The green road signs designating “Stewart Lane” near Walmart and “McCormick Way” near Marquee Cinemas at The Highlands were removed by Ohio County employees late last week, according to County Administrator Randy Russell.
The signs, which Russell said were in place for only a short amount of time, were removed in preparation for new “wayfinder” signs initially suggested in June 2022 by the landscaping branch of Bohler Engineering out of Pittsburgh. The “wayfinder” signs are designed to inform consumers how to locate businesses within retail developments similar to The Highlands, and members of the Ohio County Development Authority decided to move forward with the project.
“The original plan was to place ‘wayfinder’ signs at The Highlands so people could find stores like Walmart. That was the original intent and that’s what I believe we need to stick with,” Russell explained this morning. “The other signs probably will be removed, too, because, again, the intent was to do the ‘wayfinder’ signs” and not actual street signs.
“Bohler has submitted to us a masterplan for the ‘wayfinder’ signage and we are moving forward with that plan,” he confirmed. “The Commission did not vote to have these signs removed. I, as the county administrator, ordered the removal of the signs in preparation for the ‘wayfinder’ signs.”
Several roadways within The Highlands were named in honor of county officials, including former administrator Greg Stewart, Commissioner Randy Wharton, and former commissioners Tim McCormick (McCormick Way) and David Sims (Sims Circle). The signage for Wharton remains in place today, but the signs for McCormick Way and Sims Circle could not be located late last week.
The street names, approved several years ago by the Ohio County Commission, do appear on the Google Maps app on smartphones.
McCormick served as an Ohio County commissioner for 24 years before he was defeated in 2020 by current commissioner Zach Abraham, and Sims, now a Circuit Court judge in Ohio County, was a commissioner from January 1995 to June 2012 before resigning for appointment to the bench.
Stewart, who was employed as the county administrator from 1995 until he retired in 2020, was accused of violating the West Virginia Governmental Ethics Act and the nepotism restrictions in the Ethics Commission’s Legislative Rule. Public employees in West Virginia are prohibited from participating in matters that uniquely affect their relatives, according to the Ethics Act’s Legislative Rules on nepotism, and the Commission determined granting the leave time was in violation of those rules.
According to a conciliation agreement released in early March, Stewart admitted to approving leave time for both of his sons while they were employees of Ohio County and under his direct supervision. The Ethics Commission fined Stewart $7,500 and mandated he attends ethics training.
