By Stephen Smoot
Last May, Shinston held its municipal elections. Last week, the new council was sworn in and started getting to work.
The elections brought some changes to City government. Pat Kovalck will serve as mayor and Amanda Sayers as vice mayor. Vance Sosinsky won election to council as a first time member while Mary Ann Ferris and Bill Watson earned re-election.
Ferris had served as vice mayor. She also serves in leadership positions with the state and county Association of Retired Teachers, co-president of the Women’s Club, secretary of the St. Ann’s Parish Council, as well as Eucharistic Minister and confirmation teacher.
She explained that the City Council had laid out a number of priorities to work on as the term commenced.
First and foremost, the City will focus on completing audits for 2021-22 and 2022-23. Completing this work is crucial to allow the City to move forward with plans and efforts to start Phase Three of the water project.
Ferris next explained that the City needed to continue to maintain its paving schedule. Key to this is funding from the levy. “We’d like our levy renewed because that’s what gives us funding to do that,” she said.
The City has also already started looking at constructing a pickleball court in Ferguson Memorial Park. Though its popularity has exploded in recent years, the game dates back to 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington. It combines elements of tennis, ping-pong, and bad minton
According to USA Pickleball, the sport got its name in reference to “thrown-together non-starters in the ‘pickle boat’ of crew races.”
Ferris said that Julia Curry knew of a contractor who installed one in California and could help the City of Shinnston. She added that “we’ll meet about proceeding with that.”
Approval was also given in the first meeting to upgrade lighting.
The City will also continue to work with the Lincoln High School organization that secured the EPIC grant and has focused its attention on improving the West Fork River Rail-Trail.
One area that Ferris did not identify as a high priority is looking into annexation. She stressed that the City is not looking at expanding their boundaries, but to gain jurisdiction over streets and areas within town limits, but not officially part of the City of Shinnston. “We want to see if people there are willing to come in,” she explained.
In those areas, the West Virginia Department of Highways has authority over the streets. Also the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department has primary responsibility for law enforcement, although City of Shinnston police will respond to addresses in these areas if not on other calls. Residents there do not pay city fees that cover police protection from Shinnston law enforcement either.
Ferris admits that “we may not be successful” in that endeavor.
The new City Council assumes administrative authority during a period when Shinnston’s profile has grown, especially in arts and musical options. Ferris said, however, that the goal remains of “continuing to draw people in and answering the question of some people in town of ‘what’s there for me?’”
Ferris also related that those from outside have started to see what Shinnston has to offer. She shared her experience Monday night at the Independence Day celebration, remarking that “I sat with friends from Clarksburg and they were in awe.” They specifically stated that “the fireworks were the best they’d ever been.”