Wheeling Officials Demand College Presidents Issue Public Retraction of Statements on Proposed OVMC Deal
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WHEELING -- City leaders on Friday requested that three local college presidents immediately retract what they called "unequivocally untrue" accusations the presidents leveled at a council meeting this past week.
Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, Vice Mayor Chad Thalman and City Manager Robert Herron released a joint statement Friday saying the presidents of West Liberty and Wheeling universities and West Virginia Northern Community College accused them of committing ethical, or even criminal, violations in relation to the city's memorandum of understanding with Bluefield State College. The three city officials strongly denied any wrongdoing.
The response came after Tuesday night's city council meeting, where Wheeling University President Ginny Favede and West Liberty University President Dr. W. Franklin Evans collectively relinquished the bulk of their public forum time slots -- which were limited to three minutes each -- to West Virginia Northern Community College President Dr. Daniel Mosser. Mosser used that compiled time to read a four-page statement lambasting city leaders for their efforts to bring a competing college to the city.
Mosser launched a myriad of allegations at city leaders who were working with Bluefield State to possibly establish a new accredited engineering degree program in an Engineering and Manufacturing Center on the former campus of the Ohio Valley Medical Center, which is now owned by the city.
Mosser made "multiple allegations" and "misrepresentations" of the mayor, vice mayor and city manager during the meeting, according to the statement. The WVNCC president alleged that the city leaders had "secretly arranged" for the city taxpayers to fund the rehabilitation costs for space to be leased by Bluefield State at a cost of $1.5 million.
Mosser also claimed an undisclosed agreement will cost the city's taxpayers about $2 million annual, that a "Friends and Family" plan was behind the deal with their "politically connected friend" in Bluefield State President Robin Capehart, that the vice mayor had concealed his relationship as being a nephew of Capehart and that the trio of city leaders had dragged other city council members into their scheme by deliberately misleading them.
The three city leaders said that, while Mosser was the one who came forward to make these allegations, Favede and Evans did not dispute them.
"Neither took the opportunity at the meeting to disassociate themselves with any of these allegations," the statement noted of Favede and Evans. "And since the meeting, neither has reached out to any of the city officials to disassociate themselves with anything that was said by Dr. Mosser."
City leaders reiterated that the MOU with Bluefield is simply a non-binding agreement between the city and the college to open the door to a feasibility study regarding a potential lease of space at OVMC.
"Making these allegations in a public forum without any supporting evidence represents the height of irresponsibility," the trio of city leaders said in the joint statement. "If Dr. Mosser, Ms. Favede or Dr. Evans have any evidence to support these alleged financial arrangements or the accompanying allegations of misconduct by city officials, now would be an appropriate time to produce it."
Otherwise, the city leaders said they were left to conclude that "those making as well as those implicitly endorsing these allegations have done so either with knowledge of their falsity or with reckless disregard thereto.
"And we would respectfully request that each issue a public retraction immediately," the statement concluded.t
After Elliott, Thalman and Herron released their statement just before 5 p.m. Friday, the three college presidents could not immediately be reached for comment. Spokespeople from the institutions contacted after 5 p.m. Friday said no response could be issued because the statement that had been released to the media and on the city website had not been sent to them or college presidents.
One piece of supporting evidence was provided by Mosser immediately following Tuesday's council meeting, where it was stated by the mayor that the Bluefield State proposal was "not something we solicited. Nobody solicited Bluefield State at all. They approached city staff, and city staff brought that to us after conversations were already well along."
Mosser produced minutes from a faculty senate meeting at Bluefield State College which indicated that the Wheeling city manager had reached out to them to initiate the deal.
"Dr. (Ted) Lewis was recently invited by engineers and manufacturers of northern West Virginia in hopes of developing more engineering and manufacturing programs in that area," the minutes stated. "Ohio Valley Medical Center is empty at the time, and the city manager has contacted the college asking if they would be interested in utilizing that facility. Conversations have started and as it progresses, he will ask faculty to join in on the effort."
That meeting of the Bluefield State College faculty senate took place on Nov. 6, 2020, months before the MOU was signed.