My Platform, open to your ideas!
We need to…
Work on our aging infrastructure including needed improvements to our streets, sidewalks and stormwater remediation. Every year about 7 miles of city streets are paved, some during the summer and some in the fall. Streets are an ongoing maintenance need, wear and tear plus excavating for other infrastructure often keep things in need of repair. Sidewalks are more permanent, build a good sidewalk an it will last for decades. The city has many sidewalks needing repaired and a lot of sidewalks needed years of silt and grass encroachment needing cleared off. When I served on council stormwater remediation was made a priority. The city responded by fixing crushed pipes, clearing years of silt out of pipes, properly resizing old pipes and burying stormwater holding chambers in the ground which allow water to seep out over a period of time.
The Parkersburg Utility Board manages our water and sewer services, and line replacement and water quality are always items of focus.
Work to remove or fix blighted structures and address overgrown vegetation and trees. Build local partnerships to renovate existing property and provide paths to homeownership.
There’s no denying that Parkersburg has it’s share of blighted structures. In 1960, our city had 44,797 residents and in 2020 the population was 29,749. That is a 34 % decrease of residents over the past 60 years. This has left houses falling to pieces and trees and vegetation on these properties growing out of control.
In 2019, the Parkersburg Urban Renewal authority voted to spend nearly $500,000 to acquire three small lots, raze the structures on two of those lots and then place two manufactured homes on two of those lots. Those homes sat empty for months, and when they finally sold the authority took a quarter million dollar loss on the idea.
I voted no on the ill-fated plan. Instead of paying $500,000 for this project, the authority could have funded the renovation of ten houses at $50,000 a piece. This would have allowed for new roofs, siding and windows, upgrades to HVAC-electrical-plumbing and other needs to get the houses up to code requirements. These houses could have been offered for sale on innovative terms to create new homeowners while at the same time getting the authority an actual return on their investment that could be used for future housing ideas.
Enhance our parks system and recreational opportunities in our city for everyone, including youth, seniors and people with disabilities. Support athletic,learning and cultural opportunities for all.
Maintain our fire and police departments to protect our city. Network with residents about safety concerns and crime issues.
Encourage development that creates good paying jobs with solid benefits including efforts to retain and attract recent graduates and skilled workers. Support trades based vocational opportunities for area students and others)as a means to grow lifetime career opportunities, strengthen addiction deterrence and invigorate our local economy.
Work for diligent spending within each budget, to find cost savings, ensure accountability & transparency and increase our city’s overall energy efficiency.
To show up. As a former public servant and an elected union official, I have an excellent attendance record. I do not miss meetings and I do my homework and come prepared. I will support school activities throughout the county. And continue to volunteer my time at numerous school and community events. During my time on city council, I never missed a regular meeting or a committee meeting to which I was assigned! Even after major knee surgery, I was in my seat in council chambers five days later.
I have 35+ years of construction experience, plus business management experience. While in these rules due diligence was a necessity both on the jobs or in dealing with contracts relating to getting the work done. I dealt with contract negotiation, healthcare, pensions, state and federal government rules and oversight, organizational budgets and other factors.
During my last term as a city council member I worked with committees on budget, public works, personnel, stormwater remediation, youth advisory and other committees tasked with meeting the needs of the City of Parkersburg. I am ready to put my experience back to work for the citizens of District 9!
Paid for by Friends of Fox. Jeff Fox -Treasurer.
friends-of-fox.com 