FAIRMONT – Shae Strait was enthused and invested last fall as he talked about renewed marketing efforts for the city of Fairmont.
It was hard not to be happy, the city planner said.
After all, he said, Fairmont is in the midst of a developmental renaissance – or at least the first solid attempts at one in several decades.
Over those years, the Marion County municipality has seen its economic fortunes wax and wane while Morgantown and Clarksburg next door have both prospered.
Now, Fairmont is attempting in earnest to bring back its flagging Beltline District.
The city is hoping to transform the once-bustling commercial strip of now-abandoned factories and businesses long gone into a Fairmont version of Morgantown’s Wharf District – which successfully underwent the same in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
“If you’re a company or family moving in, what are the first things you look at?” Strait asked then.
“Well, you look at what people say you look at,” he said, answering his own question.
“You look at roads and schools and housing. You look at medical facilities and recreation facilities.”
If Fairmont can indeed bolster the Beltline, Strait won’t be there to see it. At least not in an official capacity.
He was fired from his job last Thursday by City Manager Travis Blosser over allegations of insubordination. Strait, though, is alleging simple retaliation, in turn.
That’s over a blanket refusal, he said, to carry out what he’s terming as “unlawful directives” which he says came down in the course of his job over the past several months.
“I tried to do the right thing and I was fired for it,” he wrote in a social media post over the weekend announcing his departure.
“Standing up for your beliefs and holding people accountable causes friction,” he continued in that post.
Strait didn’t share specifics – only to say that he had repeated and unresolved discussions with the city before putting his complaints and concerns in the form of a letter dated June 26.
His employment was terminated July 9.
The city declined comment, also, saying in an email from communications director David Kirk that it “doesn’t discuss personnel issues.”
“It’s unfortunate for both of us,” Strait told The Dominion Post on Monday evening.
For his part, he said he mostly enjoyed his time working with the city and that he wants the Beltline project and others he was part of to be successful.
“The opportunity to serve a city such as Fairmont is amazing,” said Strait, who served in similar roles in Huntington and his hometown of Shinnston. He also did several tours as a technical engineer in the U.S. Army National Guard.
“Fairmont is one of those places that just has so much potential,” he continued.
In addition to the Beltline effort, the city recently partnered with Fairmont State University for a planned flood mitigation project along Locust Avenue in the school’s neighborhood.
Strait said he’s already received a couple of job offers – “I’m grateful for that” – and that he’d like to stay in the Mountain State for work.
Meanwhile, the city has tapped longtime building inspector Scott Jolliff as Strait’s interim replacement.
