Governor's Letter/Sewer Project

Governor’s letter on sewage treatment plant causes commission quarrel

With a letter from Governor Joe Manchin in hand, Saffer continued to call for Pocahontas Public Service District board members to come to the commission with an explanation of their plans for the proposed Slaty Fork Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The letter said the governor is “genuinely concerned, and (has) offered several alternative locations that are owned by the state for this project. To date, the local officials have not accepted my offer and we are unable on a state level to direct them to make these changes without their agreement.”

Saffer said he wanted to know who these “local officials” are.

“I’m not one of those people,” he said. “I’m absolutely opposed to eminent domain for this project.”

Likewise, Griffith said she had never been contacted by the governor with an offer of an alternative site for the controversial project.

Further, she said she had only heard of one alternate location, not several.

While Griffith said she’d like to meet with the governor concerning his letter, Saffer’s approach remained to force the PSD to a public appearance at a commission meeting.

“I think Mr. Michael ought to come out of hiding in Durbin,” Saffer said.

Griffith said she understood the PSD’s reticence.

“The last time they talked to us they got toasted in the Elkins Inter-Mountain,” she said.

Michael, the PSD’s attorney, has sent a letter to the commission briefly outlining the PSD’s direction.

The letter said the process of identifying a site and possibly selecting an alternate is “ongoing.” But, Michael cautioned, negotiations with property owners is “sensitive” and the PSD cannot disclose those locations. Further, Michael said, “avoiding eminent domain is a criteria.” But “any alternate site(s) must also meet the same engineering, environmental and legal criteria which have been applied to the existing site.”

“I have faith in those folks that they are trying to find an alternative site,” Griffith said. “I think they are trying to find a solution that is more palatable to the public.”

A tit-for-tat discussion between Griffith and Sharp’s Country Store owner Tom Shipley, who has led the charge against the Sharp Farm as the plant’s location, resulted in little more than “he said, she said.”

The “he” in this case is gubernatorial deputy chief of staff Joe Martin. Shipley said Martin told him he’d called Griffith with an offer of state property. Griffith said she’d never received such a call from Martin.

“There’s a misunderstanding,” Shipley acknowledged.

“Huge,” Griffith agreed.

Martin offered state property for the project in January 2006 at a meeting in State Senator Walt Helmick’s office. According to Martin then, the governor’s office was “willing to help place the plant on state-owned property if county officials asked,” but would not otherwise interfere in the process.

County commissioners did not attend that meeting, nor according to Griffith, were they invited.

Shipley said Helmick was quoted in a fly fishing magazine as being against eminent domain on the Sharp Farm.

“I’m very much in favor of personal property rights, and I am adamantly opposed to the plant being located on the Sharp Farm,” Helmick is quoted as saying in the September edition of Fly Fish America.

“Maybe he’s the local official the governor is talking about,” Griffith offered.

Saffer will write a letter to the governor asking for clarification on the offer of state property. Griffith asked to see the letter once it’s finished.