in-hand on a number of projects and issues, including the East End Village development, the Upper Popenoe Run stream restoration and sewer line replacement project and ongoing efforts to assist community members struggling with addiction, mental health issues and lack of housing.
Muzzarelli said the city is supportive of transportation projects like the Exit 155 redesign and ongoing Holland Avenue improvements as enhancements to corridors into the greater Morgantown area. She requested the commission’s help in staying on top of happenings within the West Virginia Division of Highways.
“Transportation is something that impacts all of us. Probably because of how the rest of the state is set up, generally, whenever the DOH sends out invitations to talk about roads, they send it to the county. Those don’t get trickled down to the city, where we are the ones who are primarily dealing with all of the other roadways,” she said.
Trumble pointed out that with federal funding cuts becoming increasingly common, the city and county need to be sure they’re maximizing taxpayer dollars.
“There are cuts everywhere. Everyone is struggling. The more ways we can find to pool our resources and work together, the better,” Trumble said, using a recent cleanup and painting project under the South High Street Bridge as an example.
“That is DOH property. We got some trash bags from them. We got some paint from the city. We leveraged a couple buckets of paint into multiple days of volunteer work for people who care about this community and want to make it better. We need to keep that momentum going and really make people proud and want to live here and visit here and spend more time here.”
