The Legislature hereby finds and declares that as a result of changes in the economy, population shifts, new transportation demands and increasing demands for public services, and as a result of increasing complexity in government programs and added demands on public revenues, there is a need to plan comprehensively for the future development of West […]
To effectuate the purposes of this article, regional councils shall cooperate with planning agencies or development agencies within the region or within other regions, with the governing bodies and administrative officials of any municipality, county or any other political subdivision, including those in other states, or with any other entity, private or public, whose interests […]
Each regional council may appoint advisory committees of interested and affected citizens to assist in the review of plans, programs and other purposes of this article referred for review by the regional council. Whenever a special advisory committee is required by any federal or state regional program, the regional council chairman shall, with approval of […]
Each regional council shall adopt an annual budget, to be submitted to the participating governmental units which shall each contribute to the financing of the council according to a formula adopted by the council and approved by a majority of the counties and a majority of the municipalities participating in the regional council. All such […]
On or before July thirty-first of each year, each regional council shall prepare an annual report. The regional council shall submit copies of the report to the participating governmental units and to the Governor. The report shall include the following: (a) A consolidated statement of the regional council's receipts and expenditures by category since the […]
Any of the provisions of this article to the contrary notwithstanding, no pending application for federal or state grants, loans, mortgages or other types of funding nor any application for grants, loans, mortgages or other types of funding intended to supplement a pending project shall be required to be approved by any such regional council […]
The provisions of this article shall be liberally construed to accomplish its objectives and purposes.
The following terms, wherever used or referred to in this article, shall have the following meanings unless a different meaning clearly appears from the context: (a) "Comprehensive planning" shall mean the process of (1) assessing, within a geographic area, the needs and resources of the area; (2) formulating goals, objectives, policies and standards to guide […]
The Governor, as chief executive officer of the state, shall be responsible for planning and development of the state's governmental, social, health, economic, environmental and physical resources. In executing this responsibility, the Governor shall: (1) Prepare, revise and update state development plans which shall, at least annually, submit to the Legislature. Such plans shall identify […]
(a) Within sixty days after the effective date of this article, the Governor shall define and recommend for the purposes of this article regional boundaries embracing each municipality and county within the state. (b) In delineating boundaries of the regions, the Governor shall consider such factors as the units of local government shall express by […]
(a) The Governor shall provide for an organizational meeting of each of the regional councils within sixty days after his certification pursuant to section four of this article. He shall notify the president of each county court and the mayor of each municipality of the region of the time and place of such meeting. The […]
(a) All municipalities and all counties within the region shall be represented on the regional council. The county representative shall be the president of the county commission or a member of the county commission designated by him or her. The municipal representative shall be the mayor or a member of the governing body designated by […]
Each regional council is empowered and authorized to contract for services of consultants to perform planning, development, engineering, legal or other services of a professional, specialized or technical nature; and such consultants shall be persons appropriately qualified under state statutes dealing with the applicable profession or occupation. Each such contract must have the express approval […]
Each regional council may: (a) Continuously engage in comprehensive planning and development processes and prepare, and from time to time revise, amend, extend or add to, a plan or plans for the development of the region consistent with any state comprehensive planning and development objectives and reflecting plans and programs of the participating governmental units. […]
Each regional council shall review all applications of governmental units or independent agencies within the region for loans or grants from the federal government or any of its agencies or the State of West Virginia or any of its agencies. All recommendations and comments on applications for the aforementioned funding programs shall be forwarded to […]
