Publisher Shari Johnson
Following Monday’s meeting of the Calhoun County Commission and the three water entities involved in the consolidation effort, The Town of Grantsville, Mt. Zion PSD and Pleasant Hill PSD, I pondered the circumstances of that meeting and prior other meetings of this group of individuals. With the exception of the newly appointed Jason Firestine to Mt. Zion’s board, who looked somewhat shellshocked at the abrupt end of Monday’s meeting.
As is always the case when I attend a chaotic government meeting, my heart is broken for our community. The rantings of a few of our elected officials does not represent the community of Calhoun. Perhaps it represents every community in the world by noting there’s always a few crackers in a good nutritional bowl of soup. But after months of struggling with keeping a grip on my own mental health when covering all the adversity, I came to the conclusion that we all needed a come to Jesus moment beginning first with the fact that our community is blessed with some major financial attributions that really had nothing to do with elected officials.
Several years ago, the elected officials had our county in a mess by not allowing anyone outside of a slim group of leaders to have any input in how the County was ran. Poor decisions having been made by both the State and County levels, had the jail bill at astronomical unaffordable prices. The amount of community awareness of what went on with local governmental control of finances could be held in a thimble. Nobody attended a County Commission meeting or a City Council meeting because nobody thought that they could make a difference for the betterment of Calhoun. The same holds true with School Board meetings – – but that’s a story for another day.
But after the almost bankrupt state of Calhoun County, things began to change. The compressor station came in and generated nearly 2 million dollars for our County’s budget. The jail bill was paid and there was actually a surplus of money in Calhoun’s Coffers. The political regime didn’t know what to do, not having to stress financial matters. Then they became a target for people seeking contributions, some worthy, some not.
Three entities who were the recipients of MANY, MANY, MANY of those contributions were the The Town of Grantsville, Mt. Zion PSD and Pleasant Hill PSD.
I requested and received from Calhoun County Clerk Jean Simers a list of the recent (within a few years) payouts and bailouts to those agencies. Take a look below.
$2,082,494.07. That is a come to Jesus moment.
So, when Council Member Courtney Alexander stood before our County Commission and said that the County didn’t have anything in the consolidation, my mind went back to those contributions. Contributions from everyone who pays taxes in Calhoun County. We have a lot invested. So much so, that I think there ought to be representation by someone on that board for the County as a whole. And I sure don’t think that the Town of Grantsville should be permitted to control any of it. Have a voice, of course. But not control.
The mention of ARPA funding Being used for part of the contributions was made, as if that wasn’t “really County money.” That’s a trend that I see all too often in our Nation. Grant money is often viewed as a personal gift, expendable on anything of our hearts desires. After all, it’s not tax money, right? Where do you think that money originated from? Some of it might have come from philanthropic efforts, but most of it came from the money we send the federal government. And even if the money came from someone, rather than the government, someone worked hard for that money. It deserves being handled with care.
There’s a lot riding on this consolidation that most people are not even aware of. It began with the 1982 Foundation, who has invested $10 million dollars into our Community and continues to contribute to multiple non-profits and has given us an audience in Washington, DC that we have never had. There are companies now looking at relocation in Calhoun County, our hospital is expanding and so will their service. We are on the national map as a destination people want to live in and visit. But we’re not ready. We need a viable water system. We need internet by a company that doesn’t forget us the second they cash a billion dollar check. We need available properties and a community that is clean and proud of where they live. We need serious marketing, and we need elected officials that act like they have some sense, and treat the ones that do act professional with respect.
Calhoun County is the best place on earth in my opinion. Because the people who live here (the majority) are hardworking, honest people, who genuinely care for their neighbors and invest themselves with their money and time in the community. They deserve representation that depicts as much.
If you question whether or not your opinion matters. Look at that list of contributions to these agencies again, and remember that you were not asked, but you helped.
I may have looked shellshocked because I was surprised how disorderly the meeting started and how quickly it ended because of that. I have been vocal for 10 years plus trying to warn the locals that they are going to lose control of the water system and service. I’ve seen similar situations and was trying to steer everyone away from that direction. No one took control and no one wanted to be accountable for years of neglect to the system. In the field and in the office. No one asked questions and seemingly no one saw this coming. After the failures, comes the consolidation and after the consolidation comes an outsider taking over. That outsider will be WV American Water or another large company. They can come in after you did the work and consolidated the entities and raised rates, and bail out the towns financially by purchasing the system for a ridiculous amount of money to make it look like a no brainer to sell when an area is lacking finances, ultimately to take control of it and raise rates more. None of that helping the customers. Who will they blame when they take over and raise rates, everyone that isnt there. Which means everyone that is here in Calhoun because they will bring in more outsiders to run operations. I will admit I’m the outsider and the new guy here, but I’m not looking to take over anything. I’ve been looking to assist so you don’t lose control of the area water and services. Check the archives. I don’t play the childish Fakebook bashing people, whining and crying while hoping everything works out. Everyone always blames the people who used to be involved. Not just here, but everywhere. It’s easier to say it was their fault because they are not here anymore while no one says enough, let’s change directions. I was the other guy who interviewed for the managers position in Grantsville to try to change that direction. Out of this entire area, I was 1 of 2 that applied for that position. I wasn’t even contacted by anyone from Grantsville or the Commission to say, hey, we offered the position to the other guy. I found out through the grapevine which runs twisted threw the hills. Would have taken one minute to make that call to an outsider who was trying to help. But check out how many people involved could waste a minute on Fakebook to bicker back and forth accomplishing nothing but divide instead of making a quick call. The other guy didn’t take the position I heard through the grapevine and it will need to be advertised again. Probably for less of a salary after hearing what the towns general fund balance stands at. I wonder how many will be willing to step up into a mess this round. I appreciate the folks in Calhoun who don’t make me feel like an outsider which is everyone. I have family, friends and a great love for this area which is what keeps me here. I want the best for all of you here, but Team Calhoun needs to start acting like Team Calhoun. Thanks to the commission for appointing me to the Mt Zion PSD. Thanks to Ridgeview News, the Calhoun Chronicle and the local grapevine for keeping me in the loop. Thanks to the man, great friends and great neighbors. Stop wasting time on Fakebook, throw away your Television and get out there and do something. Things will be much better for all of us.
Mr. Firestine, I love your heart for the county, and I’m happy too that the Commission appointed you to the Mt. Zion PSD, you’ve always seemed a man of reason and a great depth of knowledge about the water department. I started to message you the night they hired Drennen but didn’t feel it was my place and knew that you would likely read the Ridgeview report. I am baffled that the city didn’t think it necessary to call you, but not surprised, after all they don’t feel it’s their responsibility to contact anyone about anything. Please don’t give up on Calhoun. I believe God is doing a great work, and he’s putting people and companies in place to bring Calhoun County out of this mess. Perhaps you are one.
There are some things I am adjusting to in Calhoun with the communications. I did not know about the meeting today until our special meeting today because I’m not part of the Facebook crowd, but I do feel that things were more teamlike today than they were Monday and that is great. I definitely haven’t given up on Calhoun. I guess after 10 plus years of being here I’m just getting started in other ways. We all can do better I’m confident that we will continue to move forward as a team and do better everyday. All we can do is keep getting better if we can work together