Although delayed a few days by weather, the Grantsville Town Council met Friday evening at 6 p.m. on January 10th, 2025 for their first meeting of the new year. Winter weather was likely the cause of low attendance with the exception of the Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department members.
Recorder Emily Collins presented the list of State holidays and the meeting schedule for 2025 to the four council members present: Cheryl Sturms, Linda Staton, Emilee Morgan and Rissa Staples and Mayor Robert Petrovsky.
At the beginning of the meeting one council seat remained vacant. Every position is open for Grantsville citizens to file for the coming June 2025 Town Government Election. Filing opens Monday, January 13th through the 25, 2025. Individuals can file from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. during business hours in the Town Office on Main Street in Grantsville. Filing Fees are $15.00 for a Council seat, $25.00 for Recorder and $50.00 for Mayor and must be filed in person.
Under Committee reports Cheryl Sturm informed those present that a list of donors to the City Park effort had been delivered to the Calhoun Gilmer Career Center to create a 4’ x 4’ galvanized steel sign as well as a 2’x 4’ sign with the park rules cut out of the steal.
There was no new or unfinished business, however the Mayor did say that the Committee working on the O&M agreement between the County and City utilities would meet again on Friday, January 17th, 2025. No time was provided.
Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department members appeared before the council regarding recent interaction with the Mayor and alleged threats that the Town of Grantsville was suing the Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department over illegal use of water, by providing water to a private citizen to fill a cistern.
The Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department, who willingly donate thousands of hours and dollars of their own families budgets to provide fire protection to the citizens of Calhoun County stood before the Grantsville City Council having to defend helping a citizen while being accused of theft of a public utility.
Courtney Alexander, who was later appointed to the vacant seat of the Town Council dressed down the Fire Department members regarding the law and their lack of respect for officials. The video of this event is available on Facebook on the Ridgeview News site.
The Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department building has one meter at the building logging the water use of the Department Meeting area. The other unmetered area is that providing water to fill the fire trucks. The meter to the inside the building is mechanically unreadable. Which the town hasn’t bothered to fix. The two inch meter inside the truck bay does not get read. The Mayor is now demanding the records of how the Fire Department has used the unmetered water, making accusations that they are stealing from a public utility by providing an occasional (very rarely) tank of water to a citizen in need whether for drinking or cattle or helping one volunteer fire department member fill their pool. The wholesale value of 2,000 gallons of water is probably about $20.00. The Mayor is willing to risk the loss of every volunteer fire department member because they’re tired of the community’s failure to recognize their value.
This is highly ironic with an unscrutinized city service fee of $10.00 per month that is charged to every utility customer in the Town of Grantsville, being said that the fee goes for police and fire protection as well as the street department. Yet the town of Grantsville has not provided one cent to the Grantsville Fire Department for decades of fire coverage, assistance at keeping the town clean, and flushing sewer lines when they’re plugged off. Nor do they have a police officer. They’re excuse is that no one applies because they (the City) can’t afford to pay a decent wage, while the Calhoun Sheriff’s Department and West Virginia State Police are forced to provide protection and not given one cent of the money collected by the Town of Grantsville. How is that not illegal use of a public utility?
The members of the Grantsville Volunteer Fire Department Board questioned the Mayor as to his intention against them, because they would be in need of hiring an attorney. The Mayor informed them that he was unsure of where the “investigation” would lead for which he was “forced to pursue by a citizens complaint.”
This is where the County citizens need to step up. The Mayor of Grantsville is placing your home and life at risk for a political stance, once again proving that the County Seat officials matter.
Courtney Alexander was the only letter of intent filed for the vacant position on City Council. Councilwoman Cheryl Sturm made a motion to approve her with a second from Linda Staton and approved by all. Mayor Petrovsky swore her in and she took her place at the Council table.
Just a few comments from an outsider looking in. I have family and property in this area and choose to spend a lot of time in this area. It is small town America.
The filing fee for a council member to apply should be waived. You could be missing out on someone that is an asset to the council and community simply because they don’t want to pay to be in government.
The fire department is operated by volunteers and volunteers are disappearing every year. This will continue even faster when leadership does not appreciate their service. The meter not working in the fire house is a failure on the city and water department. Even if you do not charge for water, the equipment should be operational. The council i am part of would not think of charging the fire department for water and this leadership should look into doing the same. Every leader expects the fire department to be there 24/7 if needed and water charges should be the last concern on their mind for this department. If they want to micromanage the department, start with installing an operating water meter and request a log be kept of the meter readings. Either by the chief or by the water authority. Only takes a minute to do once a month and it will give you a feel of the usage without upsetting the apple cart.
As I mentioned for years on here and other comments to this community, get involved. Question leadership and question everything. If you don’t understand, ask questions. You can not create change watching others. Get involved, be involved and use your voice. Have conversations, good and bad, discussion brings on ideas and ideas can bring change.
Excellent suggestions. It’s a shame that they’ll likely fall on deaf ears.
Disclaimer: I don’t know any of the people involved in this drama beyond what I read about in local media, but I did spend over three decades in public safety.
What I can tell you is that the fire department, volunteer status notwithstanding, does not have the legal authority to give away unmetered firefighting water. It’s simply not their asset to distribute in that manner. If they want to use their metered water to fill the occasional cistern (or volunteer’s swimming pool), that’s their business since they would pay for it..
This wouldn’t be any different than me taking a pipe wrench, opening up a fire hydrant and filling somebody’s bulk tank, except I likely would (and should) be arrested and charged with theft. Honestly, with all the drama around the management of the water system, the town would be negligent if they didn’t follow up on the complaint.
The right thing for the FD to do is make their best estimate of the amount of water they gave away and reimburse the town. The virtuousness of volunteerism doesn’t give anyone the moral (or legal) standing to misallocate any resource that doesn’t belong to them. Acknowledge the mistake, make it right, and move on.
Everyone involved has more important issues to deal with than these petty, self-inflicted problems.
I do agree. The unmetered water should not be given away, but the water authority should also have operational equipment. Especially to the Fire department. I’m sure the city and water authority count on the fire department to keep their equipment operational. Our town does not charge a fire tax or hydrant tax and we actually donate to the fire department annually. We also put funds back annually in a separate fund to give to the fire department if they need new equipment such as a truck. That is all budgeted out of tax funds received. Please do not ever use a pipe wrench on a hydrant. A hydrant wrench is the proper tool when utilizing a hydrant. That also brings up another question. Are the hydrants being flowed annually as per NFPA requirements? They should be flowed annually to verify they operate correctly. With the raging fires on the west coast, and the issues with water supply, the Authority needs to be on their game. Most failures are due to a lack of maintenance. I also agree there are bigger fish to fry, but the fire and water equipment should be top of the priority list.
Having an unreadable meter on the line used to fill apparatus doesn’t matter at all in this case (it’s a throw away line in the article that seems like an attempt at burden shifting) because the result would be the same if they simply filled directly from the hydrant; the water does not belong to the fire department, and is not their asset give away.
Having a working meter would be a nicety, and would certainly simplify any water use reporting by the department, which would be required if they complete the annual FD surveys requested by the NFPA. It would also assist the town in accounting for water lost to firefighting – something every municipality struggles to determine.
You’re question about hydrant maintenance is a good one, and responsibility for that lies with the owner of each system; though testing in many places is done by fire departments because of their real world interest in having working hydrants. I know the Pleasant Hill PSD flushed the hundred odd hydrants in this area this past year, but don’t know if the hydrants in other areas were serviced.
Modern VFDs are struggling nationwide to attract volunteers, have been for the entire 32 years of my fire service career, and will continue to do so, especially in rural, economically depressed areas like our part of West Virginia.
Departments don’t have much to offer potential volunteers, other than the virtuous opportunity to serve the community, so those that do serve develop very close bonds related to the nature of the work and the inherent shared sacrifices. The challenge FD leadership faces, is that those bonds can quickly become tribal; a very “us vs. them” mindset. That can easily manifest as petty, but truly impactful, disputes between neighboring fire departments, or local governments, as seems to be the case here.
Serving in local government is equally as thankless, with most people not wanting anything to do with it until they are personally and negatively impacted. Those serving in those roles can also become very tribal, which has certainly occurred here too.
The fact that this whole issue spilled over into the public square reflects poorly on the leadership of the department and the city. This could have been, and should have been, a very simple fix resolved with a phone call. The mayor relays the concern, the fire chief recognizes the mistake on their end, they discuss and agree on a plan to make the city whole if necessary , the mayor says thank you, and they move on like professionals. There isn’t any reason for acrimony, and if it exists, that’s wholly the fault of those two men.
As a result of the failure to recognize that simple fact, we the people are the ones subjected to this silliness that reflects so poorly our entire community.
Valid points. I have been in the fire protection industry for 25 plus years and also am on Borough Council and a water and sewer authority for almost 10 years. So I understand the thanklessness. I have been vocal regarding water in this area for years, but have not made much of an impact. As far as the meter, there should be backflow prevention on that system and every other system as well. Most backflow preventers come with a meter and or bypass meter. I can almost guarantee there is no backflow prevention on 99 percent of commercial and residential properties. That technology has been around since the 1970s so it is nothing new. Just a cost which no one wants, but it is to protect the entire system. I know a certain individual who offered to test backflow devices and assist with hydrant flushing in the Mt Zion area years ago, but was turned away. Most likely because of their knowledge and the authorities lack of knowledge. You are correct that this shouldn’t have spilled over to the public eye, but it has and leaders past and present need to be held accountable for their lack of knowledge and not keeping up with the times. Again, working together and having conversations go a long way as you know.