Local News 1

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The year 2025 will be an election year for the town of Terra Alta. This includes elections for the offices of Mayor, Recorder and five Town Council seats. We do not believe the town of Terra Alta has enacted an ordinance which sets specific dates for a candidate filing period (we may be wrong). According to the West Virginia Municipal League and State Code, when a town or municipality has not specifically by charter or ordinance set a Candidate Filing Period the following applies:

State law requires candidates to file a certificate of announcement between the  second Monday of January and the last Saturday of January before the election. The  filing is made with the municipal recorder or clerk, and may be made by mail, but must  be postmarked by the U. S. Postal Service no later than midnight of the last day of filing.  The form of the certificate is set by law and must be notarized. A certificate of  announcement that lacks essential information may be rejected. W. Va. Code § 3-5-7. (More details and information may be found in the "Secretary of State - State of West Virginia - Municipal Elections Guide - April 10, 2023", a copy of which can be obtained from a simple internet search.) 

West  Virginia Municipal Candidate's Certificate of Announcement Form & Instructions

Rumor has it the new Family Dollar store is set open in the February/March 2025 timeframe. However, from our observations it appears the new store will not be a dual-branded Family Dollar / Dollar Tree establishment, as originally planned. Workers were observed initially installing lighted signage on the front of the building that would indicate a dual brand store; but the next day they were replaced with a single larger Family Dollar sign. The original intent of the dual-brand store is still visible by the split red/green colored trim along the top of the building (right side is red & left side is green).   

The town of Terra Alta is still collecting a separate $25.00 "Fire Fee" from anyone owning real property within town limits, even though Preston County voters passed/enacted a Fire Levy back in May of 2018. All Preston County real property owners pay the fire levy as part of their property tax bill. According to the Preston County News & Journal, the county fire levy provides up to $40,000 per year to each of the county's 12 volunteer fire departments and up to $15,000 per year to the county fire association for training and other purposes. The county fire levy has been renewed by Preston County voters in 2022 and 2024.

The Terra Alta Police Department appears to have procured and is wearing/using body-cams. We infer this from the mayor's official social media page, which features a post about the Terra Alta Police Chief receiving the 2024 Best of Preston Law Enforcement Officer award. In a photo accompanying the post, we observed devices which appear to be body cams being worn by all three officers. The pervious sentence contains new news within itself; as the TAPD appears to have added an additional officer in training.