23-02-2025
Town of Monongah asks for county funds for preventive work on its water system
FAIRMONT — By moving a water line underground, the Town of Monongah hopes to avoid damage to its current water system in the event of a flood.
'By boring under the creek bed, we can ensure that it stays intact, which is crucial because whenever there's flooding the line tends to get pulled apart,' Monongah Mayor John Palmer said.
Monongah received funding approval for the project at Wednesday's Marion County Commission meeting. Palmer said residents who live on the hill currently face significant water issues during floods, with residents having to wait until floodwaters recede for water service to return. It's happened a few times since Palmer's been mayor, with the latest incident caused by ice chunks that damaged the line.
Palmer said boring under the creek is the best solution to the problem. It will also prevent crews from having to wade into water to repair the broken line.
The invoice for the project was roughly $28,000, but County Administrator Kris Cinalli said he expected the final cost to be closer to $26,000 since Cinalli expected the town is tax exempt. Commissioners voted to approve the full amount.
Commissioners also heard outside agency requests from two organizations. Margie Suder, STEAM teacher from East Fairmont Middle School, said her school will host a districtwide science, technology, engineering, arts and math festival in March, focused on career and technical education. She asked commissioners for funding.
'We have 36 agencies that will be coming out and what our goal is to get our younger kids motivated to study STEM,' Suder said. 'And, to get our high school students a career, a CTE opportunity to meet with industries and all kinds of nonprofits, so they can begin to look at internships and where they want to go to college.'
Vendors from NASA, the FBI, Agile5 and others will be at the event. The money would go toward purchasing an embroidery machine and an energy bike that would show kids how much work it takes to generate a small amount of power. Suder hopes the fair can become a yearly thing. Suder said the school district expects up to 3,000 guests at the fair.
Rebecca Burton from the Seth Burton Memorial Fairmont Flyers Disc Golf Club also made a request. The nonprofit wanted support from the County Commission to continue growing the sport in Fairmont. They asked for a $10,000 title sponsorship of this year's disc golf tournament, adding that the sport helps tourism grow in the county.
Cinalli said so far the county has approved $222,840 in outside agency requests. About $21,000 of that amount came from the Opioid Settlement Fund, making the county's contribution closer to $200,000, about average for the county Cinalli said. He added the request amount is a small portion of the overall budget, but before anything can be approved the final numbers related to expenditures and revenue need to come in. Cinalli said the county is about a week away from compiling that type information.
'We're not anticipating any major fluctuations in the budget but things change daily anymore,' Cinalli said. 'Just yesterday, the West Virginia House of Delegates floated the idea of abolishing PEIA. As long as nothing like that happens, we should be in good shape.'
