Erskine running for Ronceverte mayor  

By Stephen Baldwin, RealWV

Two years ago, Kim Erskine decided she needed to get healthier. She began walking around her hometown of Ronceverte. 

“I walk about 600 miles a year on these roads,” she says. “Basically that’s when I decided over the course of those walks, seeing the many things that need to be done, that I was gonna run for mayor.” 

Meet Kim

Erskine is 54 years old and has lived in the River City for 50 years. She works remotely for a tech company, has one biological daughter who she raised in town, and also served as a foster parent for 19 children. 

In terms of public service experience, she worked at City Hall for several years and has served as a poll worker. 

“We only had 211 residents vote the last election for mayor,” Erskine notes. “That is less than 1/3 of the households.”

Erskine says she is a people person who prefers to work in the background. 

Roads and Sidewalks

One of the issues facing the town, according to Erskine, is transportation. During her walks across town, she saw numerous sidewalks and streets in need of repairs. 

 While Erskine says she knows there’s no magical pot of money to fix these problems, she does believe there are things that can be done. 

“I would definitely be the noise in the Division of Highways ear,” she says with a smile. “Everytime they open their email, they’d see my emails. I’d be the squeaky wheel to get these roads fixed. We’ve been forgotten here in Ronceverte a lot.”

Downtown Businesses

Erskine said her first step in terms of business development would be to contact the owners of all downtown storefronts. 

“I’ve got a list of the names of people who own storefronts downtown,” she says. “My idea is to ask them their plans. Do they plan to do something with their space? If not, are they willing to sell? If so, give them a list of realtors and people who may know someone who wants to do a project. If they say no, then we need to follow the ordinances and make sure those storefronts are kept up. Whether it’s painting or staging them. At least if you’re riding by, we need to make it look good.”

But Erskine isn’t just concerned about new businesses. She wants to ensure those that are already in town will stay. 

“The businesses that are already here–how can we help them stay here? It’s good to bring in something new. But if it’s not here in another year, then we haven’t done anything. How do we keep them here?”

She says she would plan to hold a roundtable with businesses as mayor asking how the city could help them and providing a chance to collaborate. She would like to rely on established businesses like Martin & Jones sharing their wisdom with others in town. 

Water Prices

What are Erskine’s ideas about water bills for town residents? 

“I can’t promise you i’ll bring prices down,” she says. “What I will do is sit down with all the powers that be to see what we can do. My fear is with the new water plant, who’s paying for that? I would be willing to see what kind of funding we could find. Government funding is not guaranteed now. I would definitely want to sit down with people in our same situation elsewhere and ask them what they did? We can’t be the only ones in this situation. Other towns surely are. If we find out we’re in the same mess, then we need to take that to our representatives and say this a problem; we need your help.” 

Transparency in Government

For Erskine, transparency is key as a means to govern. 

“I feel like not just a select few need to know what’s going on in the city,” she begins. “We all as residents need to know what’s going on. Not everybody does social media. Our older generation does not do that. I would like to do a note from the mayor in the water bill every month. Upcoming events or budget info and highlight an employee each month with their contact info. I think that would definitely help.”

She also says she would set office hours a few days a week in the evenings for residents to come by CIty Hall and talk to her. 

Ronceverte residents head to the polls on June 3 to elect a a mayor and city council members. Erskine will compete against Mayor Deena Pack, David Withrow, and Shawn Honaker. RealWV will host the candidates for a forum on May 27 in downtown Ronceverte at 7pm. Stay tuned for additional mayoral candidate profiles and details on the forum.