By GREG JORDAN
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
May 10, 2008 08:23 pm
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BLUEFIELD — County finances, the Mercer County Airport and definitions of leadership were topics when candidates for the Mercer County Commission met with the Bluefield Daily Telegraph editorial board.
Incumbent Joe Coburn of Athens will be on the ballot May 13 along with Robert W. “Bob” Carter of Princeton, Stephen Akers of Rock and Willie Wiley of Lerona.
Robert W. “Bob” Carter, 54, moved to Mercer County from Greenbrier County in 1978 to attend Concord College where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in biology in the Class of 1983. He worked in public health on the county, state and federal levels from September 1988 to December 1993 as a sanitatirian and Life Safety Code inspector. He inspected hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities for compliance with state and federal laws governing Medicare/ Medicaid reimbursement and state licensure.
Carter founded Allegheny Consultant Services, Inc. in 1994 as a private investigations firm, and started the Collections Division in 1995. He is the owner of Carter Properties.
Carter has been married to Barbara Ann Carter for 26 years. They raise hogs and poultry on a 65 acre farm near Athens.
Joe Coburn has been on the county commission for 23 and one-half years. He was a deputy with the Mercer County Sheriff’s Department from 1959 and 1960, then became a state probation and parole officer in 1961, serving at that post until 1968. Coburn then went back to the sheriff’s department, serving as a deputy until Sept. 1969. Shortly after leaving the sheriff’s department, he became Chief of Police in Athens and served there for approximately three years.
Coburn said he was first elected to county commission in 1973, serving two terms until 1985. He then went to work for the West Virginia State Tax Department as a tax coordinator, and later worked for the West Virginia State Treasury office. In 1996 Coburn ran again for county commission, was elected, and has served on the commission since that time.
Dr. Stephen Akers said he is originally from Lashmeet and grew up there. He is a 1968 graduate of Matoaka High School and earned a B.S. degree at Concord College in Athens.
Akers later earned a Master’s degree in School Administration, minor in psychology, from Radford University in Radford, Va. and then a Doctorate in Administration at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.
Akers has been with the Mercer County school system 32 years. He is the husband of Superintendent Dr. Deborah Akers. He has worked at six schools and is currently principal of Princeton Senior High School. He worked in a grocery store while in high school and after graduating worked in coal mining for a year at Turkey Gap. He was with Bluefield Supply until he was drafted into the U.S. Army. After being discharged, Akers went to Concord and began his higher education.
Willie Wiley, 35, of Lerona is a lifelong residence of his community. He is a 1993 graduate of Athens High School, attended Concord College for two years, and has a degree in food management from the Mercer County Technical Education Center. He is the owner of Apple Lane Bed and Breakfast and is currently employed at Princeton Community Hospital as an emergency room technician.
Wiley said he is currently getting ready to open the Wiley Cabin and Museum in Lerona. Wiley ran for magistrate two years ago.
Why is there no Mercer County Administrator? Define Leadership:
Coburn: “I work full time at this job,” Coburn said. “I think I do a pretty good job. I answer complaints and go out into the county to see what’s happening. Leadership is taking charge and doing what you have to do.”
Wiley: “I believe we need a county manager,” Wiley said.
The commission’s secretary does a wonderful job as a secretary, but she’s not a county manager, Wiley said, adding that many tasks are put on her.
The county needs a grant writer because the county is missing many opportunities to get them, Wiley said.
“I think leadership is when someone needs to speak up and take responsibility,” he said.
Carter: Carter said he disagreed with the need for a county administrator. “Leadership is stepping up to the plate and rolling up your sleeves,” he said.
Akers: Akers said he was in favor of a county administrator. Such a position would “pay for itself” and help the county take advantage of otherwise missed opportunities.
Leadership is looking at the available assets, identifying the people you need, putting them to work and working together as a team for successful conclusions, Akers said.
How much time would you realistically be able to spend as a county commissioner?
Akers: “I could spend a reasonable amount of time,” Akers said, adding that he knew of county commissioners who work full time jobs and still do good public service.
Carter: “I have spent part of my time at the courthouse every day for 14 years,” Carter said. “I can give as much time as it needs. I’m very familiar with the people at the courthouse. If eight hours a day is needed, I will do it.”
Wiley: “If it needs 8 hours a day, 16 hours a day, if that’s what it takes, I’ll do it,” Wiley said.
Wiley said he wanted to devote time to the post because he sees “a lot of drug problems in Mercer County” that were “not being addressed aggressively enough,” and had seen 24-year-old patients “code and die” from drug overdoses.
Define Vision:
Coburn: Vision is looking ahead to what is coming up and what could be coming up, Coburn said. As a governing officer, Coburn said he is chairman of the Regional I Planning and Development Council, and that the county pays a fee every year for its services.
Wiley: Vision is focusing on the future of Mercer County and looking at what the county commission can do for small business, Wiley said. Vision includes looking at the county’s tax base, looking at new ordinances and being business friendly.
Carter: Vision includes seeing if something is not right and acting on it, and looking for needs that should be served. “I started my business because I saw a need to provide those services,” he said.
Akers: Vision is looking at what we would like to become, Akers said, adding he wanted the county to be the best place possible to raise a family and a place that can retain its young people, particularly college graduates. More college graduates are leaving the state than at any other time, he said.
Mercer County is changing. What unique talent would you bring to the Commission?
Wiley: The courthouse needs updating, Wiley said. Too many offices lack up-to-date computer services and e-mail, and many public records are still in books. Wiley aid he would “work to get that fixed.” Wiley said he would also work more with chambers of commerce to try getting businesses back in the county. The county has a “wonderful workforce,” but the county needs to work harder to get manufacturing jobs.” Present jobs such as restaurant posts or car lots “are not paying the bills.”
Carter: Carter said he has imagination and a willingness to work with people. He said he was concerned about the loss of family structure and family values he sees in communities.
“Families never eat meals together anymore,” Carter said. “When my wife is not working, we eat together and make food from scratch and raise our food.”
Communications is important for creating some of the necessary change, especially when speaking to young people about drugs. Without family structure, there are “kids trying to raise each other.”
Consolidation of schools is a mistake, Carter said. Children do better at smaller schools. Teachers are “handcuffed” in how they can work with students and expected to social workers and psychologists. In the past, teachers could “snatch a kid out of line” if they acted up, but now some parents look at things that happen at school as reasons to sue and “make a quick buck” from the school board.
Akers: Akers said the county needs to start looking at issues in the global economy, but he would like to go back to simpler times with family meals. Akers said he remembered how his father, a coal miner, worked to keep a family farm and go to school to become a teacher.
“I would like to see simpler times. The things teaches are expected to do now are probably unrealistic,” he said. However, students should have education that prepares them for the global economy.
Students and young people must be made to understand that they, not the government, are responsible for their own futures, Akers said.
Coburn: Coburn counted his years on the county commission and how he “knows how to go after things the county needs.”
How do you feel about the regional metro government concept?
Akers: Akers said if he had to vote for the concept, he would vote “yes.” There needed to be more cooperation between governments in Mercer County, and there certainly needed to be a more productive environment.
Carter: Carter said he would vote “no” to the idea. Mercer County is losing its small towns and the small town identity that goes with them. By combining governments, the county could “lose more than it gains,” he said.
Wiley: The vote would be “no,” Wiley said. The county is losing small town bases and small town schools.
Coburn: “As it stands now, I would have to vote no,” Coburn said. “It hasn’t gotten off the ground.”
Some work has been done on the metro concept in Raleigh and Marion counties, but it needs to be better defined, Coburn said. No funding for a study in Mercer County has been made available, he said.
Where do you see
efficiencies in spending in Mercer County?
Coburn: In the last year, Mercer County has been seeing more activity with its Day Report Center, Coburn said. With the work of Judges Derek Swope, Judge William Saddler and now retired Judge John R. Frazier, more inmates have the option of home confinement. This has resulted in savings on Mercer County’s bills from the Southern Regional Jail. The highest monthly jail bill the county had ever received was $151,000. With such high bills, the county had a jail debt of $1,642,000, Coburn said.
This debt is now down to $1,142,000, and last month’s jail bill was $83,000, Coburn said.
“This has really paid off,” he said.
The cost of feeding prisoners and meeting federal regulations make keeping a county jail more expensive then using the regional jail, Coburn said.
Wiley: Wiley said he had a different philosophy for saving on jail expenses. One alternative is to bring a jail back to Mercer County, and grants are available for this, he said. People facing murder charges have been kept on home confinement.
“I think that’s unacceptable in Mercer County,” Wiley said.
Carter: Jails should be so “impalpable” that inmates do not wish to return, Carter said, referring to the harsh techniques used by Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona. Known as ‘America’s Toughest Sheriff,’ Arpaio has been known to use chain gangs and house inmates in tents. People who serve time in Arpaio’s jail swear never to return, going straight or moving out of the jurisdiction, Carter said.
The day report center is good, Carter said, adding he was not sure the Mercer County Jail could be reopened; much of the equipment at the courthouse has been removed.
However, there is a way for the sheriff’s department, which has been running over budget, to save money, Carter said. Sheriff Danny Wills has suggested opening a garage to service deputies’ cruisers. Tires, oil and other supplies could be purchased wholesale at a 52 percent savings. The garage would have a mechanic on the county payroll who would service the cruisers, resulting in more savings, Carter said.
Another possible source of savings is commissioner salaries, Carter said. Elected officials “are way overpaid,” he said.
Carter said he planned to give $24,300 of the $36,300 commissioner salary back to the county to give deputies a pay raise, approximately $857 annually. Some deputies work two jobs to make ends meet, he said.
Akers: Akers said government agencies and counties could cooperate to decrease each other’s cost. Opening a sheriff’s department garage to save on the cost of fuel and repairs could help.
If Mercer County cannot get its own holding facility to save on the cost of transporting inmates to and from the regional jail, then the state should help, Akers said. For instance, Raleigh County, where the Southern Regional Jail is located, has lower inmate transportation bills than Mercer County, which has to transport people a greater distance. The state should assist counties that are facing more jail expenses due to the cost of transporting inmate to and from jail.
Where can Mercer County work with Tazewell County for mutual benefit?
Coburn: Area chambers in both Mercer and Tazewell counties have talked about joint ventures such as the Bluestone Technology Park, Coburn said.
“We’re not turning anything down,” he said.
For instance, Tazewell County is having a “real serious look” at closing its airport and using Mercer County’s airport, but “nothing solid” has been agreed upon at this time. If the counties work together, there will be a joint pay off, he said.
Wiley: “I feel we need to work together as a joint area,” Wiley said. “Princeton and Bluefield need to work together.” Both counties should work on efforts that are “job creators.”
Carter: Carter said he did not remember any specific projects between the counties being discussed. Tourism is a possible area of cooperation.
“When it comes down to brass tacks, Mercer County will do what’s best for Mercer County and Tazewell County what is best for Tazewell County,” he said.
Akers: Akers said he did not think people who use the Tazewell County Airport would come to Mercer County since the Tri City Airport is closer.
“We need to look further into the future to be viable,” he said.
Where do you see spending in relation to the Mercer County Airport?
Coburn: “I think we need to make it known through all advertising media that we do have an airport and that it’s open for business,” Coburn said, adding he had encountered a resident who thought the airport was closed.
Federal grants continue to fund updating at the airport, he said. Bringing aircraft maintenance classes and maintenance operations to the county were possibilities to explore.
Wiley: Wiley said the county should work on promoting the airport. Many people do not take advantage of it and go to major hubs like Charlotte, NC to board flights. The airport should be promoted through local media, and grants should be sought for the facility.
Carter: Carter said bringing aircraft maintenance to Mercer County’s airport should be pursued. He recalled speaking to one person who kept his airplane in Tennessee to avoid paying state taxes; this meant he had to drive four hours to reach it. Carter said the man considered bringing his plane back to West Virginia now that taxes on storing them here have been lowered.
“We need to aggressively pursue private interests to bring the airport back to life,” Carter said, recalling a restaurant at the Greenbrier County airport that hosts pilots; people fly there “because the food is so good.”
“We have a huge terminal,” Carter said. Interests such as a good restaurant and aircraft maintenance operations “can drive a lot of money into the county.”
Akers: People can remember when elementary schools sent field trips to the county airport because it was a busy place, Akers said. Much of the activity left when coal companies stopped flying aircraft from there.
“My wife did her solo and cross country flight from Bluefield,” he said.
The airport should be part of the county’s economy, and reviving it would be a positive change for Mercer County, Akers said.
Do you have a closing
statement?
Carter: Carter said he has lived and traveled all over the world, but Mercer County is the center of the universe.
“It’s a great place to live and have a business,” he said. “God willing, I’ll die here. I’ve seen great things happen and see great things ahead.”
“I’m proud to be in this room with this group,” Carter said, adding the county had seen good politics and a clean election.
Wiley: “I really want to try and make a change in Mercer County. I feel we’ve got a lot of things going for us,” Wiley said. “I feel like we need to focus a little bit more on tourism. I want to thank voters for voting for me on May 13.”
Akers: Akers said after serving as a county commissioner, he would like “to see things better than they were when we started.” Commissioners need to look realistically at the future and make decisions based on common sense.
Coburn: “County government is one of the most interesting things going,” Coburn said.
County government has seen improvements, he said. Records have been updated and clerks have computers. County commissioners stay busy all the time. Coburn said he has even taken tourism books about the Hatfield-McCoy Trail to Myrtle Beach, SC when asked to do so.
Work on Mercer County’s portion of the I-73/74 highway is “moving along,” the Mercer County Day Report Center is doing well, the sheriff’s department is getting seven new cruisers: two have been accepted and five have yet to be manufactures.
“We have good officers, good efficiency, and I’m proud of what we’ve done,” he said.
— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
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