Common Council

AREGULAR MEETING OFTHECOMMON COUNCIL OFTHE CITY OFBECKLEY CONVENED AT6:30PMONAPRIL 09, 2024, INCOUNCIL CHAMBERS AND VIAWEB-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, Tom Sopher, Sherrie Hunter, Bob Canter, andCody Reedy. The following City employees were present: Director ofIT BillKelly, Assistant Director ofITAmy Evans, Anthony Martin (IT),Chief Coughlin ofBFD, Board ofPublic Works (BPW) Director PamFrey, Chief ofBPD Dean Bailey, Director ofParks & Recreation Leslie Baker, and Chief Code Enforcement Officer Donald Morgan. The Mayor called themeeting toorder at 6:30p.m.The public hadtheoption to jointhemeeting either inperson orlisten byWEB-Xfrom their computer, orlisten byphone, using theweblink orphone number provided thedayofthemeeting ontheCity’swebpage atBeckley.orgor theCity’sFacebook page. TheMayor announced thataspecial meeting forCouncil tolaythelevy forthe FY2024-24willbeonTuesday, April 16, 2024, at8:30a.m. Council dispensed with thereading ofthe minutes from theregular City Council meeting dated March 26, 2024, copies of which hadbeen distributed toeach member. Council unanimously approved theminutes aswritten onamotion by Councilman Price andseconded by Councilman Sopher. Next, Council unanimously approved a motion made byCouncilwoman atLarge Hunter and seconded byCouncilman at Large Reedy fortheCity tocontribute 5KtotheRaleigh County Commission forthespay andneuter program. Next, theMayor opened sealed bids from twocompanies forthepaving ofRussel Street (from Vance Drive toKanawha Street) andthepaving ofGarfield Street from Johnstown Road toRussel Street). The first bidwas from AAA Paving Company intheamount of $182K. The second bidwas fromWV Paving, Inc. in theamount of $161,800.00. Both bids willbereviewed bythetwo Council persons atLarge, Director ofBoard of Public Works, Pam Frey, andRecorder- Treasurer, Billie Trump foraward ata future Council meeting. Next, theMayor opened one sealed bid foraoneton, four wheel drive dump truck with asnowplow. One bid was received from Whiteside ofSt.Clairsville, Inc. intheamount of $141,980.00. The bidwillbereviewed bythetwo Council persons atLarge, Director ofBoard of Public Works, Pam Frey, andRecorder- Treasurer, Billie Trump foraward ata future Council meeting. Next, theMayor opened twosealed requests forproposals from recruitment firms toassist inthe hiring ofaCity Manager. Thefirstbid wasfromAtWork Personnel ofBeckley andtheother request forproposal was from Bakertilley. The proposals willbereviewed bythe City Manager Hiring Committee and a recommendation willbemade toCouncil bythisCommittee. Council willvote to award theproposal atafuture Council meeting. Next, Mr.Bill Kelly ITDirector explained thatthenetwork infrastructure throughout theCity needs tobeupdated. This would cost $362K which would be funded byARPA. Mr.Kelly saidthat GSA pricing willsave theCity alotof money anddoes notrequire abidding process. TheITDepartment willassist theselected vendor (Extreme Networks) with thework. Councilman Dunlap asked ifthiswould decrease thevulnerability of theCity withacyber-attack. Mr.Kelly said yes. Councilwoman Bullock asked what thetimeframe is. Mr.Kelly said as soon aspossible. Councilman Sopher asked ifthisneeds tobeadvertised for bidding. Mr.Kelly saidthatGSA isa pre-bidand does notrequire advertising nordoes itrequire bidding. Mr.Kelly told Councilman Sopher thathemay want to confirm thisinformation with Mr.File. Councilman Sopher asked iftheCity will hire acontractor tohelp install allthenew equipment oriftheCity’sITdepartment willdoit. Mr.Kelly said itwillbealittle ofboth. Council unanimously approved theITDepartment proceeding to work with theselected vender immediately. A motion was made byCouncilman Sopher andseconded byCouncilwoman atLarge Hunter. OLD BUSINESS: Councilwoman Bullock saidthat theNational Park Service approved thenomination for the Wright-Hunter Cemetery tobeplaced on thenational register ofhistoric places. TheMayor congratulated herforherwork onthisproject. Councilwoman asked Chief Bailey about astop sign being installed onHartley Avenue andBostic Avenue. Chief said hedoes notseea problem with astop sign tobeinstalled. Mr.File said thiswould need tobedone byway ofanordinance. Councilwoman Bullock asked Board ofPublic Works Director, Pam Freywhen “G” Street would bepaved. Pam said itisnot far down onthelistandshould behappening soon. NEW BUSINESS: Councilwoman at Large Hunter thanked theBoard ofPublic Works Department for alltheir hard work with spring clean uparound theCitythis week. Councilwoman asked about the problem with vagrants around theCity. Chief Bailey said that ifthey arenot breaking thelaw, nothing can bedone. TheMayor said thatpanhandler’ scannot bearrested buttheCity canaskthem to move along. TheMayor hasnoticed improvement with thisissue on Johnstown Road andsome improvement atthebottom ofNeville Street. The Mayor thanked Chief Bailey forhishelp inthismatter. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Mr.John Brydie gave aneleven page handout toCouncil. Heopposes theonewaystreets inthe proposed Streetscape Project bytheWV DOH andWVU Tech. Natalie Coots voiced herconcerns regarding theneed formore unity. Christiana Baisden asked ifthe Comprehensive Plan Committee would meet sothepublic could attend the committee meeting prior tothe larger Future Forward” meeting for the Comprehensive Plan which willbeatthe Raleigh County Convention Center. Chief Code Enforcement Officer, Donald Morgan said thesteering committee meeting isthe same day, which isnot open tothepublic, butthe oneatthe Convention Center is. Sheasked what the criteria isforthe CityManager Recruitment Committee toselect ahiring agency. The Mayor said thatwhen he opened thebids thereason why specific dollar amounts were not mentioned is because thedecision isnotbased solely upon which firm istheleast expensive. Thecommittee willnarrow itdown toa fewselections, callthem intointerview them, andthedecision willbebased off ofinformation gained during thattimeat which price will benegotiated. Mr. Brown voiced hisconcern regarding vagrants. TheMayor asked Mr.File, City Attorney ifthere issomething that canbe modified totheCity’scurrent code to address thisissue inastronger fashion. Mr.Filesaid anindividual cannot beput injailifthey trespass. The WV State Code does notpermit it. Mr.File saidif anindividual iscaught breaking thelaw, such asstealing copper, then they canbe arrested. Councilwoman Bullock asked Mr.Filewhat thedifference isbetween breaking andentering andtrespassing. Mr.Filesaid these aretechnical questions. Ifsomeone iscaught inthe act ofbreaking intoenter aproperty itis considering breaking thelaw, butif someone justwalks intoaplace and doesn’tbreak alock togetin,theywould betrespassing. When certain laws are broken isresults inamisdemeanor and others result inafelony. Councilman Dunlap said heinstalled arouter and when thevagrants goinandtake anything itswith intent tocommit acrime which is thefelony. Mr.Dunlap said every time the alarm sounds athislocation hewould godown with afirearm. Councilman Dunlap suggested getting arouter, a security system, andchase them off. Councilman Dunlap said codes regarding criminal lawatthestate level need to change. Councilman Dunlap invited the public toattend theRaleigh County Convention Center Wednesday, April 10th at10:00a.m.tomeet candidates running forpositions forthestateanddiscuss these issues. Kandy Kozar asked ifthere isalease forFruits ofLabor (FOL). The Mayor said there isaWorkshop onApril 15th at5p.m.Sheasked how long the City hasowned thebuilding. The Mayor said approximately twoyears. She asked how does theCity payforthebuilding. The Mayor said theCity paid cash forthe building. Sheasked where thecashcame from. TheMayor said itcame from the City’sgeneral fund. Shesaid this includes theB&Otaxmoney collected from thecitizens. TheMayor said thatis included inthegeneral fund, yes. The Mayor saidthebuilding was vacant for four years andinaneffort tohelp revitalize downtown theCity thought that thiswasagood investment. TheMayor said FOL pays B&Otaxes. Sheasked about Seed Sower being onthetopfloor andreferred toitasasub-lease. The Mayor said hethinks that iswhere its offices arelocated andthatthere isno sub-lease. She saidthere needs tobe more patrol after dark ontheRails to Trail. Kollen Finch requested that individuals owning businesses intheCity ofBeckley, butdonotliveintheCity be granted voting rights. Councilman Dunlap asked herifsheisrequesting some type ofregistry asabusiness owner within theCity sothatshecanvote. She said yes, thebusiness owners should be allowed tovote onetime regardless of how many businesses they have inthe City. There were nofurther comments. Council unanimously approved adjournment onamotion made by Councilman Price andseconded by Councilman Dunlap. The Mayor adjourned themeeting at7:24p.m. Mayor Recorder-Treasurer