Fernett secures seat on Fayette County Commission

Nov. 7—FAYETTEVILLE — The Fayette County Commission will welcome a new member in 2025.

In the race for the Plateau District seat on the county commission, Greg Fernett, the Republican candidate from Fayetteville, easily defeated his challenger, Gabe Peña, a Democrat from Fayetteville. With all 40 precincts reporting, Fernett, 62, amassed 9,782 votes, compared to 5,042 for Peña.

Fernett ousted current Plateau District Commissioner Tom Louisos in the primary.

"First of all, I'd like to thank the voters of Fayette County for having the confidence in me to elect me to represent them," Fernett said. He also thanked all those who helped him navigate the election cycle and spread his message.

"It's not over," added Fernett, a longtime area sports official who remains active calling games. "This is not the end; this is the beginning."

The win in the primary followed by Tuesday's positive verdict came in Fernett's first try at running for public office.

"I worked in the mines for 35 years," said the Fayette County native. "I retired from the mining industry ... was union, then I went salary and I was the safety director and I was regional mine rescue. When I gave it up, I got into a little landscaping business just to stay busy. I get a little retirement from this, I get a little retirement from that, I've got a 401k, I've got a few things, so this (running for county commission) was something I did because I recognized a need and I thought, 'Hey, I can help the county.'

"I have done for myself. I could retire right now. I could retire right now and I can just go fishing. I really don't have to worry about it, but, look, we've got a lot of things we can do here. There's a huge opportunity in Fayette County, a huge opportunity, and I've told the leaders of Raleigh County and I've told the leaders of Nicholas County and I've told the leaders of Kanawha County and I've told the leaders of Clay County, Greenbrier County included, they all border (Fayette), 'If you want to go, Fayetteville's going to lead this train. If you want to get on, let's go, (because) we are stronger as Southern West Virginia than we ever would be as individual counties, fighting with each other. Let's fight together and let's watch this community, this area, our people grow.'"

He said his main thrust will simply focus on what he can do to help the county as a commissioner.

"I had a common response when I talked to anyone, whether it be at a municipality like Meadow Bridge, whether it be at a municipality at Mount Hope, at Oak Hill, at Fayetteville, whenever I talked to any leaders, what I said was, 'If I'm elected, what can the county do for you?' and that's what I feel a county commissioner should be asking our municipalities and our people," Fernett said. "It doesn't matter if they were a city council member or a leader, if they were a citizen, the question from the county should be 'What can we do for you?' Not 'How many roadblocks can we put before you to keep you from advancing to whatever ideas, whatever dreams or whatever thoughts you might have?'

"If you have a good idea, my door's always open because a good idea is a good idea, I don't care who it comes from. I don't care if you're a Democrat, a Republican; I don't care who it comes from. I don't care if you're a liberal, Libertarian. It doesn't matter. A good idea is a good idea and the way I would explain it is, 'We're all in this life just tryin' to catch mice (and) who cares who builds the best mousetrap? At the end of the day, we're catching more mice and isn't that the idea of the whole thing? To catch more mice to be more successful, for the county to be more successful, for the people to be successful? And that's what I would ask them, 'What can the county do to help you succeed?'"

"Right now, we're going to hitch (our wagon) to the truth," he continued. "We have an opportunity in front of us, and I'm not going to ignore the elephant, and the elephant is tourism. Now what you do with that is you grow and you get healthy with tourism and then you look for other opportunities, because with growth, with the economy getting better, you're going to be afforded other opportunities and just be aware that there will be other opportunities. What they may be, I don't know yet, but in the long run, the people of Fayette County, in my opinion, the people of Fayette County will say, 'Yes, we wish to follow this path,' or 'No, we don't wish to follow this path.'

"But we also have to remember that majority rules. Everybody's not going to get their way, including myself. ... I still have the people of Fayette County to listen to. It is not my thoughts. I can try to convince them, to persuade them to feel the way that I feel, but at the end of the day, if the answer is 'no,' then my answer needs to be 'no' and if their answer is 'yes,' then my answer needs to be 'yes.' It doesn't matter what I think. It is what I am tied by duty to do, is to represent the peoples' voice and you have to talk to the people. And you know, I'll talk to anyone because I enjoy it. I enjoy the difference in the variety of people we have here. It is so interesting and, believe it, there are bright ideas."

"We knew it was an uphill battle from the very beginning, and that is was going to be tough to win," said Peña. "But, you know, we did the best we could with the resources we had.

"The county commission has their hands full with lots of work, and I wish my opponent luck."

Peña is a Fayetteville town councilman and is the strategic initiatives coordinator for the West Virginia Community Development Hub.