Town left disappointed after resource agreement with WVU ends

MONTGOMERY, W.Va. (WOWK) — An agreement that sent resources to one struggling town in West Virginia is being cut, and concerned leaders say it wasn’t a completed deal.

The West Virginia Institute of Technology, now WVU Tech, has been serving the community of Beckley for eight years.

Before that, the institution nestled inside the community of Montgomery, a small town that’s been struggling since the move by WVU.

Back in 2015, the WVU Board of Governors signed an agreement with the town, among other governing bodies in the Upper Kanawha Valley, to offset the gaps following the move.

In the agreement, WVU promised assets such as grant writers, maintenance to the university’s facilities, various task forces, collaborations with Montgomery General Hospital and other resources to be of aid as long as the city of Montgomery did not stop the university from moving forward with relocation plans.

That agreement expired on July 1, 2025. But the city didn’t believe they had made sufficient progress, and began working on extending the agreement.

Montgomery Mayor Greg Ingram said that in January, these conversations of renewal began. In May, he sat down with a representative from WVU to discuss a renewal.

Then, silence—until a letter was brought to city hall. The letter, mailed in June 2025 by WVU President Gordon Gee, said they will not be renewing the agreement.

Ingram said it’s a sad situation that he was completely blindsided by.

“I’m boots on the ground here,” he said. “I get up every morning here in Montgomery, and I go to bed at night here in Montgomery. Gordon Gee probably never been here since he closed this school. They have left a lot of things undone, and you can go over and take pictures of the buildings with plywood on them. They’ve left their carcasses on a town of 1200 people.”

According to Ingram, WVU did not uphold its end of the deal. Some things were done, but not all. In his personal records, he went through the nine-page document, jotting down question marks beside empty promises.

“We did our part,” Ingram said, flipping through the pages. “The rest of these nine pages were commitments that they made.”

He also says WVU has wasted taxpayer money, leaving them to deal with astronomical debts and stranding many communities in the Upper Kanawha Valley to wither away.

A portion of the letter addresses what WVU has done for Montgomery and surrounding communities since the signing, saying:

“WVU provided $1.2 million to Montgomery and Smithers for assistance with essential municipal services which protects residents and businesses– $300,000 more than was promised after we extended the payments beyond the original agreement,” the letter said.

Ingram said with WVU Tech out of town, many businesses- and citizens- have left, and new travelers are hesitant to settle.

13 News has reached out to WVU on this story, and as of Wednesday evening, we have not heard back from them. Stay here for updates on this developing story.