By Stephen Smoot
Town of Franklin council members and town officials last week engaged members of the public in a lengthy discussion about communication and transparency. Elected members and town officials shared that they have been using print and social media to communicate with the public, but expressed openness to expanding those efforts in the name of transparency.
Bruce Minor, town recorder, conducted the meeting on behalf of Bob Horan, mayor, who was out of town for family reasons. “Welcome everybody,” he said.
First, officials discussed the financial report, handed out by Frank Wehrle, town administrator, at the opening of each session. He stated that unexpected water system work “at the creek crossing” had drawn heavily from town funds. “It will be a slow build to get that fund back in better shape,” he noted.
Wehrle then provided an update on the water system work, sharing that the power should be connected soon to the Hanover tank, which will permit further progress “if the weather holds up.”
Discussion then turned to Phase III of the water system project, which will involve maintenance and repairs on and around Entry Mountain. Wehrle told council that Thrasher is working to get it “grant funded as much as possible.” He stated that the town may have to obtain a small loan of approximately $400,000” to help fund it, but Wehrle also added, “we don’t want to have to do that.”
Failing full grant funding, the town may have to “have a small uptick on the water bill” to pay for it.
Wehrle, Minor, and others spoke of the scope of the problems afflicting the water lines there. Minor described how the plastic piping described in the time of installation three decades ago “was the latest and greatest in its time.” Ever since then it has, however, proven less than resilient. Extreme cold temperatures can create lengthy cracks in the line up to 10 feet, “making the hydrants basically unusable.”
Pipes installed in years after on Main Street in Franklin are still holding up, town officials confirmed.
Next came discussion of the town’s ongoing efforts to improve the sewer system to keep up with ever-changing compliance expectations. Wehrle stated that federal funding from congressionally directed spending will “probably not be forthcoming for the foreseeable future and that the town will need grant money to fund the planning process.”
Sewer project costs could come with tiered rate increases “addressing different aspects” of the project. The town will have to hold public meetings related to that. Wehrle stated, “We try and schedule for the evening . . . it’s not always possible, but we do try.” Failing an evening meeting, they will take place “as late as possible in the afternoon.”
Keely Smith, council member, asked if the law set a threshold for attendance, to which Wehrle stated no that “generally they’re poorly attended.”
Minor and Wehrle explained the motivations behind changing the town sewer system. “It’s incorporation on the Potomac River that makes us a target,” he shared.
Franklin serves as the most upstream municipality on a branch of the Potomac River, making the sewer plant a focus of attention. Any discharge comes most of the length of the Potomac River and ends up in the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake Bay Agreement, of which West Virginia has been a part since Governor Cecil Underwood’s second term, requires that Franklin and other local governments in the watershed have more stringent requirements than other towns in West Virginia.
“Federal regulations apply across the board,” explained Wehrle. He added that they are set at the federal level and enforced by West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection.
During the last decade, the Mountain State has served as the best performing state in the entire Chesapeake Bay Region for stream cleanliness and quality. Improvements in local sewer infrastructure and the voluntary work done by poultry and other farmers to reduce nutrient release have both helped contribute to the success of the effort in West Virginia.
Town of Franklin officials have a high ammonia discharge level with which to contend and also expected upcoming limitations on phosphorous as well. As a result, the Town of Franklin has opted to replace its lagoon filtration system with a “package plant.” The plant will put the Town in compliance with ammonia regulations. Additionally, the plant has a modular design that allows it to adapt easily as mandates change.
With members of the public on hand, Wehrle explained in detail the various options to the Town and why it chose the package plant.
When the federal government starts implementing phosphorous regulations, the Town of Franklin can simply have a module added that expands the plant’s capability to meet them. Jarred Rawson, council member, added, “The modular one is still within the capacity of our current employees,” meaning that the town need not hire any new workers with needed skill sets to run it.
Meeting mandates is not optional, explained Wehrle, “we have to do what they tell us.”
Rawson and Wehrle also discussed the painful reality of smaller towns and the baseline cost of operating any water and sewer system. Rawson shared that “200 people are paying for everything” while Wehrle stated in frustration that “costs in the last five years are ridiculous.”
Town of Franklin resident Jeff Shaver came to council to share his frustrations on communication. After Rawson and Wehrle expressed the difficulties incumbent in complying with federal and state regulations, Shaver stated that townspeople do not experience the frustrations of their local government officials.
“I don’t see your frustration. All I see is another fee that I have to pay,” Shaver shared.
Shaver proposed some ideas that town officials shared that they had explored to take care of certain issues. Those included the enforcement of town ordinances, such as those for noise. Wehrle explained that with no town law enforcement that the county and state police have the authority to enforce, but only county and state, not town, laws.
As the discussion continued, Rawson thanked Shaver and other members of the public for their input. He stated that “we’re a council of six plus a mayor. We don’t get public in here. The public coming is wonderful!” Rawson added that the Council appreciates ideas shared by the community.
Shaver expressed concerns that the impending one percent town sales tax would drive away young people to other towns. Town officials shared that Franklin was one of the last municipalities in the region to adopt one. They also explained that the tax only covered certain tangible items for sale and did not tax services provided.
Wehrle shared that neither town nor state officials could estimate what the town might collect, so it’s impossible to predict what it will pay for.
Additionally, officials encouraged the public in general to get more involved with groups supporting the area. They specifically mentioned the Mon Forest Towns organization that meets monthly in the town hall.
Smith and Wehrle then spoke about Town of Franklin businesses that did not have a full understanding of the new sales tax. “We just assumed the state would notify the businesses and let them know,” said Smith. She concluded that was a mistake and that “we should’ve sent information to the town . . . so they hear it from us and not from the state.”
Wehrle stated that the town’s focus on legal requirements for public communication “has basically given us this tunnel vision. We think that’s public notice . . . but it’s not getting the word out.” Smith suggested using the newly updated town website as a central source of information about town government.
