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New Wheeling Mayor Dennis Magruder -- who took office at noon Monday -- got a strong advance start on his new job last week when he gathered with five of Wheeling's former mayors -- Jack Fahey (1975-79), Jack Lipphardt (1992-2000), Nick Sparachane (2000-08), Andy McKenzie (2008-16) and Glenn Elliott 2016-24) -- to talk about where the city's been and, most importantly, where it's going.
The five former mayors met with Magruder Friday evening at Waterfront Hall. Interestingly enough, Magruder worked for all five during his career in city government, either during his stint in Wheeling's Finance Department of when he served as manager of WesBanco Arena.
Another interesting note is that Lipphardt is both the last mayor appointed by council and also the first elected by popular vote. This change in how the city chooses its mayor took place with the Charter review and was effective with the 1996 election.
The former mayors talked of their time in office, of the things that took place and how those items have been built upon by succeeding administrations. The city's current upward trajectory can be traced to Lipphardt's administration, when the city and the then-Wheeling National Heritage Area Corp. partnered to move forward Heritage Port and other projects.
"This is the first time it's ever been done," Elliott said of the gathering. "It shows that what you do as mayor, in some respects, you stand on the shoulders of people who came before you. A lot of the activity we're seeing out on Water Street is a direct result of the plan and vision from decades ago.
"Jack Lipphardt worked on this whole idea of tearing down the Wharf garage, which was very unpopular at the time -- but look at the waterfront we have now. And now we're sitting in Waterfront Hall which is a new investment taking advantage of that, we're looking forward to a new hotel that's going to be built on Water Street. All that vision started years ago, and each mayor and council built on what came before."
While much of the focus is downtown, Lipphardt also oversaw the creation of Celeron Plaza in Center Wheeling. Sparachane's administration made the leap with purchasing the buildings in the 1100 block of Main and Market streets, which later became The Health Plan's headquarters. McKenzie's administration created the East Wheeling Sports Complex and secured the commitment for the Downtown Streetscape project, among other work. And Elliott's administration has overseen hundreds of millions of dollars in city investment, along with making the leap to acquire the former Ohio Valley Medical Center, which is being transformed before our eyes to become a new regional cancer center operated by WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital.
"Everybody here had something to do with where we are today," said Sparachane. "We also wanted to share our vision with Denny and perhaps give him the capability to call us. … We've all had ideas, and they're documented. So, I thought it would be good for Denny to have the opportunity to talk to all of us, and in the future to talk to all of us."
These last 30-plus years have seen much improvement downtown. Now it's up to Magruder and his incoming council to keep moving Wheeling forward.