Ethics Commission grants Rowlesburg, Mayor exemption for $54K personal loan, Town will pay Banisters $954.20 per month

The state body made its decision during its monthly meeting held in Charleston on Thursday morning.

In its Advisory Opinion, the commission concluded, “The Ethics Commission grants the Town of Rowlesburg an exemption from the prohibition of W.Va. Code § 6B-2-5(d) permitting it to borrow $54,637.94 from Mayor Barbara Banister and her husband at no interest. The loan must be unsecured, and Mayor Banister must properly recuse herself from any matters regarding approval or repayment of the loan.”

The matter became a controversy of sorts when Banister informed members of council about a personal loan she and her husband made to the town at the Sept. 26 regular public meeting.

“I did what I thought I had to do for the town,” Banister said at the Sept. 26 meeting.

According to Banister, she and her husband made a personal loan to the town in the amount of $54,637.94 to pay Beitzel Corporation for work they did on a storm/sewer line at the Rowlesburg Park in 2015. The loan was finalized, according to Banister, on or around Sept. 13.

The original cost of the project was $47,223.74, and the town had paid $500 in July 2015 and $500 in September 2015. Beitzel then assessed late fees in the amount of $7,914.20, making the total amount due $54,637.94.

According to the state Ethics Commission “contract exemption” decision emailed to the Preston County News & Journal on Thursday, “The bank manager (Clear Mountain Bank) set payments on the proposed loan at $954.20 per month, an amount the Town reportedly can afford. The amount includes charges from the bank for servicing the loan. Mayor Banister states that she and her husband understand that they may not benefit in any way from lending money to the Town, and that the servicing charges will not benefit her or her husband.

But prior to the Thursday decision, Banister admitted to paying the town’s debt to Beitzel Corporation prior to seeking permission from the Ethics Commission.

“Now I am in trouble with the Ethics Commission and everyone in the whole world because I went and got the money and paid it off,” Banister said on Sept. 26.

The question of the loan was originally brought to light when a resident asked if the town had been approved for a commercial loan by the bank to pay off the Beitzel Corporation at the Sept. 26 meeting.

“No,” Banister answered, “the loan did not get approved.”

According to Banister, Beitzel Corporation originally charged the town $47,223.74 to modify a storm/sewer line system so sewage would not go into the Cheat River.

“Over time the company charged us an additional $7,900 in fees and interest,” Banister said. “I did the only thing I knew to do because I knew the town couldn’t do it (referring to the loan.)”

Despite working around council to pay the town’s debt, however, Rowlesburg Councilman Robert Goff praised Banister.

“There aren’t very many people around here that would lend the town $50,000,” Goff said.

Its still unclear exactly how and when the Town of Rowlesburg will pay back Banister and her husband the $54,637.94 loan. But in the Ethics Commission’s decision, they made it clear the Banisters would be like any other creditor the town owes.

“If the Town were ever in a situation where it lacked funds to cover all of its outstanding debts, the Town would be in a position of deciding among its creditors — including its Mayor (Banister) — which to pay, Further, if in the unfortunate event the Town had to declare bankruptcy, the Mayor (Banister) would be competing with other creditors for whatever money was available for disbursement,” the Ethics Commission advisory opinion stated.