Morgan County Commissioner Bob Ford said last week that those who oppose the proposed Dollar General store “don’t care about our county” and “don’t give a damn about the citizens of Morgan County.”
At the County Commission meeting last week, Ford went on another of his self-described rants about what he called “wealthy elites” — those who are standing up to oppose the proposed Dollar General at the corner of US 522 and Oakland Road.
Brad Close: We need to let businesses know -- you can come here, arms wide open.
But Ford backed off his threat to move to fire Economic Development Authority (EDA) member Jerry Berman for singing a song opposed to the Dollar General.
At the Commission’s March 19 meeting, Ford said that those who opposed the Dollar General store ought to “go back to where they came from.”
He called on Berman to resign and said that if Berman didn’t resign, he would move to have him fired from the EDA board.
Ford said that he was investigating other members of the EDA Board for making anti-Dollar General statements on social media and that if he found evidence that other EDA board members made anti-Dollar General statements, they would be fired too.
Berman made clear that he wouldn’t resign and that he had a First Amendment right to express his views on what is best for economic development in Morgan County.
The feud was starting to gain statewide attention, with the State Journal weighing in with an article last week titled — County Commissioner, EDA Board Member Clash Over Dollar General Development in Eastern Panhandle.
The article quoted Berman, a former American Civil Liberties Union attorney, as telling Ford that if the Commission fired him, he would sue the Commission.
“When someone says you’re going to be removed because you exercised your free speech right, I say they’re not going to do that,” Berman told the State Journal. “I’m not going to let it happen that easily.”
At the Commission meeting on April 2, Ford backed off his threats and didn’t move to have Berman fired.
Nor did he report on the results of his “investigation” into other EDA members who spoke out against the Dollar General store.
But he did abide by his word and vote against funding the EDA.
The EDA funding measure nonetheless passed, by a vote of 2 to 1 — with Commissioner’s Brad Close and Joel Tuttle voting in favor of the funding measure — $15,000 in cash and $15,000 in kind.
Ford did defend the right of one of those “wealthy elites” — the multimillionaire out of stater — Patrick McCuan — to sell his Oakland Overlook property to whomever he wants — in this case Dollar General.
“I find it very interesting that Mr. Berman is walking back his positions,” Ford said. “He’s saying now — he didn’t mean he wants them to go. He would just like them to move down to the county’s business park. And the county would profit from the company locating there. If I was the property owner (McCuan) and was working with the Planning Commission to modify my subdivision plans to allow me to sell property to a commercial client, which I was entitled to do, based on the fact that Morgan County doesn’t have zoning, and members of the county’s EDA were protesting my plans, then members of the board who were protesting my plans said — what they really meant was — I didn’t mean I wanted them to go away, I just want them to come down to my business park — doesn’t that sound a little like corruption, setting the county up for a major lawsuit?”
“I do not profess to be a lawyer,” Ford said. “I’m not trying to give the property owner (McCuan) any advice. What I can say is that if the county tried stealing my customer from me by protesting my plans there would be trouble.”
Ford also ripped the “wealthy elites” for suing the Morgan County Planning Commission for its approval of McCuan’s plans to prepare the site for the Dollar General.
“Now try to understand this — the same group that say they want what is best for the county are now bringing a lawsuit against the Planning Commission,” Ford said. “They care so much about our county, they want the county to waste tens of thousands of dollars defending the planning commission’s decision. They don’t care about our county, or give a damn about the citizens of Morgan County. Your vote as a citizen (against zoning) didn’t mean anything. The only thing they care about is protecting their little fiefdom.”
(Ford didn’t mention that in 2002, during his first stint as Commissioner, he sued the County Commission and the Planning Commission, costing the county more than $32,000 to defend. The lawsuit had to do with a barn that Ford built without a permit. Ford argued that he was exempt from the permit requirements because the barn was for agricultural purposes, not for his business — Triple B Arena. In 2005, Ford lost the case at the Circuit Court level (see decision here). After Ford appealed the decision to the West Virginia Supreme Court, the parties settled the case.)
“I’ve been told that there are five or six articles in the Morgan Messenger disagreeing with my point of view or letters to the editor telling everyone how uninformed I am and that I wanted to destroy our county at any cost. We don’t need $10 an hour jobs. Perhaps I should resign, that I’m not fit to serve,” Ford said.
“I’ve been told by those who disagree with me say that I don’t get it, I don’t understand their point of view. I say to them today — believe me, I do know. I do get it. I do understand. The citizens of Morgan County have spoken very clearly. No zoning. Over seventy-five percent oppose zoning. It’s the elitists that don’t get it. It’s time for them to suck it up.”
“Now moving forward, see how many articles in the Messenger support it, while 125 citizens who live in that area have signed a petition in support of the Dollar General and would like to see a retail store in that area. I guess they are uninformed or chopped liver. [The petitions were gathered by Ginger Johnson, the Morgan County Commission Secretary, who was sitting on the dais a few seats away from Ford when he was reading his statement.] Their opinion doesn’t mean anything. I have seen this picture show before. The Messenger always takes the elitist side, whether it be zoning or whatever.”
Both Commissioners Brad Close and Joel Tuttle said that while they understood that Berman and other EDA members had a First Amendment right to speak out against the Dollar General store, they didn’t think it was the proper thing to do.
Referring to Berman’s anti-Dollar General song, Close said — “I don’t agree with how it played out, but that’s America.”
Close said he didn’t agree with Berman’s singing of the song and said he thought that the majority of the EDA members would support him on that that point of view.
EDA board member Connie Perry said that the subject of the Dollar General was never discussed at any EDA meeting.
“This subject was never discussed, nothing was brought up,” Perry said. “Individual people have a right to do what they want. But this was never on the table. It was never brought to us.”
Tuttle said that as public officials, “we need to be careful about what we say in public — it’s a public perception issue.”
Berman said that just because he was on the EDA didn’t mean that “I can be told to shut up.”
“I don’t agree with what happened,” Close said. “We need to change the conversation as a community if we are going to get serious about bringing business here. If we are going to sing songs, if we are going to do things like that, we are going to have problems. We need to be supportive. We need to let the state and the country know — you can come here. Our arms are wide open. Let us help you, instead of trying to get on the news to do whatever it is you want to happen.”
Speaking to Berman, Close said — “you are right, you have a First Amendment right.”
“Have at it,” Close said. “But as a leader, I believe we need to stand up for what’s right and to try to encourage business to come here. That’s my job. You may disagree with that. That’s fine.”
“I may have sent a perception by singing a song,” Berman said. “But if you vote against the EDA budget because I sang a song — you are saying to businesses — that unless you are in line with everything we say, don’t come here. It’s not a welcoming atmosphere to say — get out of town.”
Or as Commissioner Ford would say — go back to where you came from.