Patch Gets To Know James Booth

MARIETTA, OH — James Booth is one of the three Washington County Commissioners. He took office on January 2 and says he ran because he wanted to get more involved in the community. Prior to taking office, Booth was a small business owner. “My wife and I owned housing rentals.” He also has a trucking company that hauls alloys in the steel business.

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Booth hails from Whipple. “I graduated from Fort Frye High School in 1989.” After that, he enlisted in the U.S. Army where he was an infantryman serving in Desert Storm and earning the combat infantry badge. “I signed up for two years and served for two years.” When he came out of the Army he served as a policeman. He says his hobbies are ‘work, work, and work.’

Booth has only been in office for a few months and says one thing that's surprised him is how busy he's been. When asked if he planned on running again he laughed and said we’ll have to see. He says he wants to have some real tangible success concerning the Devola sewer project during his four-year term.

For those who don’t know, the Devola sewer project has been an extremely contentious issue not just for Devola, but also for folks in Marietta. “It was mandated by the EPA that Devola be sewered.” There is a court order that says they have to put a sewer system in Devola. “The previous board of commissioners didn’t want to sewer Devola so it was a fight with the EPA and the board of commissioners.”

Booth says he’s going to do what he can for those concerned because that’s his job. “At this point, we have to save as much as we can for the residents of Devola.” There’s another problem for Devola because it isn’t low to moderate-income. “The five major areas where usually projects are funded out of, they aren’t eligible.” Booth says because the area is more well off, they’re having a hard time finding grant money to fund the project. “The total cost and burden is on the residents who are on the sewer.”

Another huge point of contention here is what's called a tap-fee. Once the county sewer is installed in Devola, each resident will have to pay between $10,000 and $12,000 to tap into the sewer system. “That’s why this is such a touchy subject.” He says the whole thing is a bit of a mess right now, but he remains optimistic.

Commissioner Booth says it’s important to keep all parts of the county working together because at the end of the day we’re all Washington County. “We’re always speaking with the townships and staying in good contact.” He says the commissioners keep in touch with the mayors of Marietta and Belpre. “Working together gets a lot more done than being off on your own.” He even floated the idea of an annual meeting with all the mayors in Washington County.

All three Washington County Commissioners get along famously. “We work so well together. Now we don’t always agree, and that’s okay, I think that’s what Washington County wants.” He says the last thing the county needs is a bunch of yes men. “You need to have discussion. You need to look at all the angles you can look at and make the best decisions you can based on the right information.”

Booth says his door is always open. “I can talk to anyone regardless of where we fall on an issue. I’d like to welcome anyone into my office to have a conversation.” He says while he doesn’t know it all, he never claimed to. And that having an open mind is important when dealing with county affairs. He says folks can email him at jbooth@wcgov.org. He invites anyone in the county to call him at 740-373-6623 extension 2012.

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