CHARLESTON -
An initiative to celebrate and recognize veteran friendly communities across the state is almost ready to launch.
Heather Miles, communications director with the West Virginia Department of Veterans Assistance told the Legislature's Select Committee on Veterans Affairs that anyone will soon be able to log on to the department's website and nominate any community in the state for the honor. A veteran friendly community is defined as any town or municipality that displays a commitment to veterans, Miles said.
"We did that lose definition because we wanted it to be as inclusive as possible and garner as much participation as we can," she told the committee.
Miles said department officials recently met with Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin's office to discuss a possible launch date. An event to recognize winning communities will hopefully coincide either with Veteran's Day in November or Veterans Visibility Day in February.
"We're shooting for one of those (dates)," Miles said. "It's not set in stone, but we're at the point where we're looking at schedules."
The department will recognize one or two communities each year with plaques and road signs designating those communities as most friendly to veterans for that particular year. However, some members of the committee took issue with proposed language and questioned how the department would quantify which communities are most veteran friendly.
Sen. Evan Jenkins, D-Cabell, said he wants to see community members across the state work to achieve the goal of being recognized as most veteran friendly.
"I was thinking this program would set the bar," he said. "If you achieve 25 points or 200 points in veteran promotions activities over the course of the year, or you do a parade or whatever, you can be a certified veteran friendly community and hold yourself out. We could have a dozen or six dozen."
Jenkins likened the current plan to former Gov. Gaston Caperton's plan for certified business communities. Those signs are now located all over the state so there's nothing special about them anymore. He said he didn't want to see the veteran friendly communities program follow the same path.
Delegate David Walker, D-Clay, asked how the department would determine what is a veteran friendly community. He offered the example of a mentally ill veteran in Clay who has the whole town looking after him.
"How do you quantify that?" he asked. "We all take him to the doctor. He has a home – he's not homeless. We look after his finances. You can't judge things like that. You can't look at a parade and say that's really good. Parades are fine. Everyone loves parades and the national anthem, and that's fine. But you have to look at the heart of the town of the citizens and the families."
Delegate Barbara Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, said communities should be recognized for taking care of veterans on an individual level.
"I think small communities would be the kind of places to do what he's talking about, but in large communities those things would get lost in the shuffle," she said.
Miles said the department has been struggling with developing appropriate criteria for the award. She said the variety of veteran-related issues, such as housing, education, health care and employment makes it hard to judge and quantify veteran friendliness. She said the department would take all suggestions into consideration.
Once the program is launched, anyone, including people who live outside West Virginia, can nominate any community in the state for the award. The nomination application will include a few questions and an essay about what that community does to help veterans. From there, a council will vote on the nominations and choose a winner.
The Department of Veterans Assistance will pay for the plaques at a nominal cost. The West Virginia Department of Transportation has agreed to pick up the cost of two road signs per community. Miles said the department does not anticipate any additional costs for the program.
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