Newly Elected City Council Members To Take Office July 1st

BUCKHANNON: The City of Buckhannon’s most recent City Council meeting was held on June 18th, a special date due to the normal date of June 20th being the West Virginia Day holiday. The meeting opened with the official swearing-in of the mayor and three city council members.

Re-elected Mayor Robbie Skinner was the first to be sworn in by City Recorder Randy Sanders.

Robbie Skinner, III—Born and raised in Buckhannon, Robbie Skinner graduated from Buckhannon-Upshur High School in 2007 and West Virginia Wesleyan College in 2011 and has served as the Mayor of Buckhannon from 2020 to 2024.

Professionally, he has served as the Executive Director of the Upshur County Development Authority following a successful career in the insurance industry. Civically, Robbie is an active leader in his community and is involved in many organizations. He previously served as a City Council Member (2016 – 2020) and as a member of the City’s Water Board and Historic Landmarks Commission.

He is an Executive Board member and a past-president of the Buckhannon-Upshur Chamber of Commerce, and a member of the following – serving in a variety of capacities: St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation Board of Directors, treasurer, and photographer at Artistry on Main, Create Buckhannon, Southern Upshur Business Association, the West Virginia Independent Insurance Agents Association Board of Directors, West Virginia Municipal League, and West Virginia Chamber of Commerce.

Robbie diligently works daily to help make Buckhannon the region’s shining star. From taking it upon himself to clean and paint city street curbs to personally donating his time and photography to dozens of local charities, he wears his dedication and the spirit of his hometown proudly on his sleeve in all he does.

He has been honored as a contributing artist to “Tamarack: The Best of West Virginia,” which showcases his photography. The Buckhannon-Upshur Chamber of Commerce honored him as the 2013 Business Man of the Year and, most recently, the Chamber’s highest honor: the 2019 Upshur County “Citizen of the Year.”

Next to be sworn in was incumbent Councilwoman Pamela Bucklew.

Pam Bucklew—Born and raised in Burnsville, WV, Mrs. Bucklew moved to Buckhannon in 1977 to work in a family-owned business. She then decided to attend cosmetology school with her late husband and graduated in 1984. Pam has been a cosmetologist continually since. She raised two children, Catherine and Joe Cuppari, who graduated from Wesleyan College in the early 2000s. She has two grandsons and two granddaughters.

Pam was elected to the city council in 1998 for a two-year term. She was re-appointed to the council in 2002 and has been successfully re-elected ever since. She is a Buckhannon Community Theater member and helps care for aging family members.  She is a Buckhannon Community Theater member and helps care for aging family members.

Pam serves on the Consolidated Public Works Board and the Stockert Youth & Community Center Board. She has previously served on the Water Board and the Waste Collection Board and currently chairs the Fourth of July and Holiday Décor Committees.

Beginning his second term as a council member, Jack Reger was next to be sworn in.

Jack Reger –   He grew up in Buckhannon and is a 1976 graduate of Buckhannon-Upshur High School and an alumnus of West Virginia University, where he earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees. Jack is actively engaged in the Buckhannon community, where he participates in local government and is currently a member of the City Council, Consolidated Public Works Board, Financial Review Committee, serves on the Senior Center Board of Directors, and serves on the Partners in Care Council at St. Joseph’s Hospital. He is an active member at Grace Church Buckhannon.   

He worked in education for thirty-eight years, both administratively and as a classroom teacher. He has overseen governmental regulatory compliance at the local, state, and federal levels, personnel and human resources for a workforce exceeding seven hundred employees, complex scheduling and logistic systems, various legal issues, and facility management, and has worked with budgets exceeding thirty million dollars.

After retiring from Upshur County Schools, Mr. Reger has served as vice president of administration and finance for MONCO Constructors, Inc.  He has also developed and implemented training programs and managed the acquisition and implementation of comprehensive technical systems.  He was a consultant and trainer for The Reger Group, a defense contracting company in Stafford, Virginia.

Jack is married to Charla Reger. Formally, they owned and operated the renowned “A Governor’s Inn” Bed and Breakfast in Buckhannon, West Virginia.  The couple has one son, one daughter, and four grandchildren. 

The lone new council member, Rob Zuliani, was the final person to be sworn in.

Rob Zuliani – Rob was born on January 23, 1969, in Hartford, Connecticut, and raised in Granby, Connecticut, a small, rural community like Buckhannon. In 1987, he graduated from Granby Memorial High School, and in 1991, he graduated with a BS in Management from The University of Rhode Island. During high school, Rob ran a small lawn mowing and landscaping business. Once in college, he opened Z-BEST Painting and Staining, which employed college students to paint houses and commercial buildings during summer and winter breaks.

In 1993, he opened Zuliani’s New York Style Pizzeria in his hometown, choosing to ignore advice regarding bringing on a partner and quickly learning one of many difficult yet important business lessons. After the partnership dissolved, he accepted an invitation to a wedding in Buckhannon and met many wonderful people here, including his wife-to-be, Jackie Knicley. Five months later, in November 1994, I moved to Buckhannon.

Shortly after arriving at Buckhannon, Jackie and I made the first batch of Zul’s Frozen Lemonade. The first cup of Zul’s was sold on May 6, 1995, in Buckhannon at a youth soccer tournament. Zul’s Frozen Lemonade has now been in business for 29 years. In 1999, I opened Zuliani’s Italian Pizzeria downtown, across from the post office, and sold it in 2004 to be “Mr. Mom” to our daughter Cameron.

He and Jackie were married on December 12, 1998. Jackie has been employed by the Upshur County Board of Education as a teacher and coach for 31 years. They have two children, Cameron and Carter. Cameron is a sophomore at Merrimack College outside of Boston, and Carter just completed his junior year at Buckhannon Upshur High School.

As of July 1, 2024, the Buckhannon City Council and the City of Buckhannon will begin the new fiscal year led by Mayor Robbie Skinner, Recorder Randy Sanders, and council members Pam Bucklew, David Thomas, Jack Reger, David McCauley, and Rob Zuliani.

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