Common Council

AREGULAR MEETING OFTHE COMMON COUNCIL OFTHE CITY OFBECKLEY CONVENED AT 6:30PMONOCTOBER 24, 2023, INCOUNCIL CHAMBERS AND VIA WEB-X. PRESENT: Mayor Robert R.Rappold, Recorder-Treasurer Billie Trump, City Attorney BillFile, and Secretary Susan Miller. Council Members: Janine Bullock, Kevin Price, Robert Dunlap, Bob Canter, Tom Sopher, andCody Reedy. The following City employees were present: Director ofITBillKelly, Anthony Martin (IT),ChiefEdWills ofBFD, Board ofPublic Works employee Walter Peplowski, Chief Code Enforcement Officer Donald Morgan, Chief ofBPD Dean Bailey, Director ofBeckley Events JillMoorefield, andDirector ofParks & Recreation Leslie Baker. ABSENT: Councilwoman Hunter. The Mayor called themeeting toorder at6:30p.m.The public hadthe option tojointhe meeting either inperson orbyWEB-Xfrom theircomputer, orbyphone, using theweblink or phone number provided thedayofthemeeting ontheCity’swebpage atBeckley.orgorthe City’sFacebook page. Council dispensed withthereading ofminutes from theCity Council meeting dated October 10, 2023, copies ofwhich hadbeen distributed toeach member. Council unanimously approved theminutes aswritten onamotion byCouncilman Sopher and seconded by Councilwoman Dunlap. Next, Recorder-Treasurer Billie Trump said thebidforpaving andmilling ofRussell Street andGarfield Street willneed tobeadvertised forrebidding. The City didnotreceive anybids. Next, theMayor andChief EdWills presented two members ofthe Beckley Police Department with LifeSaving Awards. Officer Hunter Redden andOfficer Ryan Cuevas were presented with Life Saving Award Certificates andwillreceive acommendation barfortheir heroic services. The Mayor recommended that theCity support theSalvation Army with aone-time fifteen- thousand-dollar contribution andevaluate, going forward, whether theneeds ofthisprogram dictate, andtheCity’sability tomeet theneed signify, continued annual financial support from theCity. Councilman Price asked ifthiscontribution would bealineitemintheCity’s budget. The Mayor said no. Hehopes both private and public entities will helpthis wonderful program onaregular basis. Itshould bere-evaluated next year. Council unanimously approved theone-time contribution offifteen thousand dollars totheSalvation Army ona motion made byCouncilman Reedy andseconded byCouncilman Price. Next, theMayor said theITDirector BillKelly applied forafederal grant tohelp provide broadband for downtown Beckley. TheMayor explained that aresolution isrequired aspart oftheapplication process regarding theCity’scompliance with theCivil Rights Compliance Act. City Attorney Mr.File summarized theresolution andread paragraph number three of theresolution. Mr.Fileexplained that once thisresolution isadopted itwill bekept onfile. The resolution was unanimously approved byCouncil onamotion byCouncilman Price and seconded byCouncilman Sopher. The resolution ishereby incorporated into these minutes. Councilman Dunlap asked iftheCity hasreceived anyindication astowhen Frontier may equip allofdowntown with broadband. Mr.Kelly said theCity isn’tprivy toFrontier’s internal plans regarding thisproject. However, theCity’splan istorunafiber loop throughout downtown Beckley andsaturate itwithbroadband Wi-Fi. Mr.Kelly said thiswill help with public safety, events intheCity, andthepossibility ofsecurity cameras. Mr.Kelly said theCity hopes toprovide free Wi-Fiandhopefully some oftheareas ofconcern to Councilman Dunlap willbeincluded. Councilman Dunlap offered thespace onthe rooftop at property heowns located at345Prince Street forITtoinstall equipment needed toprovide Wi-Ficoverage forthe downtown area. OLD BUSINESS: The Mayor said theCity hashadgood attendance attheManiac Mines for Halloween attheExhibition Coal Mine. Hesaid theFallFestival isthisweekend. Leslie Baker, Director ofParks & Rec., said theHistoric Black Knight willhost acelebration oflife forDr.Tom Jarrett Friday, October 27.th TheMayor apologized fornotbeing able toattend. Hewill beonvacation. Hesaid Dr. Jarrett was ahuge supporter ofreally good things inthe City andwillbemissed. The Mayor said aWorkshop willsoon bescheduled regarding Pinecrest Industrial Park, which isowned bytheCity. TheMayor said theCity hashadto take careofsome deferred maintenance thatcame with thatgift. TheCity hasworked with the Veteran’sAdministration (VA) regarding anexchange ofproperty toallow theVAto construct anursing facility inthat area. Thrasher isassisting intheproject. The Mayor said theCityhastheopportunity towork withNRGRDA toconstruct two buildings inthisarea. Both buildings would beonalease revenue bond basis meaning the City would retire the bonds through thelease payments that theNRGRDA andtheCity’stenants would pay. With thelease revenue bond, theCity intends tobuild those twobuildings, andwork onthe infrastructure fortheremainder ofPinecrest Industrial Park. The City isreceiving revenue from thebuildings theCity has already acquired thatshould provide therevenue tosupport the bond until theCity gets tenants inthenew buildings. Councilman Dunlap asked Mr.Fileforanupdate ontheordinance converting theCity toa City Manager Form ofGovernment (CMFG). Councilman Dunlap also inquired about resolutions tochange thespeed limit onLarew Avenue andHull Street. Mr.Filesaid theCity hasaworking draftoftheCity Manager ordinance which theMayor willreview once he returns from vacation. The ordinance fortheCMFG willbepresented toCouncil prior tothe second Council meeting inNovember. Regarding thespeed limit onLarew Avenue, the Mayor said Mr.Trump reached outtotheDepartment ofHighways (DOH) andtheDOH performed atraffic count andspeed count onLarew Avenue. The study indicated theaverage speed onLarew istwenty-four mph, andtwenty-four mph was exceeded between thehours of midnight and 2:00a.m. This represented onepercent ofthetraffic onLarew Avenue. Mr. Trump said hehastheextensive report andisglad toshare copies with anyone interested. The study indicates that less than onepercent ofthevehicles traveling onLarew exceed fifty-five mph. Mr. Trump said hewould liketocollate that with emergency vehicles. Mr.Trump said eighty-fivepercent ofthevehicles were clocked attwenty-ninemph orless. Theother fifteen percent were driving between twenty-nineand fifty-fivemph. Fivethousand, thirty-seven vehicles traveled onLarew Avenue within atwenty-four-hour period. This study was unannounced prior toittaking place sothenumbers could notbeskewed. Mr.Trump saidthe numbers arecompelling andthedrivers arecomplying with thetwenty-five-mph speed limit. Councilman Dunlap asked ifitisthe City’sintent toreduce thespeed onLarew Avenue to fifteen mph. Hesaid thequestion stillremains iftwenty-five mph isexcessive forthatstreet especially based onthesharp curve going upthehill. Mr.Trump said heinformally spoke with representatives with theDepartment ofTransportation ( DOT) who said they think the speed limit oftwenty-fivemph there iscorrect. Mr. Trump said with thevolume ofvehicles utilizing Larew Avenue, ifthe speed limit isreduced, itmay cause traffic tobebottle necked there. The Mayor said hecontacted theBoard ofEducation (BOE) inquiring about school bus traffic onLarew Avenue. There aretwo buses that make around tripdaily onLarew Avenue. The BOE hasfourteen vehicles thatarenotbuses thatusethatroute also. Regarding Hull Street, theMayor said thegeneral consensus isthatduetothehills andcurves there decreasing thespeed limit tofifteen mph would beacceptable. TheMayor saidit’sone thing toadjust theTraffic Control Ordinance butitsanother toenforce it. Mr. Filesaid hehas prepared adraft ofanordinance tochange thespeed limit from twenty-fivemph onHull Street tofifteen mph. Hesaidtheordinance willbepresented toCouncil inthenear future. Mr.File said Larew Avenue isanimportant connector between S.Kanawha Street andEisenhower Drive. Itisalso animportant connector togettotheinterstate. Hull Street doesnotserve asa connector toanymajor streets inBeckley. Mr.File said that unless Chief Bailey has determined thatLarew Avenue isnotsafe attwenty-fivemph, studies show thatitwould not beprudent todecrease the speed limit onLarew Avenue. Chief Bailey saidhehasextensive records onradar patrol onLarew Avenue. Hedoes notthink thespeed limit needs decreased based offoftheradar patrols. Councilwoman Bullock said asyoudrive Larew Avenue and approach thecurve turning into Larew Avenue, that iswhere thetemptation tospeed occurs. Mr.Trump said thespeed study isbroken down into different sections ofLarew Avenue and onthatpart ofthestreet theaverage speed isthirty mph. Councilman Dunlap thanked Mr. Trump forreaching outtotheDOH. Councilman Sopher saidtheCityhasalotofstreets that hereceives complaints about drivers speeding such asVance Drive, Ewart Avenue, Pikeview Drive, Holiday Drive, andPinewood Drive. NEW BUSINESS: There was nonew business. PUBLIC COMMENTS: The Mayor announced ifcalling inbyphone dial *3toraise your hand. Ifconnected bycomputer: Click the “hand icon” onyour participant’spanel. Mary West complained about drivers speeding onLarew Avenue andtrees thatneed cutdown and removed. Mr.Tom Mosley thanked theCity and Council members foragreeing toreduce the speed limit to15mph onHull Street andhopes tosee itdecreased before theupcoming holidays. With there being nofurther comments, Council unanimously approved adjourning themeeting onamotion byCouncilwoman Bullock andseconded byCouncilman Dunlap. TheMayor adjourned themeeting at7:07p.m. Mayor Recorder-Treasurer