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Andy McKenzie Leaves Wheeling Mayor Seat Satisfied

WHEELING — Mayor Andy McKenzie said unlike Wheeling, most municipalities in West Virginia lack strong relationships with state leaders in Charleston.

Reflecting on his two terms in office, McKenzie, who will relinquish his title to Mayor-elect Glenn Elliott on Friday, said the outgoing city council was likely the first to actively engage the capital and build relationships which led to state investment in the city.

Having served 12 years as a state senator prior to his time as mayor, McKenzie possessed the foresight to establish these contacts, but he said it was council’s support — committing to eight annual meetings with the governor, speaker of the House of Delegates and state Senate president — that made the difference.

“I mean, it paid dividends — $8 million for the Suspension Bridge, $9 million in downtown,” McKenzie said, referring to upcoming projects by the West Virginia Division of Highways, including rehabilitating the historic bridge and upgrading sidewalks and streetscapes throughout downtown.

McKenzie said he was fortunate to work with a council that knew what needed done, and did it. He said he doesn’t want to take full credit for developments such as the relocation of The Health Plan, the Woda Group building loft apartments in the Stone Center and Boury Building or restructuring Wheeling’s police and fire pensions to potentially save the city millions. He said he was just one of seven people involved in such decisions.

But only one of those people — Councilman Ken Imer, who won re-election to his 2nd Ward seat May 10 — will still be in office when the clock strikes midnight Thursday. Councilwoman Gloria Delbrugge and Councilman Robert “Herk” Henry chose to retire, Councilmen David Miller and Don Atkinson lost their re-election bids and Vice Mayor Eugene Fahey lost his bid for mayor to Elliott.

“When we started to get together eight years ago, we knew that we had to focus on downtown Wheeling. That the neighborhoods were in pretty good shape.” McKenzie said. “And we laid out a game plan, and we actually had this color chart, so we knew what needed done. How we were going to get it done was really the long-term plan.”

McKenzie said trusting each other and maintaining an active dialogue between council members was vital in tackling these problems. He said he’s aware of the common complaint that the outgoing council too often agreed, passing measures with little, if any, public debate.

Indeed, since the beginning of 2015, there hasn’t been a single vote against a piece of legislation during city council meetings.

“I would assume the next council will also be that way, because if you can’t reach consensus, you don’t vote. You saw how we handled (Tuesday’s) annexation,” McKenzie said, referring to council’s decision to annex the River Hills neighborhood. “If there wasn’t agreement, I was going to pull the whole issue. I think there needed to be total agreement.”

McKenzie felt he and council members were available to the public, and said their intentions were always clearly stated. McKenzie believes local leaders acquire a unique perspective in politics, as they live in close proximity with those they serve.

The mayor is confident Wheeling will enter a new “golden age” within the next 10 years due to developments underway and what they could inspire. When he travels the state on business, he said it seems as though all eyes are on the Friendly City — that people generally look at Wheeling as a leader.

However, McKenzie expects further difficulty for West Virginia as a whole in coming years, as the state grapples with persistent budget woes.

“The state of West Virginia has a tremendous impact — both positive and negative. The state is experiencing a very, very difficult time, and I think it’s going to get worse over the next several years. They may need … to raise taxes. That could be very detrimental to the city of Wheeling. They’re aggressively going after gambling, which would be very detrimental,” McKenzie said. “When the Legislature gets there, they can either help us or harm us, so they (the new city council) need to engage the state of West Virginia.”

McKenzie said he doesn’t know the newly elected leaders very well, but said they seem like a bright, eager group. He said he intends to support them as they work to push the city ahead.

Although he wanted Fahey to win the mayor’s race, he’s accepted the outcome and said he’s now Elliott’s biggest cheerleader.

McKenzie said the incoming leadership ran their campaigns on the concept of “change” — but he believes the numerous accomplishments and sometimes controversial directions of the outgoing council did the heavy lifting.

“We changed everything,” McKenzie said. “We changed the status quo.”

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