County Commission Candidates Have Their Say

The Observer’s David Lillard posed several questions to each of the candidates for the two open seats on the Jefferson County Commission. The candidates gave their answers in writing. Because the recently approved zoning ordinance remains an important issue to voters, we focused primarily on it. Each candidate’s interview concludes with a missive on an issue of their choice.

Harpers Ferry District
Widmyer vs. Williams vs. Ashbaugh

Lyn Widmyer
Have you read the new zoning ordinance?
I have focused on the environmental chapter, permitted uses by zone, density and floor area standards and most of all the Business Park zone because I think nurturing employment is critical to our future. Unfortunately, the business park zone fails to incorporate new trends in mixed use and promotes big buildings surrounded by a sea of parking.

What do you like and dislike about it?
The good: Supports farming and farmers; provides incentives for affordable housing and historic preservation; strengthens environmental protection; concentrates development around towns and cities.

The bad: Outdated business park zone; confusing and contradictory development requirements; no written rationale for the zoning map.

The ugly: Defeat of the new ordinance at the polls could result in Jefferson County having NO zoning at all. This would only benefit real estate and land speculators and hurt county tax payers.

Will/have you signed a petition to put it to referendum?
No. I do not need a $100,000 special referendum to tell me we need to fix the ordinance. I already know that. We need to keep the good parts and correct the weaknesses. This needs to be done with public input and involvement.

Will you vote for or against if it goes to referendum
This is a vote on zoning and I support zoning. I am not going to vote to defeat the current ordinance (even though it is flawed) and risk losing zoning altogether.

Tell our readers about one issue that is important to you.
We have come through two decades of growth without enough emphasis on the public interest. We have thousands of built or approved to be built homes without enough parks, open space, roads, environmental safeguards or jobs.

As a retired park planner, I am particularly interested in more parks for Jefferson County.  Our park system is inadequate for the people already living here much less those who will come in the future. The 2004 Comprehensive Plan for Jefferson County recommended preparation of a park master plan. It’s been almost five years and we still have no park plan. As a result, we have missed a wonderful opportunity to create a park system as part of the development review process. Instead of getting usable park areas, developers have been allowed to count stormwater management ponds and floodplain as “parkland.”

We need a Park master plan and we need it now. Unlike my opponents, I support impact fees, a portion of which go to the acquisition and development of parkland. The allocation of these funds needs to be guided by an overall vision for parkland in the county.

As I go door to door in this campaign, residents of new subdivisions tell me they wish they had more parks, bike paths and trails to enjoy the beauty of Jefferson County. I agree and the first step is preparation of a park master plan.

Melodie Williams
Have you read the new zoning ordinance?
Yes, but am still studying it!

What do you like and dislike about it?
I like the graphics and think the whole thing should be formatted in a more visual way. I think when you have commissioners saying it’s too complicated for the layperson, my question becomes, then why would they pass this knowing that most people cannot understand it?

Will/have you signed a petition to put it to referendum?
I will.

Will you vote for or against if it goes to referendum?
As it stands now, I would vote against it. One example: The farmer is not being treated right. If the county wants it to stay [agricultural] and the farmer wants to cash out, the county should pay him market value. And the farmer in turn would be reassessed at residential tax rate.

Tell our readers about an issue that is important to you.
I think the foundation needs to be laid stronger. What happens when you start chipping away the foundation of a building? Let’s get back to basics so our citizens can be the beneficiaries.

Basics like organization of the commission, starting with communication. Utilize technology methods like the website. Have on the website our mission statement. Something like, “Jefferson County partnering with it’s citizens to preserve our natural resources, namely our citizens our most valuable resource!” Have a county slogan for cohesiveness like, “Jefferson County: the place where dreams are lived.”

Also on this website, communicate all the resources available in Jefferson County to include civic organizations, starting a business, calendar of events, monthly electronic newsletter, etc.
This would allow our commuters to have access at their fingertips.

Also, for good two-way communication, have coffee with the commissioners in a different district each month.

Other basics like “systematization.” Running things as a “business-minded government.” Systematize repetitive processes for more effective government, and hence happier citizens — since things can get done while at the same time tax expenditures are cut.

Basics, like congenial relationships with the municipalities and agencies.  It seems the county was trying to stop growth, and it seeped out the sides to our municipalities. So we need to work with our municipalities as we design our cities and towns. From my military experience, we called it esprit de corp.

Basics like making citizens a top priority. In one respect this is shown by accountability of taxpayer dollars. Frivolous lawsuits are not acceptable in my book. I would gauge decisions by evaluating whether this is in the best interest of the majority of our citizens and does it go along with our plans & mission.

Basics like economic development. Let’s build bridges to our citizens who want to better their lives by starting businesses or having decent paying jobs available right here, so our citizens can make their dreams a reality in Jefferson County.

With the basics in place the people’s business will be attended to more efficiently and citizens lives enhanced. Quality of life will be preserved in Jefferson County.

Paul Ashbaugh was invited to participate but declined to respond.

Kabletown District
Patsy Noland vs. Frank Kubic

Frank Kubic
Have you read the new zoning ordinance?
Yes!

 What do you like and dislike about it?
Land-zoning is a good thing, if the people are given a chance to say they understand it or why? Land-zoning is a bad thing if the property owner’s rights and other loser’s rights and privileges are not discussed truthfully with the losers, as required under the Sate and U.S. Constitutions.

Will you vote for or against if it goes to referendum?
Yes, if I understand it! No, if I do not understand it! If I become a commissioner? I will not vote for anything that I do not understand! How can a retired methods engineer and living epigrammatist do otherwise?

Tell our readers about an issue that is important to you.
Our children’s independence and communal right and privileges in the future are the criteria that our elected officials must learn to respect and to cherish. Independence is the habitat for the survival of the human race, is it not?

History: Land-zoning in the United States was invented in Boston [circa] 1890–1900 to prevent nuisances between landowners, then went to Baltimore, and became a super big political issue in 1914 in New York City (the justification was then expanded to include public services, like police stations, libraries, and trolley roads). Under Herbert Hoover . . . the Supreme Court declared land-zoning legal.

Land-zoning was never intended to determine who shall become wealthy and who shall become poor because of land development. Many West Virginians (I am one) harbor a fierce and honorable love for independence, and respect communicable services.

Yet I believe land-zoning is essential in many communities and municipalities for peace and contentment. Is Jefferson County a municipality? It provides no water, sewage, electrical, health care, or job opportunity services that I know about.

Land-zoning is awful when it causes hate and violence, as was demonstrated in Washington, D.C., and in the Bronx 35 years ago; also as was demonstrated in Paris during the French Revolution over 200 years ago.

Patsy Noland
Have you read the new zoning ordinance?
Yes.

What do you like and dislike about it?
One of the positive aspects of the ordinance is that it provides regulations that make the long term provision of affordable house a part of the land-use ordinance.  Given the cost of housing in Jefferson County and the lack of affordable housing for our local workforce, this is an issue that I feel is of great importance. Local workforce wages have not kept up with the increase in the cost of living in Jefferson County in recent years. We continue to lose some of our best workers to higher paying jobs in surrounding states because the cost of living has reached the point where higher salaries are necessary to be able to own a home here. I believe that affordable housing costs will help keep those folks employed right here in Jefferson County.

One of the negative aspects of the ordinance is that it is too long and very cumbersome to read. It is for that reason that most homeowners will not take the time to read it until such a time as they are impacted by it. In addition, the document is defective.  The defects should have been corrected prior to the county commission approving the ordinance.

Will/have you signed a petition to put it to referendum?
I have signed the petition to put the zoning ordinance before our citizens for a vote.  I believe that the current commissioners should have given voters the opportunity for our residents who will be affected by the ordinance to give it their approval.

Will you vote for or against if it goes to referendum?
Had the County Commission addressed the defects that exist in the ordinance prior to adoption, I would have voted for it. However, I cannot support the Land Use Ordinance as it is currently written. I cannot support a defective document.

Tell our readers about an issue that is important to you.
While it is very difficult to choose just one county issue that is important to me, the most immediate is addressing the budget issues, and creating a sustainable financial plan for the future of Jefferson County.

For the past few years, there has not been a spending plan in place. We must review and prioritize how tax dollars are spent. I would like to see us get back to using the tax dollars that we receive to run our county government as other counties in West Virginia do. We have come to depend too much on the proceeds from video lottery terminals to run county government. I believe that video lottery proceeds should be used to improve services.

We have created too much government for the amount of tax revenue that we are taking in. One example is that entire departments have been created where the addition of just one employee could have gotten the job done. Furthermore, thousands of dollars have been spent on studies that have never been utilized or considered.

A review of county commission departments and the services those departments provide to our citizens must be undertaken in order to provide and maintain a more efficient local government.