Call it trial, if not by fire, at least by storm. That's what the incoming mayor of Ravenswood had to face when he took office on the first of this month.
Michael Ihle was elected in May to the mayor's office two days before he took office on July first, one of this area's worst storms ever resulted in many of the same concerns the rest of us have dealt with.
Ihle praised the work of Ravenswood's city employees in quickly responding to the problems and adds power was restored to the city itself quickly. The city has already responded to some of the biggest problems, which include communication during and after the storm.
"As a council, we approved an application to the National Weather Service storm ready program, to assess what we have, and what we need to do as a city," he said Wednesday. "I believe only one county and one community in West Virginia are storm ready. So that's something that having a background in meteorology, that I understand a little bit of."
Mayor Ihle says keeping up the city's infrastructure is an issue every city has to face, but Ravenswood has its advantages. One is the city's central location, making it accessible to Parkersburg, Charleston and even Columbus. The other, he says, is Ravenswood's relatively low city utility rates.
