The next West Virginia legislative session may be months away, but city of Wheeling officials are preparing for a vote that could either extend or diminish their home rule power.

The purpose of home rule is to have certain municipalities break away from the state's rules on certain matters like business licenses or how to deal with vacant and dilapidated buildings.

The city's five-year test run of home rule will come to an end next year, and in January, the issue will go to Charleston for a legislative vote to see if Wheeling can keep that power.

The city of Wheeling is just one of five cities in the state that has the power to create its own home rule, meaning that the city can look at certain issues and make a common-sense ruling on them on a local level. With the home rule power, Wheeling officials chose to focus on several issues.

"One was the reduction of the different licenses that people had to get. We reduced licenses that people had to get from 77 to three. So people didn't have to go to office to office and get permits or, if you were a convenience store, hang up 15 licenses for products that you had to sell," said Vice Mayor Gene Fahey.

Fahey said the city's biggest key area is having the vacant property registration fee.

He said he believes the city has done a good job with home rule, and the City Council knows the city's needs, not officials in Charleston.

"We think that those in the community such as the city of Wheeling would know what are the hot topics for us and what are the things that would be best to fit those," Fahey said.

While he's optimistic that the city will keep home rule, Fahey said if it doesn't, things could get bad.

"If home rule (is) not renewed, my fear would be that we would be taking a huge step backwards," he said.

Fahey said though the vote isn't until legislature convenes in January, in the meantime it's business as usual for those affected by home rule.

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