Kanawha County Commissioners spent a portion of their Thursday meeting decrying the decision by West Virginia University's Board of Governors to move the WVU Institute of Technology from Montgomery to Beckley.
"It's a clear violation of state law," Commission President Kent Carper declared, citing a 2006 law passed by the state Legislature that says WVU Tech is headquartered in Montgomery.
Calling that law "a legal promise by the Legislature," Carper added, "I suspect they won't have any trouble getting that statute changed. I expect the Legislature will set up like a trained seal and do whatever they're told to do."
On Aug. 31 WVU President Gordon Gee and WVU Tech President Carolyn Long told students, faculty and staff of WVU Tech that the school will be moved from Montgomery to the former Mountain State University campus in Beckley over the next two years. The WVU Board of Governors unanimously approved the plan on Sept. 1.
Carper expressed disbelief that "with five days' notice,' the Board of Governors had a two-hour meeting "to shut down an institution that's been in existence 125 years."
One reason WVU gave for the move is that WVU Tech buildings have $100 million in deferred maintenance.
"Who let it fall apart?" Carper asked.
"It was designed to fail, in my judgment," Commissioner Dave Hardy said. "It seemed that when WVU assumed ownership of Tech 19 years ago, it was all downhill from there."
Commissioner Hoppy Shores said, "I think someone went to sleep on that deal."
Hardy criticized the lack of effort to improve access to Montgomery by making U.S. 60 into a four-lane highway.
"And now they've discovered it's difficult to get to Montgomery," Carper said sarcastically.
"But it's no harder to get to Montgomery than it is to get to Athens and Concord University (which is in Athens) has done very well," Hardy added.
Carper said of WVU's decision, "Do I personally believe this will be stopped? No. Do I believe we ought to spend thousands of dollars on lawyers to try to stop it? No. But I think the Legislature should at least admit they made a legal promise to the people of Fayette and Kanawha counties and the people of Montgomery."
In other action, the commission discussed property tax revenue for the current fiscal year. Carper said revenue is down about $400,000 or $500,000 - about 1.2 percent - from anticipated collections. Carper said there will be no raises this year and the county might have to look at cutting the budget.
Chief Tax Deputy Allen Bleigh said some large companies that paid early and received a 2 percent discount in the past have chosen not to pay early and receive the discount on their 2014 taxes.
Bleigh said those accounts total about $3 million.
"Those companies are not breaking the law. The taxpayer has the absolute right to not take the discount," Carper said. "The problem is the penalty is too slight."
According to a list compiled by Bleigh, large companies that have not chosen to take the 2 percent early payment discount and the amount of taxes outstanding include: Republic Energy, $438,585; Big Laidley Tower TIC, $195,990; NG 707 Virginia Street LLC, $189,811; Branch Banking & Trust, $187,582; Charleston Newspapers, $178,704; Mammoth Coal Co., $126,654; WVEDA, $122,000; Blue Eagle Land LLC, $106,458 and $105,330.
Commission also:
* Approved a resolution honoring Rusty Marks, who recently retired after a 26-year career at the Charleston Gazette. Carper called Marks "an excellent, professional and honest journalist" who "has been especially fair to law enforcement."
"You make it sound like I knew what I was doing," Marks quipped before his tone turned serious. "I have just tried to call 'em like I see 'em."
* Heard a presentation about the Chemical Alliance Zone's activities by Kevin DiGregorio, the organization's executive director. The organization promotes the region's chemical industry; DiGregorio said it is continuing to work to attract a petro-chemical complex to the area. The commission is contributing $25,000 to the Chemical Alliance Zone this year.
* Heard from Chesapeake Mayor Janet Armentrout, who said Chesapeake City Hall's roof is in very bad shape. Carper recommended a new roof be put out for bid. Commissioners Shores and Hardy agreed. The commissioners put $50,000 from the Coal Severance Fund in escrow for the project.
* Gave preliminary approval to a request by Alpha Technologies to have the commissioners send a letter to the state Public Service Commission urging that agency to act in a timely manner on Alpha's petition to be classified as a public utility. Alpha's Charlie Dennie said the company wants to build a fiber-optic network connecting its data center at the Regional Technology Park to downtown Charleston.
* Discussed the Kanawha Public Service District's request to use $65,987 from its account to pay its delinquent vendor invoices.
* Discussed the state Ethics Commission's Sept. 3 meeting regarding Carper's query about public officials' use of social media.
Carper praised the Ethics Commission "for cleaning up an unclear area before it became a problem" and moved that the commission's ruling on the so-called "Trinkets Law" be sent to all of the agencies funded by the county.
* Agreed to have Halloween Trick or Treat from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Oct. 29 for the unincorporated areas of the county, to coordinate with the City of Charleston.
* Pending a budget revision, commissioners approved receiving a $200,000 grant to help pay $265,125 to Northrop Grumman Remotec Inc. for a bomb-squad robot and related equipment; agreed to spend $125,000 to help pay for a Coonskin Park paving project; agreed to spend $24,769 to refurbish a tennis court; and approved paying $6,299 to AJ Allegheny Systems LLC for steel roller shelving for the circuit clerk's office.
* Authorized the county clerk to issue a $229,824 check from the general fund to the Kanawha County Public Library. The amount is for the final reconciliation of accounts due for the period July 1, 2014, through June 30, 2015.
* Authorized the county clerk to issue $258,850 checks monthly from July 2015 through June 2016 from levy collections to the Kanawha County Public Library.
* Authorized the county clerk to issue a $1.8 million check to the Special Building Fund. The amount is the county's annual debt service payments through September 2016 for the W. Kent Carper Public Service Center and the Judicial Annex.
The commission's next meeting will be at 5 p.m. on Sept. 24 on the first floor of the Kanawha County Courthouse.