DAILY MAIL STAFF
Shoveling snow, collecting litter and picking up opossums arejust a few of the duties Eddie Long has done as mayor of Smithers. "You name it, I do it all," he said. "I've even buried dogs and catskilled on the highway."
It's not unusual for Mayor Fred Halstead of Eleanor to shovelsnow or to take care of maintenance problems at town hall. "I dovolunteer to do that," he said. "I have no problem with that."
Halstead also helps with repairs to the Putnam County town'swater system, a job for which he is well qualified, because he wasthe system's chief operator for 12 years.
Shoveling snow can be "an everyday thing" in the winter forWhitesville Mayor Fred Harless in Boone County. He said he alsopicks up trash and does "just whatever needs to be done to keep ourcommunity looking respectable."
Being mayor of a small town means doing a lot of things thatmayors of cities like Charleston and Huntington would not beexpected to do.
A small town mayor receives little or no pay for serving as thechief executive officer of an operation with a budget of severalhundred thousand dollars and gets called out any hour of the day ornight to deal with other people's problems. That might not seem tobe a very attractive job, but people across West Virginia competefor the position every two to four years.
Mayors come from all walks of life. Some, who are retired fromtheir careers, work full time at their mayoral duties. Others, whohave full-time jobs, spend as much of their off-duty hours aspossible serving their communities.
"Your job as mayor never quits when you're in a small town,"Harless said. "It seems like you're a problem solver for thecommunity."
He said he receives many calls from elderly residents who needhelp, and he checks on them when they get snowed in.
In Glasgow in eastern Kanawha County, Mayor Charles Armstrong hasenough municipal employees that he has not had to shovel snow orpick up trash himself, but he does tend to keep a closer watch onsuch activities as water line breaks than a big city mayor would."We have more of a hands-on policy," he said.
Clendenin in northern Kanawha County also has enough employeesthat Mayor Evelyn Robertson has not had to shovel snow or pick uptrash. She said she operates more like the chief executive officerof a business.
But like many other small town mayors, Robertson also serves asthe municipal judge. She holds twice monthly sessions to hear thepleas of people cited by Clendenin police. She goes as often aspossible to training sessions offered for municipal judges by theWest Virginia Municipal League.
For Long, his duties as municipal judge are the hardest part ofhis job in the Fayette County town in which he serves.
"You run into all kinds of people," he said, including some "meanpeople" who must be handcuffed and even then try to spit on him.
But Long serves as municipal judge because it saves money for thetown. Otherwise, Smithers would have to hire a lawyer, which wouldbe much more expensive than the $250 a month Long gets for that job.
He is also paid $600 for being mayor and another $410 for beingthe supervisor of all departments, so his total monthly pay is$1,260. That's relatively good for a small town mayor.
In Glasgow, Armstrong gets $300 for being mayor and $150 forbeing municipal judge for a total of $450 each month.
But Harless collects no pay for being mayor. It is not thatnothing is provided for the job in the town code, but he said he andmembers of council have voluntarily agreed to take no pay for theirpositions.
"The little towns have a hard enough time," Harless said. "Everylittle bit helps, especially when you need to buy salt to salt theroads."
But the $1,200 the mayor's pay would add to his annual incomewould be minor compared to what he earns working at a preparationplant for Marfork Coal Co. He said he works four days at a time andthen has four days off, so he crams as much of his mayoral duties aspossible into those days off.
Halstead also has a full-time job at Terradon Corp. in Poca, sohe tries to handle his mayoral obligations in Eleanor duringevenings and weekends, but he can be reached at work by phone whennecessary.
Armstrong, Long and Robertson have no other jobs, so they canwork full time for their towns. Armstrong is retired from ArmcoSteel, Long is retired from A&P Tea Co., and Robertson is the widowof a dentist.
When asked what their biggest worry is, most of the mayors saymoney.
"You've got to stay on top of it," Long said. "You've got to stayin the black. If you get in the red ink, then you have trouble evergetting out."
Harless said one of his chief responsibilities is to make sureWhitesville has enough money to handle emergencies and to providethe police and street departments with the equipment they need. Heworries about "our little old town drying up and not being thereanymore" if the coal industry in the area declines further, becauseWhitesville is too far from major highways to attract much businessor industry.
Another big problem for many towns is to keep police officers.Robertson said Clendenin cannot afford to pay them much and it mustpay for most new ones to get certification at the State PoliceAcademy, but they often move on in a year or two to higher-payingjobs elsewhere. Her police department is supposed to have fourofficers, but it is down to two now.
Armstrong said Glasgow has put three people through the academyin the past five years at a cost of $5,000 to $8,000 each. Hecomplained that small towns end up being merely "training grounds"for bigger municipalities.
Glasgow's three police officers can cover 16 of 21 shifts duringthe week, he said. They get paid time and a half if they're calledout for emergencies when they are not scheduled to work.
Harless said Whitesville is lucky to have a complete force offour full-time officers, because they are difficult to keep. He saidhe applies for a lot of grant money to help cover police expenses.
Long said he tries to get all the grants he can, which has helpedSmithers maintain a police force of 10, mostly full-time officers.That includes Capt. Michael Humphrey, who is midway through a three-year federal grant that keeps him stationed at Valley High Schoolwhenever school is in session.
He said he "absolutely" would not be there without the grant fora Prevention-Retention Officer to prevent juvenile delinquency.Humphrey tries to build relationships with students and considers ita "very rewarding aspect of police work."
Robertson said the best part of her job is "when I'm able toreceive grants." She has gotten state and federal grants for stormsewers, police cruisers and equipment for the fire department.
One nice aspect of being mayor of a small town is that the costof running for office is still very low. Halstead, who has beenEleanor's mayor just since July, said he spent only about $300 onhis campaign, even though he ran against an incumbent. He said hisbiggest expense was for yard signs.
Armstrong said he spent about $50 on literature and signs to runagainst one opponent in 1999 and about the same in 1995. Robertsonhad two opponents in 1999, but all she spent was $25 for the filingfee.
Long has a friend who makes signs, so he "didn't spend hardlyanything" to run for re-election in 1998 against two opponents.Likewise, Harless said he spent nothing to win re-election againstone opponent in 1997 and expects to do the same when he runs againin June.
Why do they seek such jobs with long hours and low pay? "I don'tknow," Halstead said. "I guess it's in the blood."
He said he had a lot of ideas he wanted to see implemented whenhe served on Eleanor's Town Council for two years, 1996-98, and helikes "just the feeling that you're helping the people."
Harless also likes helping people. "I just felt that thecommunity needs someone who'll go out and keep the community going,"he said. "It's a hobby, and I like doing what I do."
He said watching his late father, former Boone County SheriffVernon Harless, gave him his interest in helping people.
In addition to helping people, Long likes to see Smithers grow.He is now working to develop a 27-acre section called LongacreBottom.
Robertson, who has lived in Clendenin for 42 years, believes sheowes it to her town to work hard for it. "This community has beenvery good to me, and it's one way of giving something back," shesaid. "It's challenging at times in dealing with problems that comeup, but I don't let it burden me."
Writer Jim Wallace can be reached at 348-4819 or by e-mail atjimw@dailymail.com.
