By Audrey Stanton
Register-Herald reporter
March 03, 2007 10:12 pm
—
Stephen B. “Steve” Nickell is no stranger to Beckley Common Council. He’s served on it the last eight years.
But when he moved from Ward III to Ward IV at the end of last year, he had to resign his seat representing Ward III. Now, as a resident of the Bowling Addition where he grew up, he hopes his neighbors in Ward IV will allow him to use his experience to represent them as he did his neighbors in Ward III.
Actually, Nickell has served Beckley city government in some capacity for 18 years. He’s served six terms on the Board of Directors for the West Virginia Municipal League. He has served as vice chairman of Beckley’s Board of Zoning Appeals, vice president of Beckley’s Planning Commission and as a member of the Beckley Urban Renewal Authority.
He’s also served on the advisory board for Mountain State University’s School of Occupational Therapy, and he continues to earn a living as senior territory manager for U.S. Foodservice, a job that sends him to locations throughout the city.
“I enjoy being involved,” he said.
Serving on Beckley Common Council and in the Municipal League has shown him Beckley has an excellent financial situation in a time when many other municipalities are struggling.
“That’s because for many years, common council has worked as a group,” he said. “We are fortunate that the mayor and the council work as a whole for the benefit of the entire city.”
Another benefit from his experience comes from networking with the Municipal League, where he has spoken with representatives of other cities in West Virginia. Members share with one another what ideas work and what ideas don’t work.
Nickell admits that although Beckley’s government runs smoothly, there are some areas that can use attention. Traffic, for one.
“I think we are moving in the right direction,” he said, explaining the city has no control of state rights-of-way, yet when city council as a whole keeps insisting on improvement, the state listens. That situation is under examination.
He also believes city boundaries could be “more unified,” but, he pointed out, “voters and property owners have to agree.”
He believes Mountain State University deserves the city’s full support for all it’s brought to the area, and he expects it to bring more — particularly business growth uptown.
“I think we’re going to see — it’s a slow process — but we’re going to see growth there in small businesses,” he said. “I don’t think we’re ever going to see it the way some of us remember it, but they’re going to be the kind of businesses that thrive in a more diversified small town-type atmosphere.”
And he’s willing to explore the idea of metro government, under which the city and county could work more closely together in an effort to draw grants and funding for projects that would economically benefit the area as a whole.
“We always want to see progress,” Nickell said, “and that takes good working relationships with the people making those decisions.”
Nickell welcomes input and questions from residents via e-mail: 5cents@suddenlink.net.
— E-mail: bnaudrey@register-herald.com
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