UPDATE: April 17, 2025

Unfortunately, the Jefferson County Commission voted unanimously to approve the proposed bylaws for the new Water Advisory Committee. The Water Advisory Committee will be comprised of 11 members, only 3 of which will be members of the public. The other members will all staff. This reduces transparency and reduces public participation. We are saddened that the County Commission did not listen to the more than 165 public comments submitted and the public comment given at the last several county commission meetings asking that the Water Advisory Committee continue to be comprised of citizens, not staff. We hope that the County Commission re-commits itself to their promise of transparency and public involvement.

Background

In 2022, the County Commission stopped appointing members of the water advisory committee to replace board members whose terms had expired. As board members terms expired, they were not replaced and eventually the board no longer had enough members to have a quorum and stopped meeting.

In 2024, during the campaign for county commission, many members of the public expressed interest in a county wide comprehensive groundwater availability study.

The County Commission seems to have no understanding of the different types of water studies. After the election, the County Commission also seems far less enthusiastic about paying for a water study, and may go for the cheaper, yet far less informative, study.

The water study done in 2012 (most recent study) was a desk top study looking at water usage. It was based on the data from the 1991 study, which was the last comprehensive water study in Jefferson County. It is our understanding that the data was collected for that study starting in 1988. So, we are relying on data that was collected over 35 years ago.

We need a citizen-based Water Advisory Committee to represent the concerns and interests of a broad section of the people.

The Foundation has repeatedly requested that the Water Advisory Committee be reconstituted with new members.

What is happening

Unfortunately, instead of filling the seats on the existing Water Advisory Committee, the County Commission decided to dissolve the current committee, and write bylaws for an entirely new committee.

The County Commission allowed the County Administrator and one previous board member draft the bylaws.

The Issues

The old Water Advisory Committee was composed entirely of citizens. Based on the new bylaws being considered the new Committee would be composed as follows:

Section 1. Membership. The WAC consists of nine (9) voting members:

• One (1) staff member of the Jefferson County Health Department;
• One (1) staff member of the Jefferson County Department of Engineering, Planning and Zoning;
• One (1) staff member of the Charles Town Utility Board;
• One (1) staff member of the Shepherdstown Water Department;
• One (1) staff member of Harpers Ferry Water Works;
• One (1) staff member of Harpers Ferry- Bolivar Public Service District;
• One (1) staff member of the West Virginia State Department of Environmental Protection;
• One (1) member of the public; and
• One (1) county commissioner who will only have voting privileges in the event of a tie.

During the March 20 County Commission meeting, the County Commission directed the previous board member and the County Administrator to revise the membership section to include three members of the public. It was also stipulated that those three members must have water expertise.

Notice that all other members of the committee are staff members. These staff members do not represent the general public of the. county. They are beholden to their supervisor rather than to the people. With several of these positions, there is overlap in supervisory chains. This has the effect of consolidating power and leaving the people unrepresented.

Four of the nine represent municipal water or sewer boards. These bodies sell the water or have the potential to foul it in the case of the sewer entities. These bodies do not have the same interests as members of the public living in the county on wells. Also, If the DEP position is not filled, this means that half of the county water advisory committee is composed of municipal representatives, with two from the small municipalities of Harpers Ferry and Bolivar. These utilities already have boards of citizens that represent their customers. The point of the Water Advisory Committee was to represent everyone else in the County.

There is a member of the planning and zoning staff. What expertise in water do planners have and what incentive do they have to represent the interests of people in the county living on wells? The one position in this office that has expertise in water would be the county engineer. So, will that person just be the de facto staff member? 

There is a member of the health department staff included on the committee. This seems more appropriate because at least they work to protect water quality, but why a staff member? It should be a member of the board of health.

Then there is a staff member of the DEP. The authors of the new policy do not understand that the DEP does not serve the county administrations, is extremely under staffed, and underfunded. The DEP will likely never fill this seat consistently. And, why should they? Could you imagine if the DEP had to provide a staff member to attend meetings in all 55 counties in WV? That would require additional appropriations from the house of delegates.

Bottom line: there was no need to change the bylaws of the Water Advisory Committee. The Water Advisory Committee should have just been left as it was and the seats filled with new members. Jefferson County is lucky to have many dedicated water experts and lay persons with keen interests in water. The County Commission should choose from these people may of whom are eager to serve and would provide far better representation of the interests of the people who live in the county on wells or use the water for recreation. A board of staff members would be naturally conflicted and trying to represent the interests of the people and the interests of their office or entity.

Take action

165 people told the County Commission:

• The Water Advisory Board should consist of citizens not staff members. If the Commission feels so strongly about having the expertise from the utilities, the board of health, and the planning department they may be added as nonvoting advisory members but they should make up no more than one quarter of the board and they should be non-voting members.
• It may be appropriate to require some of the members of the water advisory board to have expertise in hydrogeology but there should also be members that would be considered a lay person from a hydrogeology stand point but may have either a keen interest in it or that have other expertise like biology and farming. This would be similar to other boards such as the Historic Landmarks Commission and Planning Commission.