What accomplishment(s) in the current term make you worthy of re-election?
6 years County Commissioner
8 years Mayor Barboursville
25 years Registered Lobbyist in Charleston and Washington
New ambulance stations
New 911 Center
$1.9 million water grant to serve 122 families
Bonding to allow new construction at Marshall University, St. Mary's and Cabell Huntington Hospitals
Fire Protection Levy
Economic Development Levy

Regional jail costs continue to plague county budgets across the state. Notwithstanding action at the state level, how do you propose for Cabell County to deal with these costs?
The County Commission has already reduced jail costs by $75,000 to $80,000 a month due to: home confinement and day report center; daily monitoring of jail bills; help and cooperation of Judges and Magistrates; and a $1.00 reduction in the daily rate.
We need to continue these things for further reductions.

In the past, the County Commission office has pushed for bond reductions and alternative sentencing in specific cases. Do you support the County Commission involving itself in such issues as one way to reduce jail costs?
Yes, the Commission is responsible for paying the jail bill and must be involved in reducing these costs while providing safety for residents.
This is being done with alternative sentencing for first time offenders, including rehabilitation. Stricter sentences and harsher penalties for repeat offenders.

Cabell County's budget has been very tight for several years. State law also restricts the county from greatly increasing its property/real estate tax rate. How would you reallocate money in the upcoming term? What would your budgeting priorities be?
It is the responsibility of the commission to present a balanced budget to the state each year. It is also a constitutional requirement that the county fully fund the offices of; the Assessor, County Clerk, Circuit Clerk, Sheriff and Prosecuting Attorney.
In a recent court case, the Judge ruled that this is the commission's main priority followed by any state mandates.
State law requires that 67% of the tax dollars collected by the county go to the Board of Education to fund schools. Money also goes to the Cabell County Library (approximately $1.2 million) and the Park Board (approximately $350,000.) Huntington, Barboursville and Milton get a share of the property taxes paid within their municipalities. This leaves the county with approximately 16% of money collected to fund the county.
Each of the elected officials within the courthouse have priorities based on their needs and we must not forget the jail bill.
As a Commissioner, I believe the employees should always be a priority. Additional law enforcement officers would be a real plus to the county.
Each of these things are very important, but the budget process is very complicated and leaves very little money to prioritize.
Outside of regional jail expenses, what are the three most pressing issues that impact residents in Cabell County?
1. Drug activity that has led to an increase of crime in the county.
2. Economic Development to bring more money into the area and provide jobs with good salaries and benefits.
3. Water projects to provide water to rural parts of the county.

In the upcoming term, what solutions would you propose for these three issues?
1. Continue to fund the County Drug Task Force and look for money to provide the latest technology for use by County Deputies.
2. Tax Increment Financing can be used to attract new businesses to the area and we need to continue to work with HADCO and the Tri-State Airport.
3. At this time 96% of the county has water, but there are still those without this much needed service.
I will continue to work with WV American Water, as well as, state and federal officials to fund water projects in rural areas of the county.
The county just received a grant for $1.9 million to serve 122 families.

Outgoing Sheriff Kim Wolfe and others consistently ask for more law enforcement officers. Are you a proponent for increasing the size of the force, and would it happen during your term?
Increasing the number of law enforcement officers in the county would be a great thing to do. It would take a lot of planning with all three commissioners and the sheriff to find the money in the budget. Along with the cost of salaries, there is the cost of sending them to the Police Academy for training, the cost of uniforms and weapons plus cruisers.
There are now 40 deputies who provide a variety of services to the county. Maybe we could come up with a creative plan to have more officers on the road by changing schedules, duties, etc.
We need to do whatever it takes to keep the people of this county safe and curb drug activity and crime.

During the recent past, there has been friction between the County Commission and the Sheriff's Department. How would you enhance that relationship in the upcoming term?
I personally feel I have always had a good working relationship with the Sheriff and his department.
The Sheriff is totally in charge of his department and makes his own decisions concerning its operation.
The Commission is responsible for developing the yearly budget for the whole courthouse and naturally there are moments of "disagreement" on the budget.

Sheriff's deputies conducted an informational picket in 2007. The issue was pay raises. Proponents say Cabell County loses trained deputies to other departments because of salaries within the department. Would you support pay raises for county law enforcement deputies? If so, how much of a raise?
I have always supported pay raises for Deputies. During the informational picket in 2007, I made the motion and voted to give them a pay raise .
I do believe their salaries should be competitive and in line with other law enforcement.

The Cabell County Commission assessed a 3 percent administrative fee upon the county's EMS and 911 agencies in 2007. Would you propose increasing or decreasing this amount, or would you propose repealing the fee?
I would propose repealing the fee. I voted against this administrative fee when it was implemented. This fee is not assessed to any other agency within the courthouse and the county provides the same administrative services for everyone.
In 2007, commissioners considered a proposal to merge public service districts serving Culloden, Pea Ridge and Salt Rock.

Would you vote in favor of such a proposal? Do you support merging any public service district?
No, I would not. I voted against the merger when it came before the Commission this past year.
After much investigation into the merger, it was determined that the cost per customer would increase instead of decrease because of the large amount of indebtedness by each of the Public Service Districts. Also, the Districts are already very large and are doing very well. The merger was opposed by the Public Sewer District Boards.
The county does not run the Districts, this is done by an independent board. Members are appointed by the Commission, but the Commission has no say in what they do and cannot remove them from their position until their term is completed.

Do you support metro government? This could include a county-county or city-county merger. Why or why not?
Metro government has been viewed as a way to consolidate government services to save money for the taxpayers. The legislation that was passed allowing metro government is not very clear as to how this would be done. There are lots of unanswered questions such as what would the tax base be, who would be responsible for services and who would be in charge.
I am totally supportive of studying the issue to see just how it would work especially for Cabell County
Cabell has consolidated services in serveral ways with
others, such as: Drug Task Force includes, state, federal, county and each city in the county; The Cabell-Wayne Animal Shelter; and, a new endeavor between Cabell and Wayne counties to consolidate the Day Report Centers. There are lots of ways that we can work together and merge services.
The smaller cities and counties have the fear that they will lose their identity and be gobbled up by the larger entities.
The concept needs a lot of study.

Would you support the building of more ambulance stations within the county? If so, where?
Several new ambulance stations have been built during my term of office and the bid was let this month to build a new one in the west end of Huntington. The county is also looking at a site in Milton.
I would propose one in the Barboursville area since statistics show that is where there are the most calls for service.
Response time would be greatly reduced with a station somewhere along Rt.60 around the 29th Street and I-64 Interchange.

Is there a need for more public water/sewer lines in Cabell County? If so, name three specific locations where you would push for water/sewer projects in the upcoming term.
Water is most needed on Rt. 2 just above Greenbottom to the Mason County line and some roads off of Rt. 2.
There are no really big areas of the county that need water, but there are a lot of small projects that need to be done. Especially those homes that were left out of the Project 2000.
There are still some homes in the Salt Rock area without water service as well as, Mt. Union Road and Smith Creek.
The county has several projects coming up with the $1.9 million grant that was just received and will serve 122 families.
I would like to see more fire hydrants installed in areas of the county that have none. I think this is very important to homeowners.

How can the County Commission be involved in increasing the county's tax base through more business and a better economy?
The Commission is already involved with HADCO to bring more businesses to the area. At this time the Commission is working with HADCO to develop a TIF District on Rt. 2 to provide infrastructure to the HADCO site which will help to attract new businesses to the property already owned by HADCO.
The Commission has been responsible for bonding to allow new construction at Marshall University, St. Mary's Medical Center and Cabell-Huntington Hospital.
The Commission has made contributions to the Tri- State Airport to help upgrade their services.

Do you support county commission's control of the county's courthouse security force?
I voted against the Commission taking control of courthouse security.
Before the vote was taken, I asked exactly what changes would be made to security if the Commission took control. I also asked for an overall plan for courthouse security to be presented to all Commissioners.
I was not provided this information.

Dilapidated housing and trash concerns have been an issue in the City of Huntington. Does this also need to be an issue in Cabell County? Do you believe there is a dilapidated housing/trash problem in the county and along its roadways? If so, what solutions would you support in the upcoming term?
It is an issue in Cabell County. A program the county has started includes a recently purchased camera to be used at dump sites aound the county. One person has been designated to monitor the cameras and move them to different locations in order to find out who is doing the dumping.
A new project is now starting with the Commission, the Prosecuting Attorney and the Health Department to take care of dilapidated houses and enforce existing laws.

Annexation laws have been at issue across the state. The Putnam County Commission became involved in a dispute with the City of Hurricane concerning the issue in 2007. Do you believe annexation laws need to be changed? If so, do they need to be loosened in favor of city governments?
Annexation has not been a problem in Cabell County since I have been a Commissioner. The Commission has approved several annexations.
However, the role of the county is only to approve and if the law has been followed in the annexation process, the county must approve it. The bottom line is that the county really has no say in annexation by a city, it only rubber stamps.

Zoning became an issue when eastern Cabell County residents fought the construction of a no-kill animal shelter along Wire Branch Road in Ona. Do you support passage of zoning laws in Cabell County?
Zoning is something that creates a lot of heated discussions in the county from time to time. Zoning is necessary to control growth and protect property values in the county, but I also know that lots of folks do not want someone telling them what they can or cannot do with their property. Therefore, before enacting any zoning, the people should be involved and the commission should carry out the wishes of the people.

All Questions and Informatin Courtesy of The Herald Dispatch Questionaire.