Common Council

AREGULAR MEETING OFTHE COMMON COUNCIL OFTHE CITY OF BECKLEY CONVENED AT 6:30PMONJULY 12, 2022, INCOUNCIL CHAMBERS. THOSE PRESENT: Mayor Rappold, Recorder-Treasurer Billie Trump, City Attorney BillFile, and Secretary, Susan Miller. Council Members: Janine Bullock, Bob Canter, Cody Reedy, Tom Sopher, Robert Dunlap, Sherrie Hunter, andKevin Price. The following Department Heads were present: ITDirector Bill Kelly, Assistant ITDirector Amy Evans, Chief Bailey with BPD, Superintendent ofBPW Walter Peplowski, andCaptain Parsons with BFD. Cucumber & Company was present. The Mayor reminded the public that they willbeable tomake comments when invited to doso byeither pressing *3ontheirphone and theircall willbetaken intheorder itisreceived, orif viewing bycomputer ortablet, raising your hand byrightclicking your name andchoosing Raise Hand". Thepublic isinvited tojoin inCouncil chambers orviaWEB-Xfrom their computer orbyphone, using the weblink orphone number provided theday ofthemeeting on theCity’swebpage atBeckley.org, theCity’sFacebook page. The Mayor ledthePledge ofAllegiance. Council dispensed with thereading andapproval of minutes from theregular Council meeting dated June 28, 2022. Council unanimously approved theminutes aswritten onamotion byCouncilman Sopher andseconded by Councilwoman Hunter. Copies hadbeen distributed toeach member prior tothe meeting. Next, was theaward oftheonly bidreceived, which was from Urban Design Ventures, LLC, forplanning andconsulting services forCDBG andother community development programs forFY2022 through 2026. Councilman Reedy said that theCity isretaining Urban Design’sservices andallcosts arepaid byCDBG. The cover page andproposal were incorporated into theJune 28, 2022, Council meeting minutes. This bid was unanimously approved byCouncil onamotion byCouncilman Reedy seconded byCouncilman Price. Next, Council unanimously approved theappointment ofLeeLeftwich totheBoard ofCommissioners for theBeckley Housing Authority onamotion made byCouncilwoman Hunter seconded byCouncilman Dunlap. Next, was thefirstreading ofanOrdinance Amending City ofBeckley Code Chapter 4,Article 1,Sections, 4-9,4-9.1,4-10, and4-10.5 (Building Code). Mr.File read theOrdinance bytitle andsummarized its contents. Thesecond reading andpublic hearing willbeJuly 26, 2022. Once theOrdinance ispassed itwill become effective August 1,2022. Mr.Filethanked Captain Morgan, Chief Code Officer forhishelp working onthisOrdinance. Councilman Sopher asked about theOrdinance. Captain Morgan said that in February 2022 theState Legislative Session updated thebuilding codes tothe2018 edition. The City has until August 1,2022, toadopt it. The Ordinance was unanimously approved byCouncil onamotion by Councilman Price andseconded byCouncilman Canter. The Ordinance ishereby incorporated intothese minutes. Next, was thefirst reading ofanOrdinance Amending City ofBeckley Code Chapter 7,Article II,Section 7- 200 (Fire Prevention Code). Mr.File summarized theOrdinance andread itstitle. The Ordinance was unanimously approved onamotion byCouncilman Sopher andseconded byCouncilman Price. The second reading and public hearing willbeJuly 26, 2022. Once theOrdinance ispassed itwillbecome effective August 1,2022. The Ordinance ishereby incorporated into these minutes. Next, Mr.Fileread theResolution Honorarily Naming Raleigh Avenue “Jerry Rose Lane”. TheResolution was adopted byCouncil onamotion byCouncilwoman Hunter seconded byCouncilman Price. The Resolution ishereby incorporated into these minutes. Council members Hunter, Sopher, andBullock commented onhowdeserving Mr.Rose is. Next, theMayor opened abidreceived for milling andpaving ofDyer Avenue (from 12th St. toGadd Ave.) 12St.,Scott Ave. (from Prince St.to12St.)and 11th Street. The bidwas from Triple APaving & Sealing located inPrinceton, WV intheamount of $168,500.00. Thebidwillbegiven toRecorder-Treasurer Billie Trump, Councilwoman atLarge Sherrie Hunter, Councilman atLarge Cody Reedy, andSuperintendent of Board ofPublic Works Walter Peplowski forpossible award atafuture meeting. Thebidishereby incorporated into these minutes. Recorder-Treasurer Billie Trump presented theBudget Revision totheGeneral Fund. Mr.Trump explained that atthebeginning ofeach fiscal year theCity isrequired bytheState Auditor’soffice toaccount for how thefinancial records areclosed andaccount foranyextra income anticipated and distribute ittoexpenses in order tobalance. The revision reflects anincrease of $250,000.00intheGeneral Fund inrents androyalties which was distributed among various departments. Mr.Trump explained that alotofthe $250K comes from theacquisition ofthe Pinecrest building. Mr.Trump stated thatheandCity Controller, Jessica Chandler, were able towork together paying off anenergy savings contract sooner than anticipated. There isa significant decrease from $1,040,000.00inGeneral Government to $840,000.00. This expense came outof theGeneral Fund. With there being noquestions regarding therevision totheGeneral Fund Budget, the Mayor asked foramotion toapprove thebudget revision. Councilman Price made themotion toapprove the budget revision andCouncilman Sopher seconded. The budget revision was unanimously approved by Council andishereby incorporated into these minutes. Recorder-Treasurer, Billie Trump presented theBudget Revision totheCoalSeverance Fund andexplained that itincreased by $15,000.00because ofthevolatility intheenergy market. Hesaid that since thestability ofcoal has been upanddown theCity anticipates anincrease. He explained thatthere arelimits astowhere coal severance money canbespent sothe $15,000.00was allocated totheParks andRecreation Budget. With there being noquestions regarding therevision totheCoalSeverance Budget, theMayor asked fora motion toapprove it. Councilman Sopher made themotion toapprove thebudget revision andCouncil- woman Hunter seconded. The budget revision was unanimously approved byCouncil andishereby incorporated into these minutes. OLD BUSINESS: The Mayor said that thepaving theCity contracts out, aswell asthepaving thatthe City does itself, began today. The Mayor said heishopeful thatasphalt willnow beavailable totheCity asa result ofthe WVTurnpike project being completed. The Mayor saidthat Lizzie Watts, who wasthefirst Superintendent oftheNew River Gorge National Park & Preserve, isretiring. Herretirement recognition event isatBlack Knight August 11, 2022, andheinvited Council toattend. TheMayor saidthattheFriends ndrdth ofCharity Auto Fair isJuly22 & 23. The Mayor announced thatonJuly20 at1:00p.m. atJim Anderson’soffice (onS.Heber Street) willbethededication ofaplaque recognizing theformation ofthe first State Police Detachment intheCity ofBeckley. The Mayor encouraged Council toattend. Councilman Sopher asked what theplans arefortheparking lotsacross thestreet from Fruits ofLabor (FOL). The Mayor said that theCity hasnice plans forparking with greenspace andconcrete. Theproblem hasbeen thatthe Citytasked Thrasher todesign astormwater drainage system forboth parking lotsandtheplans have notyet been received. The City needs theplans from Thrasher before moving forward onthisproject. TheMayor said thatFOL willreceive acertain amount ofdesignated parking spaces forbusiness andtheremainder of spaces willbeformonthly and/ordaily parking. Councilman Sopher asked ifalltheparking lotswillbeone large parking lotorremain three separate lots. TheMayor saidthey willremain three separate lots duetoa difference inelevation andsome immovable equipment ofAppalachian Power Company. WVU Tech and First Baptist Church have entered into aparking agreement where Tech can usethe church’sparking lot. NEW BUSINESS: Councilwoman Hunter announced that volunteers areneeded between 10:00a.m. –1:00 p.m.Wednesday, July 20th attheLinda K.Epling Stadium tohelp distribute food boxes. TheMayor encouraged Council toattend aribbon cutting ceremony atBlack Knight Wednesday, July 20th atnoon for theRemote Worker Program. Councilman Dunlap complimented theBeckley PDandexpressed his appreciation onthequick response time they executed today toadomestic situation. Councilman Dunlap said that heappreciates allCity employees andmay notalways realize how much until heneeds their assistance. Chief Bailey thanked himandsaid thatthepositive feedback wasnice tohear. Councilwoman Hunter asked Chief Bailey ifthere was anyone who inspired himtobecome aPolice Officer. Hesaid that his Dad did. Hisdadwas inlawenforcement formore than forty years. PUBLIC COMMENTS: There were nopublic comments. Amotion was made byCouncilman Price seconded byCouncilman Dunlap andunanimously approved by Council toadjourn at6:55pm. Mayor Recorder-Treasurer