By Gaylen Duskey
Let me preface this by saying there is no way on God’s green earth the people serving as the governing body for Grantsville, W.Va.. should govern one more minute until a forensic audit is done of the town’s finances and a criminal investigation is done on other reported instances going on with the town. Period!!!
Until this mess is straightened out the people in charge need to be removed from being in charge. The state needs to step in and take over. The people of Grantsville deserve it as do the people of Calhoun County.
I know right now there is talk of removing Grantsville corporation charter and it can be done easier than most people think. I say it is too soon for the nuclear option needed to clean things up with the town government by wiping out the town government, but we need to take steps to straighten things out now. And when we do clean things up we need to take steps to see things like this never ever happen again. And here’s how to do it.
We need to go to a metro government and hire a town administrator just like the county hired an administrator and it has worked out wonderfully. Period.
Frankly after getting a taste of a professional administrator handling the day-to-day operation of the county while reporting to the county commission I cannot see any logical reason not to have a metro government.
None.
Especially when the town government has made a mess out of virtually everything it has attempted to do recently, even going so far as refusing to pay a professional administrator to run the water department as part of an OAS agreement with the Pleasant Hill Public Service District and the Mount Zion Public Service District when the county had given the town the money to do it.
The administrator they hired has filed suit which he will probably win and there is talk of allowing a private company – not West Virginia Water despite foolish rumors spawned by naysayers – take over.
Why?
Because the town government did not do what it was supposed to do. And that is sad.
But that is what happens when you make foolish decisions with massive amounts of money.
When money is earmarked for one thing then spend it on that one thing only. It’s just that simple. But let’s not kill off the Town of Grantsville. At least not yet.
Let’s go the moderate route and form a metro government and let professional people do their jobs. It just makes sense.
