It took several years, but West Virginia finally appears to have a handle on the state's vehicle fleet with new registration and renewal requirements designed to make it easier to track state-owned cars, trucks and equipment.
Now, the spotlight turns to buildings and property purchased by taxpayers which are under-utilized, empty or should be disposed of.
A list compiled by the state's Department of Administration names nearly three dozen state-owned buildings which are not being used, are substantially underused, should be torn down or disposed of.
Secretary of Administration Allan McVey said he's working to get state-owned buildings up to their full capacity or to get rid of the ones which aren't.
“We're seeing some downsizing in the departments as well through the use of attrition or technology, we're finding that we need lower numbers of employees in state government,” McVey said.
Many of the empty or little-used buildings are on university and college campuses across the state. WVU, Marshall, Concord, Fairmont, Shepherd and West Virginia State are all listed as having under-utilized properties.
The rest range from a dormitory at the state police academy, the historic but empty Holly Grove mansion beside the Governor's Mansion and two capitol complex buildings in need of massive renovations, Building Four and Building Six.
“Some of the buildings with deferred maintenance need to be redone, reconstructed, rebuilt. And because of that we're now in the process of trying to decide how we're going to utilize those,” McVey said.
McVey said some buildings, like the one on Michigan Avenue a block from the capitol, look fine on the outside but need extensive remodeling. Decisions have to be made whether repairs should begin or demolition, which would free up the space for some other use.
“Because we're talking about either unused or underutilized buildings, we want to basically study those to find out if we can use them. And if we can't, we'd like to dispose of them,” McVey said.
McVey said he'd like to get as many as possible state employees into state-owned buildings. He said that would allow West Virginia to eliminate many expensive office space rental and lease agreements.
“We would like to get as many state employees here on the capitol campus as possible,” McVey said.
The renovation process is well underway for the building at 112 California Avenue, which is right across the street from the state capitol.
McVey said he's hopeful the work will be finished by mid-2021, allowing state employees to move back into the space and make it productive.