A Facebook post on Mountaineer Casino & Resort’s page, informs their Facebook friends about construction at the facility.
The post shared renderings of a new and improved look at Mountaineer and says they have partnered with Navigate Building Solutions, and the casino exterior will show a lighter, brighter exterior with an all new look, upgraded buildings materials and stunning exterior lighting.
Slated for completion in Spring 2025. The Facebook page will share the latest updates, impact to parking experience and much more. The General Contractor is Cattrell Co., Inc. and the architect is Andes – KLG, a division of Shive Hatterly, Inc.
That appears to be good news for Mountaineer, but since Hometown News did not get a press release and I had a bunch of questions, I e-mailed Jason Pugh, the vice-president and general manager of Mountaineer. I had about eight questions, the first one being the source of the money (word on the street is that this is an $8 million project, but I asked for a verification of that figure.) I asked if the funds for the project had come from a capital development fund from the Lottery or it was strictly funded by Mountaineer dollars. I asked if any improvements would be taking place inside the facility. I asked how many workers were on the job and if they were Union workers. I also asked how many full- and part-time employees Mountaineer employed.
I received my answer in an e-mail from Jason Pugh “We have no comment other than what was released on social media.”
We receive no news from Mountaineer and the fact that they refuse to even answer pretty innocuous questions is more than disturbing. The public fears and distrusts what they don’t know and Mountaineer makes no attempt to use the media to inform them. When I saw that they have changed their name to Mountaineer Casino & Resort, an alarm went off in my head. Why did they drop Racetrack? Is this a harbinger or what’s to come? They can’t operate those machines without live racing and yet they downplay the racing part of their entertainment package.
As the former Public Relations Director at Mountaineer I’m appalled. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the passage of the Racetrack Video Lottery bill, sponsored by the late Del. Sam Love and myself. I along with every elected official in this county, and the AFL-CIO, that represented the pari-mutuel workers put ourself on the line to get that bill passed. But, we weren’t alone. The bill was a Constitutional Amendment which had to be passed by the voters in this county. Those voters trusted us, because we had kept them advised every step of the way. Ted Arneault had shared his plans for Mountaineer with the media and the public. We were a partnership and without everyone knowing what was going on, the local referendum wouldn’t have passed.
So now, the current owners and management of Mountaineer think they are in this alone. They ignore the media and don’t even share with the person who made the whole thing happen (with a little help from her friends.) I’ve sent a Freedom of Information to the WV Racing Commission asking for the full-time and part-time employees on the payroll. I’ve also asked for how many are WV residents (the law requires a percentage be WV residents.)
Wish we could go back to the days when we were all in this together pushing for Hancock County’s second largest employer to succeed. We trusted each other and we helped each other. The result was that the Hancock County Commission received $77 million from their 2 percent allocation over the past thirty years. Those funds were used for water-sewage projects, either as a match or directly. The list of all the projects that were funded is long and impressive. Together, we made a difference in the economy and the lives of many.
