48th House district candidate Q&A: Thomas Clark and Devin Spinks respond to Nicholas County resident’s questions

When we visited Nicholas County , we heard from many residents that their local schools need to be rebuilt and the area needs community centers and addiction treatment facilities.

As part of Mountain State Spotlight’s “Citizens Agenda” approach to covering this year’s elections, we asked the candidates for the 48th House of Delegates District questions about these issues. Republican Thomas Clark , a former federal government employee and Webster County Commissioner, is seeking his first statehouse election win after being appointed by Gov. Jim Justice to the seat earlier this year. He faces a challenge from Democrat Devin Spinks , a social studies teacher at Summersville Middle School.

Find out which House district you live in here.

These interviews have been edited for clarity and length.

Question: Nicholas County residents spoke about the need to build and rebuild important community institutions, especially for teenagers and young adults. Currently, construction is still underway to replace Nicholas County’s schools after they were damaged in the 2016 flood, and it’s not expected to be completed for at least another year. What will you do to support building back Nicholas County Schools?

Clark: It’s getting closer and closer every day.

The problem in Nicholas County, there seemed to be a riff between the two communities and who would get what. And we forgot what should be first, and that’s our students. We need to continue to work together and make sure these students are put first, and work with the state School Building Authority and make sure funding continues to flow until these schools are finished. That’s what I do, I push hard.

Thomas Clark

House of Delegates Republican Incumbent

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5 Euclude Ave. Webster Springs WV 26288 More About Thomas Clark

Spinks: So the first thing: I am a teacher at one of those schools that was affected, so I’m currently in the pods [trailer classrooms]. So it’s very rough some days. I would be looking to ensure that all schools are equitable and there’s a quality education in each building. I know that that’s possible with the construction of these new state-of-the-art institutions we’re getting. It’s great to have complexes that are going to be ahead of so many other places in our state.

I’ve looked at the reports for the construction, and we are looking still at 2027. But I also feel that we could send some additional funding to get these schools built a little faster. I would love to have some sort of state statute about if this were to ever happen to another community, that they’re not waiting the same amount of time that Nicholas County has waited.

Question: One Summersville resident talked about how some of the places he and his friends would go as teenagers no longer exist. What could you do to help bring activities for teenagers back to the county?

Clark: We support private businesses as much as we can with tax dollars. But I have already invested some of my local economic development funds into the new Richwood Community Center. They’re building a new basketball gym in there which will be shared by the high school for practices, for weightlifting, for kids’ after-school activities. It’s in the old armory, and they’re building that back now. We’ll try to put some more funds into that next year as well.

Spinks: So for one thing, we have the opioid crisis going on. I always say idle minds lead to some bad choices. So without these programs, we’re not assuring that our youth have the best foot forward. We need more young people to be involved. So getting these centers created or these activities created — I would love to see a YMCA-type of organization come to Summersville. We just had the creation of Summersville State Park.

Devin C Spinks

House of Delegates Democrat

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But also over in Richwood, which is more my area and realm, we have such great economic development about to happen. It’s just right on the precipice. WVU has come in and done some assessments with some of the buildings, we have the West Virginia [Community Development] Hub and Stacy Thomas and so many other great people in Richwood that are working tirelessly to get these projects started. As a Delegate, I would 100% be behind them and looking for grant funding, whether that be from the state or federal government, to get that going.

Question: Other county residents talked about the need for more housing to replace old, dilapidated homes. What would you do to improve housing in counties like Nicholas County?

Clark: I’ve already worked with Mayor [Gary] Johnson in Richwood, and they started their dilapidated restructure program and taking old, dilapidated buildings down in Richwood. They’ve just begun. I don’t know if they’ve had any buildings down, as in Webster County where also I serve.

It’s a pretty difficult process. You just can’t run in and jerk somebody’s house down. There’s a lot of logistics to it, but we put together committees in both counties, and they’re working on it. I think we’ll see a big difference in the next year.

Spinks: That is a continuation of projects that are being looked at in Richwood. It is for more housing, market-level housing, being created. I would also love to see a walkable community in Nicholas County. That would attract more young people. I’m 27, almost 28, and when I travel abroad, everywhere is so walkable. That would be a great asset to Southern West Virginia.

Question: Some residents who work to address or have lived experience with addiction spoke about the lack of treatment centers and sober living homes in Nicholas County. What would you do to help improve access to addiction services in places like Nicholas County?

Clark: Again, the process is in the movement. The [West Virginia] First Foundation has been formed across the state. We’ve received a little bit of opioid money in both counties. I think we’ve been able to put some money back in law enforcement in both counties, which was earmarked for that and winds up trying to prevent some drug abuse from happening in the future.

What we’d hoped for is maybe we could go to the First Foundation — and we’ve actually done that. We’ve actually asked a couple folks to help us out and create a treatment center that would suit the whole district right there — the eastern part of Nicholas County and all of Webster and a little bit of Greenbrier — and maybe centrally locate that over in Nicholas County somewhere. There is none right now, and that’s a serious issue for us.

We’re going to look at drug courts, the drug courts might help a little bit. And a work release center where we can also maybe take those folks out and get them a job and give them some sense of well-being. But no, there’s nothing. No drug treatment centers, no housing. There’s no work release or no drug court. So we’re working on it all. That’s what we’re doing right now.

Spinks: First and foremost, we need to establish programs within our schools so we don’t end up with another generation of addicts, so we don’t continue to perpetuate. With these prevention programs in the schools, it’s going to also alleviate some of that ‘what are my teens doing?’ type of thing.

There’s so much that can be done. I want to be able to get the ball rolling. I would love to see needle exchange programs to assure that people aren’t overdosing as much. Folks who participate in these programs are five times more likely to receive treatment.

So having these treatment facilities available, whether that’s getting private institutions to come in or if the state were to sponsor some folks to come in and create these programs.

We also received settlement money from some of the opioid companies, and ensuring that that money is spent wisely toward recovery — it has to be done. This is millions of dollars that’s in flux in a lot of communities in Southern West Virginia.

48th House district candidate Q&A: Thomas Clark and Devin Spinks respond to Nicholas County resident’s questions appeared first on Mountain State Spotlight , West Virginia's civic newsroom.