Incumbent facing challengers in Weirton Ward 1 council race
WEIRTON — An incumbent member of Weirton Council is facing two challengers in this year’s race to represent Ward 1.
Current Councilman Tim Connell is hoping to be re-elected for a third term next week, but residents Rodney Summers and Jonathan Curenton are each vying to unseat him.
First elected to city council in 2015, Connell is a Weirton Steel retiree, with 37 years of employment, and a veteran of the U.S. Navy. He graduated from Weir High School. He and his wife founded the Veteran Flag program in Weirton, he has been active with the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, has assisted programs with the Salvation Army, Community Bread Basket and Weirton Christian Center, and volunteered with the community Thanksgiving dinner.
He said his initial decision to seek office followed a conversation with his wife.
“I was doing some complaining,” Connell said. “She turned to me and said, ‘If you’re not going to do anything, then shut up.'”
Among his goals if re-elected is to continue focusing on issues with speeding in the city.
“Like other wards, speeding is a major issue,” he said. “I believe 25 miles per hour in a residential area is too fast.”
He also wants to continue his work to address the needs of the city’s road maintenance, and to take care of ongoing issues with dilapidated housing in the city.
Connell notes there is a need for the city to work alongside local counties and communities, as well as the state to achieve their goals.
“We have to work together,” he said, noting there are several areas where the services to Weirton residents are provided by the counties or state, such as school systems and some road maintenance. “It’s been working very well.”
In the hope for growth in the community, Connell said the city needs to continue showing its potential, pointing to efforts by city government, the state of West Virginia and the Business Development Corp.
“Weirton is a good area for businesses to come in,” he said, noting Weirton’s ranking as among the safest cities in West Virginia multiple years. “We’ll do whatever we can to attract them.”
He said, when businesses do look at Weirton, they ask about areas such as school systems, the safety of the community, and available recreation. Through continued investment, he said, he hopes to provide the necessary growth which will rebuild the community into something to provide opportunities for the younger generations.
“At least they’ll have that opportunity; that choice,” he said.
Summers is the owner of Summers Enterprise Dumpster Rentals LLC. He previously was employed by the city’s Public Works Department, and served as a volunteer firefighter with Weirton Company 1, both beginning in the 1970s.
His business is known to donate dumpsters to many groups and nonprofits to assist their work in the communities.
“I feel that we need to focus more on our tax structure in order to bring in new business and to help our existing businesses grow,” Summers said, adding a focus needs to be made to revitalize the downtown, fund parks and recreation and focus on youth.
If elected, Summers said he wants to expand on ongoing development in Ward 1, with Form Energy serving as a cornerstone of growth opportunities to build new business and residential neighborhoods in the north end.
He also sees a need to upgrade water, sewer and other utilities in the area, and market Weirton’s north end.
He sees a need for local communities to work together.
“Weirton is unique in the sense that it is divided in two separate counties,” Summers said. “Weirton and these counties must work in unison to ensure that all decisions are favorable to all involved.”
If elected, he pledges to represent not only Ward 1, but all of Weirton.
“We really need to revisit our tax structure and make it work for everyone,” he said. “Focus on recreation for all, beautify our blight, entice new businesses and support existing businesses, and the most important one of all is to believe in our citizens. Let’s work with the public in making things better and nicer. Listen to their concerns no matter how trivial it may be. They just might have a better idea. Remember, we work for them.”
This will be Curenton’s second attempt to seek the seat, having previously run in 2019.
He has more than 19 years of experience in the areas of probation and counseling, working with businesses, organizations and judicial systems in West Virginia and Virginia to assist youth, and those in need of substance abuse therapy, behavioral therapy and other services.
He said his desire to seek office comes from living in Weirton the last seven years, and seeing a lack of advancement, including a lack of development in Weirton’s downtown.
“Despite my physical ability, the desire to be a strong presence in Weirton is growing,” Curenton said. “In Ward 1 I would like to search and find businesses that would come here. I would help my ward as well as the city become more ADA compliant, set up a place to teach youth and older individuals about people, employment and job readiness skills.”
Noting his time as a state employee, Curenton said he feels there is a need to better collaborate with state and national government to help with growth opportunities for the ward and the city, adding, as a member of council, he hopes it will help get attention to his efforts.
“Using a gmail account usually gets messages discarded or in junk files, but having the city behind my attempts greatly increases the possibility of being at least heard,” he said. “I have large dreams for the city to accomplish. I’ve accomplished as a citizen two programs or events to shine positive light as well as grow disabled individuals and a cultural community presence in this community. As a councilman, it would show the belief in me, of the portion of the city I live, to do the same for them and the city as a whole.”
Early voting in the municipal election is going on through Saturday at the respective county courthouses. On Nov. 5, voters in Hancock County’s Precinct 14 will vote at Weirton Covenant Church, while those in Precinct 19 will vote at the Hancock County Sheltered Workshop.