Statements on behalf of West Virginia Northern Community College regarding the joint statement posted to the City of Wheeling website late on Friday, March 19.
Dr. Daniel Mosser, president, WVNCC:
During the March 16, Wheeling City Council meeting, I shared several figures that have become a distraction. A couple were specifics, contained in the MOU that the City Manager executed with Robin Capehart on January 5th. Some were mentioned by Mayor Glenn Elliot himself in recent meetings with college leaders attempting to resolve this, including the gross square feet of the space in question (5,000 sf) and the City’s estimate of buildout costs ($1.5 million). I also compared Mayor Elliott’s figure with Northern’s actual costs (per square foot) from back when we renovated two deteriorating properties in recent years, expanding Northern’s footprint in downtown Wheeling. These buildings presently house industrial technology and applied technology programs similar to that in question. Northern could have shared our experience with these similar facilities prior to the Council meeting, had we been consulted.
I feel the ongoing public dialogue and attacks have not been constructive nor do they focus on the matter at hand. I am a passionate person who cares deeply about our college and the people we serve — our students, our employees, and the residents of our community. I regret that my passion has likewise been used to create a distraction. Let me be clear, I feel very strongly that recruiting any higher education institution from outside our City and region, locating them just one block from WVNCC and in close proximity to two exceptionally capable local universities, proposing to offer programs that overlap with and compete with our existing programs, underwriting this with Wheeling tax dollars represents economic malpractice on the part of our Mayor – regardless of who contacted whom. We colleges are among the largest local employers of Wheeling residents. We have survived, even thrived here in Wheeling for many decades. We remain Wheeling proud!
I look forward to reading the City’s feasibility study on this matter and to a more constructive and meaningful dialogue with Wheeling elected leaders and our higher education partners.
Mr. David Artman, chair, Board of Governors, WVNCC:
I appreciate Dr. Mosser’s dedication and commitment, not only to West Virginia Northern Community College, but to our partners at West Liberty University, Wheeling University plus the residents of Wheeling and our region. Since learning of this MOU in the local press, our presidents have worked together tirelessly behind the scenes for two months to no avail. To this date, the Mayor has yet to confirm that he received the joint letter sent by our presidents on February 19th. I want to acknowledge and express our Board of Governor’s appreciation for the joint effort of Presidents Mosser, Favede and Evans.
Our Mayor has stated that one of his primary motivations for inking the MOU has been to drive economic investment in the City of Wheeling. We feel strongly that this goal would be better and more affordably achieved by a local college or university. At the very least, wouldn’t anyone grant their neighbor or a local business partner the right of first refusal? It’s just a common and decent courtesy.
Recently, when there has been a need for programs such as Welding, Advanced Manufacturing, and Petroleum Technology to address employer needs for skilled workers in the oil & gas industry, Northern has delivered. We quickly provided these programs, filling employer needs in our region while preparing residents of Wheeling and the region to land these emerging jobs and earn good incomes. This also led to Northern acquiring and refurbishing the former abandoned Wesco Building in downtown Wheeling, which is now our state-of-the-art Industrial Technology Center. More recently, the Mayor asked Dr. Mosser to offer EMT/Paramedic training working with the Wheeling Fire Department. The EMT portion is underway now with Paramedic coming this Fall semester – at all three Northern campuses. Never has the Mayor committed a single dime of Wheeling funds to accomplish any of this. The State of WV covered most of these costs, bringing many millions of dollars in state funding to the City. This is real economic investment and impact!
Northern remains puzzled as to why the Mayor never reached out to us regarding employer needs for Engineering and why he is so defiantly committed to spending City tax dollars to bring an outside institution to Wheeling. We all deserve an explanation.
