Mayor warns Charleston about town’s economy

Mayor Susan Webster said she arrived for a Municipal League meeting being held in Spencer, West Virginia near Charleston one day early last week to spend the time visiting officials at the state capital.

Among the agencies she visited were the Department of Commerce, Department of Revenue, State Historic Preservation Office, Department of Transportation, Public Service Commission, Division of Tourism and the Department of Natural Resources.

“In the business community, should there be any disruption in a major hotel in town; the ripple effect would be devastating. I want to do everything I can to help in that situation, if at all possible,” Webster said, summing up the main purpose of her visit to the Town of Bath Council at the Tuesday evening, June 5 meeting.

“I think you all know my concerns about the general economy in the Town of Bath and potentially harder times that could come about should there be any business disruption in one of our major businesses,” she said.

Webster said while at the statehouse, besides making state agencies aware of a potential problems for the town if The Country Inn stops doing business, she talked to the Department of Transportation about the status of the CSX lot behind the train depot.

Before CSX can cede the lot to the town, the department has to review the latest appraisal of the property and the Department of Environ-mental Protection has to issue a “no further action letter” on the cleanup done by CSX at the site.

Webster said she also lobbied for the TIGER grant application that, if approved, would supply $11 million for the Streetscape project and the county’s proposed access road to the new hospital from U.S. 522.

The Streetscape Commit-tee’s application for a grant to pay for streetlights along the newly installed sidewalks on Mercer Street was recently declined, she said.

At the Public Service Commission, Webster talked to officials about the new water tariff the town is seeking to start billing on a monthly instead of quarterly basis.

About the visit, Webster said, “I feel it was productive. It is always better to be in Charleston. We aren’t there enough.”