$4 million Rowlesburg water project expected to serve 150 held up, Developers granted 3 week extension

By Therese Matheny, Preston County News & Journal, November 3, 2016

ROWLESBURG — The 150 customers of a water-extension project in Rowlesburg will have to wait an additional three weeks while developers from Region VI Planning and Development complete appraisals and right-of-way work.

Rowlesburg’s town council approved the extension at its Oct. 24 meeting.

Prior to the appraisals being completed, certified letters are required to be sent to the property owners setting a time when the appraiser would be on the subject property. There was a 45-day time frame set for the appraisals to be done, and the information submitted by Oct. 15.

“The appraiser hired for the project did not get the letters sent out to the people in order to submit the appraisals by the deadline,” Region VI Planning and Development Council Excutive Director Sheena Hunt told the Rowlesburg Town Council on Oct. 24. “The attorney for the project was on vacation and not able to prepare the letters for the appraiser.”

Rowlesburg attorney Sheila Williams said she had prepared the required letters before leaving for vacation.

“All that needed to be done was adding the name, phone and date the appraiser was going to be in Rowlesburg,” Williams said. “The letters could have been sent out.”

Bobby Grimm, who lives eight-tenths of a mile outside of Rowlesburg and is the first person in line to receive water with the project, said he spoke with Williams after the Oct. 24 meeting.

“The appraiser was hired by the town on Sept. 15,” Grimm said. “That was three weeks prior to Sheila going on vacation.

“If someone had contacted Sheila right after the appraiser was hired and gave her information, this work would be done already,” Grimm continued.

Hunt asked the town council for a three-week extension in having the appraisal get the work complete and submit it to the town.

“Hopefully we will have those taken care of by the second meeting of next month (November),” Hunt said at the meeting. “Once we get the appraiser reports, we can begin negotiations with the property owners.”

Grimm is worried the town will lose the grant and loan it worked so hard to get for the project if something is started soon.

“I am just hoping we get the ball rolling soon,” Grimm said. “Rowlesburg cannot afford to lose the money for the project.

“If they would lose the money, anything that was already drawn down on the grant and loan would have to be repaid,” Grimm shared. “Rowlesburg just cannot afford to pay any of that money down.”

The amount drawn down for the project already was not available.

Grimm said the town has a lot of problems right now, and he isn’t sure if the council understands the hardships of the project not moving along at a better pace.

“I was expecting to see water at my home in fall of 2015,” Grimm said. “I hope to have water soon, but dirt is definitely not going to fly before spring of 2017.

“I haul a lot of water,” Grimm said. “And I know the people who have signed up for water are also tired of waiting. We all started working on this project five years ago.”

The $4 million project is set to serve an additional 150 customers on the south end of Rowlesburg. The project begins on West Virginia Route 72, where it leaves Rowlesburg, to U.S. 50 to the Tucker County line. The project also includes a portion on U.S. 50 West to Laurel Mountain and east to the Cheat River Bridge.