60% Increase Passes as Mayor Denies Public Accountability

The Mayor and Grantsville Town Council met for their September 3rd, 2024 meeting with a packed room for those wondering as to what was going to occur with the 60% water rate increase, for which the Mayor for a second time brought forward.

Robin Mersh of the 1982 Foundation addressed the city council regarding the installation of a new meter on the Foundation property as well as the running of lines.

Town resident Mary Mullenex brought sidewalk damages needing repaired to the Town’s attention, to which the Mayor responded that “they” targeted areas of need and would address hers when they had opportunity.

James Rymer of the West Virginia Public Service Commission (who had recommended a 78.5% increase) spoke several times throughout the meeting in defense of the Town of Grantsville’s request for the 60% increase and the Mayor’s work toward the Operating and Maintenance Agreement with the Mt. Zion Public Service District and Pleasant Hill Public Service District. It seems the Mayor’s contesting of the consolidation in previous months was just a bad dream, and those of us who attended the meetings with him were in error.

Mayor Robert Petrovsky addressed what he called “Misinformation” on social media and the public petitions to deny the rate increase, insinuating that there was political motivation behind it all. He defended his rate increase request by stating that the Town had a shortfall of $54,000 for the previous year which would not allow them to continue sustainability. When questioned as to why the public had never been given this information, he and the council stated that the information had been made known on several occasions by the Town of Grantsville during their previous meetings.

When questioned as to why they didn’t make the media aware of the their meetings they informed Gaylen Duskey, the Calhoun Chronicle Editor and Shari Johnson, Ridgeview News Publisher, that they did everything within their legal right so far as making the public aware. Mr. Duskey responded very well when he said they “May be doing what’s legal, but they weren’t doing what’s ethical.”

Throughout the meeting there were multiple figures tossed about and the mention of the fact that the Mayor didn’t understand all there was to know about a profit and loss statements. An earlier request for financial documents was met with the response that they couldn’t release them because they were presently incorrect, but local accountant Doug Westfall would be helping the City make sense of it all.

When asked how far in the hole the Town of Grantsville was, the Mayor told the crowd they were currently $280,000 in the hole because of the inflation, lack of previous maintenance and years of financial deficits.

Those in the crowd, who have for months questioned the Town of Grantsville’s transparency, asked why the customer’s were never made to be aware of the Town’s fiscal condition, for which the Council once again defended themselves by stating that “everyone knew” who wanted to know.

This is where Ridgeview News derailed.

Mayor Robert Petrovsky stated that Ridgeview News wasn’t anything more than a blog, and he was under no obligation to inform me of anything because I had never requested an interview of him. I have not. Nor will I for the following reasons, which were apart of my derailment, high blood pressure and possible heart pains last night that drove me to my on camera rant which can be viewed on Ridgeview’s Facebook page.

After the mayor made reference several times last night to the “phenomenal new operators” of the Water plant and the previous State of the water system (for which my husband and his good friend were over), I could no longer keep quiet.

Under the supervision of the Mayor, the two operators for which the mayor threw under the bus last night in accusations, were guilted and forced to work on salary wages, seven days a week. Both men had no time with their family, and stress beyond what anyone can imagine because of the mismanagement of the Town, not by the operators, but their superiors. And yet, Mayor Petrovsky, who should have given them an award for their contributions beyond reason, chose rather to belittle them.

So yes, call me a blog, I don’t care. But I could not sit idly by and watch you lie, and pretend that you are the town’s hero, when, if you’d have been asked by your previous federal employer to do what David Johnson and Craig Gherke did, you would have told the feds to stick it.

So this article comes to a close with the Mayor having gotten “HIS” 60% increase with the entire Town Council’s blessing.