MORGANTOWN – Granville Mayor Patty Lewis said she had a list of questions about House Bill 4080 lined up for a Friday morning call with the West Virginia Municipal League.
As it turns out, she didn’t need them … at least not yet.
The bill that would require West Virginia’s municipalities to hold partisan elections for city/town council, and mandate mayors be elected by majority vote and not appointed by council members from within their ranks, was pulled from the House Judiciary Committee agenda.
“There were just so many questions,” Lewis said. “If you’re holding partisan elections, are you doing a primary election and then a general election in November? For us, our terms run July to June. If there’s a primary and a general election, do we have to change our terms to start with the calendar year? Then that brings in a whole new council in the middle of a budget.”
While Lewis said she doesn’t see the need for council candidates to note political affiliation, she’s not overly bothered by that requirement, noting, “that’s pretty much public information.”
“The bill did not say that we would be required to do both [primary and general] elections, but yet, if you read through it, you’d almost be required to do that. I don’t know why they would want to put that burden on a lot of small towns in West Virginia. We have a hard enough time getting people to run for council. I don’t know what the purpose of it was to begin with. I don’t know what the thought process was.”
Unlike Granville, Westover and Star City, each of which already have separate mayoral races decided by the voters, Morgantown operates under a city manager form of government in which the city manager is the chief executive and the city council selects a mayor annually from among its members.
HB 4080 would eliminate mayoral appointment as an option, requiring a separate election for the seat.
On that point, at least, current Morgantown Mayor Danielle Trumble agrees. Trumble has been a vocal proponent of the city having an elected mayor dating back to before her appointment in July.
“I think that Morgantown is of the size and status that an elected mayor would be in the city’s best interest. Other people on city council don’t necessarily feel that way,” Trumble said.
Across the four municipalities in the area, there are three different ways of conducting business.
In Morgantown, the mayor is appointed by, and is a voting member of, the seven-member council. In Westover and Star City, the mayor is chosen by voters in a separate race to be a voting member of council – one of seven members in Westover, and five in Star City. In Granville, the mayor is elected in a separate race and is not one of five voting council members.
In terms of partisan races, Trumble agrees with Lewis that party affiliation is already public information in the age of the Internet.
She also has similar questions about whether primary elections would be in play, and if so, how the longer election cycle would not only impact the willingness of candidates to participate, but the term dates of those elected.
Further, Trumble said adding party affiliation to city council contests will further muddy the waters for municipal elections – particularly as cities move their elections in line with counties as required by Senate Bill 50, which was adopted by the legislature in 2025.
“My day-to-day job just does not require my stance on Medicare and all of those partisan issues. I’m not under the illusion that when I’m running for city council, people don’t know what my political party is. Maybe it would be different in a race for mayor, but for council people, I’m more interested in what your plans are for the city; what your thoughts are and what your ideas are,” Trumble said. “As soon as we start putting letters next to the name, people will start making a lot of assumptions and you’re going to get lost in the politics of everything and not learn anything about the actual person.”
Speaking of Senate Bill 50, Trumble pointed out that Morgantown’s move to the county primary ballot is still facing a potential charter crisis due to the way that legislation was written.
Changing a municipality’s election requires a change to its charter. It only takes one resident opposing a charter change to force it onto a ballot. If the majority of voters don’t support the change – in this instance, moving city elections in line with county primaries – the city is stuck between violating its charter or the law.
While Granville, Westover and Star City already made the move without opposition, Morgantown officials have been told that there will be at least one objection filed when the city moves forward.
During its December sit-down with local legislators, city leadership said addressing that potential conflict was among its top legislative priorities. As of yet, there’s been no legislation introduced that would do so.
“We’re still trying to figure out how the heck to comply with last year’s election changes, and here they are right back trying to push more,” Trumble said.
