In the city's first nonpartisan election, St. Albans residents will choose among their incumbent mayor and three newcomer candidates. Four people are running for mayor in the June 3 election: Mayor Dick Callaway, Dusty Herscher, Scott James and Ron VanBibber.
Last year, the city council passed an ordinance allowing for nonpartisan elections. In the past, candidates represented either the Peoples Party or the Citizens Party. Besides being nonpartisan, this election will also be different because mayoral candidates are vying for three-year terms. The city is realigning its election schedule to coincide with the presidential election. After June, the city's next election will be in 2020.
The St. Albans Chamber of Commerce will host a mayoral candidate forum May 2 at St. Albans High School. The event will start at 5 p.m. with a meet and greet of candidates. The forum will begin in the school's auditorium shortly after 6 p.m.
Here are the candidates for mayor of St. Albans:
Callaway, 75, has been the city's mayor since 2006, when he was chosen by city council to replace former mayor Greg Jones, who died while in office. Callaway was an at-large city councilman at the time.
He has been elected mayor twice since then. Among a long list of accomplishments, Callaway said the city has made improvements to its streets, including adding street lights and sidewalks and opening Main Street to traffic and B Street to two-way traffic.
He's also touting the opening of the Alban Arts Center and Arts Academy, the start of the city's radio station, WWSA, and the advent of the St. Albans Teen Court, which offers juvenile offenders a chance to participate in restorative justice and face a jury of other teens. The city also opened Rosie the Riveter Park, dedicated to honoring women who served the country on the homefront during World War II.
The city's budget is balanced, and the police department is fully staffed, he said. Callaway also touted infrastructure improvements throughout the city. St. Albans has replaced 387,000 feet of waterlines so far and has upgraded its water tanks, he said. The city also has worked with its fire department to make sure residents have smoke alarms.
"I really enjoyed doing what we can to make the city better," Callaway said.
If re-elected, Callaway said he wants to continue with the city's streetscape projects and other improvements.
This is Herscher's first time running for mayor. The 35-year-old South Charleston High School teacher and coach was born on a military base in New York and has lived in St. Albans since he was 2 years old, he said. Herscher coaches basketball and football and teaches health and physical education.
Herscher said if he's elected, he wants to clean up the town and bring in new businesses that will attract people to the city. He also said he wants to work with the city's police department to lower the crime and drug rates. He wants to start a work-training program for high school students who may not be interested in going to college. Students could learn from workers in various city departments and in local businesses, he said.
"That way we can keep them in St. Albans after they graduate and give them jobs they need," he said.
Herscher has worked for Kanawha County Schools since 2010.
In 2013, he was suspended from his coaching job at Riverside High School for about two months. Kanawha County Schools later reinstated him. No reason was given for the disciplinary action. Herscher later resigned from Riverside to work at South Charleston. Herscher said the suspension was a personnel issue and declined to comment about it on the record.
Herscher is graduate of Marshall University and West Virginia State University. He's pursuing a master's degree in counseling. Herscher is married to Katie Herscher and the two have two children, Liam, 4, and Grayson, 1.
James, 57, teaches special education and coaches girls basketball at St. Albans High School, where he's been for the last 14 years. He said his love and passion for the town are what motivated him to run.
"I'm the only son of St. Albans in this race," he said. "This is a place I love and have a passion for. I wanna make it a better community and better town."
If elected, James said his first priority will be to clean up the town. He said progress has been made on the city's drug problems, but there's more work to be done.
"We're gonna use every tool, everything at our disposal within the limits of the law to investigate and to arrest and to hopefully run out of town these folks who don't want be responsible citizens," he said.
He also wants to enforce city ordinances for building and property owners in an effort to physically clean up the town, he said. James also wants to improve the city's business climate and make the town a hub for kayaking on the Coal River.
"St. Albans will be a better town after I leave office than when I take office, that is one promise I can make," he said.
James said his administration would be very transparent if he's elected.
James and his wife, Becky, have three children.
VanBibber also is a first-time candidate. The 54-year-old retired after 34 years as a business and government account representative in the cellular communication industry. He's lived in St. Albans for 18 years.
VanBibber said he decided to run for mayor while on a hiking trip on the Appalachian Trail. VanBibber has been on the board of the St. Albans Riverfest for eight years and coached recreational and middle school soccer for the last 14 years, he said.
VanBibber said he wants to help improve the city's drug problems by enforcing a 30-day hold for merchandise at pawn shops and by remanding offenders with drug problems to a drug treatment facility.
"If you dry up the easy money, that will drive people toward rehab," he said.
He also wants to increase traffic to the city and bring in new businesses. The city's charter says the mayor's jobs are handling the budget, hiring personnel and promoting the city, he said. VanBibber said his skillset lines up with the promoting role.
"I don't think we've had that for a long time, and I don't think we'll grow unless we do," VanBibber said.
VanBibber, 54, and his wife, Cori, have four children who are 32, 23, 12 and 9.
Candidates for city council are:
At-large: incumbent John D. Caudill IV, Aly C. White, Cathy Henderson, Walter Hall and Lee Roberts; Ward 1: incumbent Robert J. Keiffer (unopposed); Ward 2: incumbent Jason Philabaun (unopposed); Ward 3: incumbent Ronald K. Colby III (unopposed); Ward 4: incumbent Cheryl Thomas and Brian Kloosterman; Ward 5: incumbent Christopher S. Withrow (unopposed); Ward 6: incumbent Dale E. Withrow (unopposed); Ward 7: Andrew D. Eads (unopposed); Ward 8: incumbent Pat Quinlan and Annie Lane; Ward 9: David Cassis Rucker and incumbent Garry Pennington.
Reach Lori Kersey at
lori.kersey@wvgazettemail.com,
304-348-1240 or follow
@lorikerseywv on Twitter.