City of Fairmont Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Packing Company Settles In Former Coca-Cola Bottling Plant

When Josh Pearson attended Fairmont State University, he drove by the vacant Coca-Cola bottling plant nearly every day.

“I must’ve driven by this place a thousand times, always knowing it as the Coke plant,” Pearson said. “To now be in it is surreal, its exciting to have a successful business and to put it right down the street from where you lived in college.”

Pearson is the owner of Mountaineer Packaging, a Charleston-based wholesale packaging distributor. Just recently, he moved his northern office out of Morgantown, down the river to the east side of Fairmont.

When the company expanded to Morgantown, Pearson knew he’d need more space eventually, but didn’t know just how quickly the business would grow in the new area.

“When I leased the facility in Morgantown, I told the owner I’d need more space in about six months,” Pearson said. “It only took about four months. When we needed more space … everybody kept telling me to look at the old coke plant. … That’s where we ended up.”

Tuesday, employees of Mountaineer Packaging and members of the Fairmont business community gathered in the 20,000-square-foot facility on Morgantown Avenue to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony, and welcome the business into the city.

But while the company is new to the city, many businesses in North Central West Virginia are already patrons of Pearson’s packaging products.

T&L Hot Dogs, Yann’s Hot Dogs, Oliverio’s Peppers, Novelis Industries and several other local businesses rely on Mountaineer Packaging, and that need has been even more important since COVID-19 brought about a slew of supply-chain issues.

“Just look at any news story and all the supply chain backups we’re having right now,” said Tina Shaw, president of the Marion County Chamber of Commerce. “To have somebody local that provides this type of product and help that all of North Central West Virginia needs in the worst way is a huge benefit.”

One of the goals of Mountaineer Packaging is to give local businesses one less thing to worry about. One of the products hit hardest by the supply-chain backups is packaging materials, so Person tries to fill that void.

According to Pearson, many of the larger packaging companies are occupied by the big-box buyers such as Amazon and Walmart, leaving smaller businesses behind.

“What we do for the customer is take those supply-chain issues off their plate,” Pearson said. “That way they can worry about their product and trying to get it out the door. That’s the role we play for them.”

Shaw said that one of the most exciting things for her is seeing the old Coca-Cola plant, which sat unused for years, finally house a tenant – and one that plays such an important role in the local business community.

“When I was a little girl, they bottled Coke products here. It was a true manufacturing facility, from start to finish,” Shaw said. “It sat vacant for years, but now it has a new life. They’ve done a fabulous job remodeling and renovating. This new business is dealing with a ton of other local businesses, so it’s all about business-to-business interaction locally.”

Pearson and his wife Lauren are both graduates of Fairmont State, and both have felt right at home returning to the friendly city. The Chamber of Commerce, the Marion County Regional Development Corp., and other organizations have given them a warm welcome, Pearson said.

“Anytime we have a new business into Marion County, we’re thrilled,” Shaw said. “And what’s great about a local business like Mountaineer Packaging is they employ locally and spend their dollars locally. We’re thrilled to have them.”

And the Pearsons are thrilled to be in operation locally, they said.

“Fairmont is just as I remember it,” Pearson said. “We’re happy to be here.”

Fairmont to Donate Center to Domestic Violence Group

Fairmont officials plan to donate a former Army Reserve center to a group that helps domestic violence victims.

Media outlets report that City Council approved the first reading of a proposed ordinance donating the facility on Tuesday. A public hearing is set for Dec. 9.

The ordinance would transfer the former Lt. Harry B. Colburn U.S. Army Reserve Center to the Task Force on Domestic Violence, Hope Inc.

Hope executive director Harriet Sutton says the organization plans to move from its existing building to the center after renovations are complete.

She says the new location will provide services and house victims of domestic violence and sexual assault from Marion, Harrison, Lewis, Doddridge and Gilmer counties.

Fairmont Lights a Fire Under Historic Preservation Effort

The City of Fairmont is closer to moving forward on a downtown historic preservation project which officials hope will attract creative people and additional activity. Fairmont City Council officially accepted a State Historic Preservation Grant this week and filed a related covenant restricting how the building – the old city firehouse – can be used. The grant of nearly $50,000 will be matched by the city and will help pay for a new roof on the building.

The plan is to turn the building into space for artists to create and teach.

Kathy Wyrosdick is Fairmont’s Director of Planning and Development. She says now that the grant has been formally accepted, final preparations are underway to put the project out for bid. She hopes the bid can be awarded and the roof replaced before the end of the year and before winter hits.

The downtown community is excited about the project. Kate Greene, Executive Director of Main Street Fairmont, says the project has already been a catalyst for a lot of collaboration.

“So many things follow the creative class,” says Greene. “And I think once we can get that kind of programming in our community through non-profit means – it’ll be in a public private collaboration…and once we can get those types of programming available in our community I think that we’ll start to see a significant change there.”

“Fairmont 101”: Learning Basics of Local Government

Operating a city is a complicated business. Cities provide a variety of services from public safety and road repair to clean water and public parks. There are multiple departments, a mish-mash of funding streams, and oodles of state and federal regulations to observe. The City of Fairmont, West Virginia has launched an interactive program to make sure its citizens understand the city’s role and responsibilities and its processes for serving the public: “Fairmont 101”.

What Is “Fairmont 101”?

When you label a class “101” you generally mean it’s going to introduce the student to the basics of its subject. A, B, C, 1, 2, 3.

“Fairmont 101” is no exception.

Participants meet for two hours once a month to learn about different aspects of Fairmont’s city government. They hear from department heads and tour facilities. City Manager Jay Rogers says the nine-month program starts out with an orientation and history session.

“We go over the form of government we operate under,” says Rogers. “The various departments that we have, the state code that we work under which, the last year and now this year for 101 we had a great discussion about Dillon’s Rule vs. Home Rule, because home rule has been such a hot topic in West Virginia with municipalities. And guide them through then the part about how Fairmont even came to be – taking us from Middletown, Virginia all the way to Fairmont, West Virginia.”

After that first session, participants go on to learn about the roles of city officials, planning and community development, public safety (both fire and police), finance and budget, utilities, building inspections and code enforcement, public works and quality of life.

“Fairmont 101” class visits City Public Works Department

Rogers got the idea for “Fairmont 101” from a conference he attended. One of the presenters was from the City of Decatur, Georgia, whose “101” program was helping citizens there understand how their local government works.

He says Fairmont suffers from some of the same confusion Decatur deals with – namely the confusion over the jurisdiction of neighboring municipalities, county government and the state.

For example, Fairmont gets calls from citizens wanting action on state road repairs or needing help with an issue that is not within Fairmont’s city limits.

The 101 program helps clear up some of that misunderstanding and educates participants about the City of Fairmont’s specific roles and responsibilities.

Rogers says department heads already see the benefit of having this face to face interaction with citizens.

“And they’ll talk about how nice it was to get that person to understand why we plow the streets in the manner that we plow them,” says Rogers. “That we give first priorities to school routes and hills and people that we know are on dialysis and things like that and alleys are going to be last and now people can understand.”

“I know who to call.”

Participants see the benefits, too. Rogers says one woman in the first Fairmont 101 group told him that being more informed is a plus.

“She said, I know how to save time. I know if I have an issue with a vacant, dilapidated house I don’t need to call the city manager, I don’t need to call my council member, I need to call the code enforcement department and that’s where I need to go. She said, before I might make four phone calls and everybody eventually got me to the code enforcement office, but now I know who to call.”

Marianne Moran is in the current Fairmont 101 class. She says she has learned something new at each session. She has been active in Marion County for many years, but sees this as an opportunity to learn more about how the city works.

"A lot of people complain about what the city is and isn't doing and I thought well that's sort of not fair," says Moran. "And I'd like to come and learn about the inner workings of all the departments of the city and just learn how it functions"

Moran has thrown her hat into the ring to run for city council.

Rogers says that type of involvement is a natural outgrowth of the Fairmont 101 program. He says it comes down to finding new ways to engage citizens and help them become more active in their community.

He’s pleased with the variety of people who have signed up – retirees, college students, and people who work in Fairmont but live elsewhere. Some businesses or other entities that work with the city – or hope to work with the city – have also sent some of their people through the program to get a better idea of how the city works.

Rogers says he would definitely recommend that other cities in West Virginia consider offering a “101”-type program.