BECKLEY, WV (WOAY)- Beckley’s new city manager and mayor joined the Beckley Rotary Club weekly meeting to meet with the public. The Rotary Club strives for community service and inviting them would be a good thing for the community.
“We had the mayor and the city manager come in for basically just a meet and greet,” said Jonathan Grose, President of Beckley Rotary Club. “Our club strives on community service and service above self. So a lot of our members are overly active in the community with committees and nonprofit groups. So we felt at this time of year and his new role that was really important on getting him into the club to meet with people and talk to them.”
While Mayor Neal has been in office since July, he thinks this event was a great opportunity to connect with members.
“I just started as mayor. So you want your ear to the community as much as possible,” said Ryan Neal, Mayor of Beckley. “So I want to do things like luncheons like this with the rotary and other things are ways for, you know, to be able to talk to people and hear what people’s concerns are, what people’s ideas are.”
City Manager Resare agrees with Neal and says it also shows that they want to be involved.
“I represent the city, in that regard, as the city manager. So I need to be involved in the different local events to show the city’s support,” explained Michael Resare, City Manager of Beckley. “I’m definitely going to be involved in and represent that because that is my job here, is to show the city’s support and show that we’re behind their events, just like they’re behind our events.”
Neal and Resare look forward to working together with the city council, who also has new members.
“So you got three or four, new city council members. We are new; we look at it as a team effort. Everybody’s got their individual goals or what they want to see them back,” said Neal. “So it’s kind of exciting to be part of a team and I think a lot of people in the community, from what I’ve heard, like the fact that we have so much newness in it, you know, in leadership. So it’s actually an exciting time.”
