(Photo Illustration/MetroCreative)

PARKERSBURG — Incumbent Wendy Tuck and challenger Patrick McCormick both won contested primaries to earn their parties’ nominations for the District 4 Parkersburg City Council seat.

Tuck fended off David Atkinson in the Democratic primary while McCormick defeated fellow Republican Nikki Lawson.

Tuck said she feels progress has been made over the last four years. Accomplishments by city officials include replacement of the Southwood Park pool, progress toward a new Fire Station 3, four years of employee raises and the demolition of numerous vacant, dilapidated houses.

“I know there’s problems,” Tuck said. “We didn’t get this way overnight. We can’t fix it overnight. But we can make steady progress.”

Tuck said she’s helped establish four neighborhood associations to tackle a variety of issues in the district and worked with various entities to help improve housing for more than 500 people around the city. A $2,500 grant from the Reimagine Appalachia organization helped five families in the district improve their homes, she said.

“You have to have input from residents that know what the problems are and resources from the city,” Tuck said.

“I love bringing people together to solve problems. I think that’s my biggest strength,” she said.

McCormick said Parkersburg is his hometown and he’s lived in District 4 since 1999. During that time, he said, it’s continued to get worse.

“We have the most code violations; we have the most fires,” McCormick said. “We’ve got the most pedestrian traffic and the worst sidewalks in town.

“I just want our district to have a voice,” he said.

Although numerous older structures have been torn down, “we don’t really have a plan to redevelop,” McCormick said. “We’ve got to make our neighborhoods safe and clean and a place where people will want to spend money to build a modest home.”

McCormick said he has a retail management background and knows how to bring people together and solve problems. He said he will work with department heads as well as council members, regardless of political affiliation.

“If we don’t agree on something, we can work around that,” he said.

McCormick disagrees with the recent decision to build the new Fire Station 3 east of the existing facility at 13th and Liberty streets and out of District 4, despite the number of fires there.

“We’re losing our fire station,” he said. “I would have fought tooth and nail against doing that.”

Tuck said Fire Station 2 is also in the district and firefighters from there often arrive at fires before Station 3.

The new site “will provide that quick coverage to 900 people,” she said.

When it comes to questions of fire safety, Tuck said, she believes council must follow the recommendations of the fire chief, who chose the new site.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.

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Parkersburg City Council District 4 Candidates

Wendy Tuck

* Age: 71

* Address: 1020 14th St.

* Party: Democrat

* Occupation: retired from West Virginia Birth to 3

* Past offices: incumbent, one term on council

Patrick McCormick

* Age: 56

* Address: 12 Camden Place

* Party: Republican

* Occupation: licensed Medicare agent for a private insurer

* Past offices: first run, member of the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals