Common Council

AREGULAR MEETING OF THECOMMON COUNCIL OFTHE CITY OFBECKLEY CONVENED AT6:30PMONJANUARY 28, 2025, INCOUNCIL CHAMBERS AND VIAWEB-X. PRESENT: Mayor Ryan Neal, City Manager Michael Resare, Interim Recorder-Treasurer Jessica Chandler, City Attorney BillFile, andthe Mayor’sand CM’sAssistant Susan Miller. Council Members: Natalie Coots, KipBuchanan, Nancy Shoemaker- Dingess, Frank Williams, Janine Bullock, Sherrie Hunter, andCody Reedy. The following City employees were present: ITTech Anthony Martin, ITDirector Amy Evans, Human Resources Director Shirley Trotter, Director ofP&RLeslie Baker, BFD Chief Ed Thompson, Supervisor ofBoard ofPublic Works (BPW) Mike Bolen, Beckley Events Coordinator Jill Moorefield, Chief Dean Bailey ofBPD, andChief Code Enforcement Officer Donald Morgan. ABSENT: Pam Frey. The Mayor ledinthePledge of Allegiance followed byaprayer by Dr. Golden. The Mayor called themeeting to order at6:30p.m. TheMayor called roll forattendance. Allmembers ofCouncil were present. TheMayor reminded Council thatanyconflict ofinterest should bemade prior todiscussion ofany Agenda item. The public had theoption tojointhe meeting inperson, listen by WEB-Xfrom their computer, orlisten by phone, using theweblink orphone number provided thedayofthemeeting ontheCity’swebpage atBeckley.orgor theCity’sFacebook page. Council dispensed withthereading oftheminutes from theJanuary 14, 2025, Council Meeting, copies ofwhich hadbeen distributed toeach member. Council unanimously approved the minutes aswritten onamotion by Councilwoman Coots seconded by Councilwoman Bullock. Council dispensed with thereading ofthe minutes from theJanuary 23, 2025, Workshop, copies ofwhich hadbeen distributed toeach member. Council unanimously approved theminutes as written onamotion byCouncilwoman Hunter seconded byCouncilwoman Bullock. Next wastheCityManager’sreport. The report was made available toCouncil by email prior tothemeeting. Hethanked Beckley Events Coordinator Jill Moorefield for thepage of2025 events in theCity andencouraged thepublic to attend. Hesaid thepresident signed an Executive Order suspending grants, loans, andpayments temporarily soCouncil may want tokeep thisinmind because the City’sloans andgrants willbeaffected. Mr.Resare said thattheCityandthe County areworking together tohelp the Pinehaven Homeless Shelter. This isan item ontheAgenda forthenext Raleigh County Commission’ smeeting. Hesaid alease needs tobeputintoplace andhopes thatalease willbeready to present atthenext Council meeting. Hesaid itisbudgeting season and the City needs togear uptoprepare forthe budgeting year. Heprovided ahighlight ofthebudgets forthedepartments for Council andhighlighted some ofthe needs foreach department. Hesaidone ofthemain highlights listed isthatthe Parks andRecreation Department doesn’t have anestablished budget. Hesaida budget needs tobedetermined thisbudget year forthisdepartment tobetransparent, andmore financially secure with the residents money. Heasked Council to review hisreport andhelp inthe preparation oftheCity’sbudget. Next onthe Agenda were comments from theMayor andCouncil members notfor discussion. Councilwoman Bullock said land banks areneeded especially in Wards three andfive. Shesaid speed bumps may need tobeconsidered for Larew Avenue, andatraffic light is needed atthesoccer field. Councilman Buchanan thanked Mr.Resare forthe email hesent identifying land that the City owns andwould liketohave a similar email listing what vehicles the City owns along with itsother assets. Councilman Williams said hethinks a landbank isneeded andthedonut holes in theCity need tobeannexed into theCity. Councilwoman Shoemaker-Dingess did nothave anycomments. Councilwoman Coots said thatthere area lotofpotholes inWard I.Supervisor of theBoard ofPublic Works, Mike Bolen said thatduring the winter months cold patch isabout allthatcanbedone dueto cold temperatures andsnow removal. The Mayor said thatthe building formerly known astheWJLS building which is where WVVA waslocated needs tobe discussed andtheCity needs todecide what itwants todowith itandother vacant stores/buildings (such asthe former Fruits ofLabor building) uptown. Councilwoman Hunter said thatthe Department ofHighways (DOH) isstill looking intoconsidering putting atraffic light upatWoodrow Wilson and Woodcrest. Councilman Reedy said that heappreciated theemail Mr.Resare sent regarding thelandtheCityhasandwould liketoseeasimilar onewith theother assets theCity has. HesaidtheCity has some work todoregarding theparking issues uptown and thanked theBFD and Chief Code Enforcement Officer Donald Morgan forproviding himwithamap of theparking lotsuptown. Hesaidparking would bediscussed more after this meeting adjourns attheParking Commission Meeting which willfollow. OLD BUSINESS: Mr.Filesaid the bid from Municipal Solutions, LLC to perform anoperations audit wastabled at thelastCouncil meeting andasked the Mayor tocallforamotion toremove the item offthetable. Council unanimously approved removing theitemoffthetable onamotion byCouncilwoman Hunter seconded byCouncilman Reedy. The Mayor asked ifthere wasanydiscussion. Councilman Reedy saidthe Workshop was helpful buthasquestions hewould liketoaskMr.Evertsen withMunicipal Solutions. Hesaidthathethinks the email Council received Friday fromMr. Evertsen wasunprofessional. Councilman Reedy said thathedidhis duediligence andchecked withsome of theclients Municipal Solutions isworking with orhasworked with. Hesaid hehas major concerns after speaking tothese two clients ofMunicipal Solutions. Hesaid thisneeds tobeadvertised again forrebidding andgiven alonger response time. Hesaid Council should doitsdue diligence with every company that places abidandcheck references. Councilwoman Coots said thatshe thought theemail was reprehensible. Shesaid thatshedoesn’tthink Municipal Solutions isafirm that theCity of Beckley wants todobusiness with. Councilwoman Bullock said thatthe bidding process needs toberunagain. Councilwoman Hunter said thatshe thought theemail was ridiculous. She said theoperations audit needs tobeput outfor rebidding. Councilman Williams said thathethinks people have the wrong idea regarding theconcept ofthe operations audit. Hesaidhethinks it should beputoutforrebidding. Hesaid that inhisopinion, jobs arenot going to betaken because Municipal Solutions is from Arizona and Mr.Resare isfrom Arizona. Councilwoman Shoemaker- Dingess said theCity needs togather more bids. TheMayor called foravote onthe original motion toapprove thebid ofMunicipal Solutions. Council unanimously declined thebidby Municipal Solutions, LLC. NoCouncil members voted infavor ofthe motion toapprove thebidfromMunicipal Solutions. AllCouncil members voted in opposition oftheoriginal motion. Next, Timothy Watson with theSmall Business Administration (SBA) spoke. Heprovided members ofCouncil with information prior tothe meeting and urged anyoneinneed ofhelp from disaster relief toreach outtotheSBA to seeifthey quality forhelp. Hegave his contact information toCouncil. Chief Thompson with theBFD explained thattheletter fromthe Mayor tothe Federal Aviation Administration isthe first step ingetting approval fortheuse of drones foressential functions inand around Beckley. Council was previously provided acopy oftheletter prior tothe meeting. Council unanimously approved theletter onamotion byCouncilman Reedy seconded byCouncilwoman Hunter. A copy oftheletter ishereby incorporated into these minutes. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Mary West thanked Council forcontinuing tohold prayer before Council meetings. Danielle Stewart said thatafter meeting withthe County andhearing from theCity atits recent Workshop itlooks promising for thePinehaven Homeless Shelter toremain open. Christian Baisden said that prayer atCouncil meeting violates separation of Church andState. She said the Pinehaven Homeless Shelter should have been funded thisevening atthismeeting anda lease should nothold upprogress. The following people spoke infavor of supporting thePinehaven Homeless Shelter: Gabriel Covington, Kayla Covington, Amanda Inman, Chessie Collins, Christinia Baisden, Sharon Minor, andChris Crookshanks. Randy Mann said thatabillcalled the “Vacancy Bill” may soon bepassed bycongress and thelocal churches andpeople need to work together toprovide shelter forthose inneed. James Birtwith Housed Up, Inc. inFayetteville said thathewould liketo work with theCity ofBeckley about Beckley becoming aplace providing shelter andjobs forthose inneed. Tom Mosley thanked theMayor, Councilwoman Coots, and Councilwoman Shoemaker- Dingess for putting something together torecognize distinguished citizens ofBeckley. Debra Wallace with thePoorPeople’s Campaigns spoke ontheneed for people tobring morals back and unite. Brian Brown said thathewaspleased toseethe City Manager’sreport andthanked Mr. Resare forit. Mr.Brown criticized the City’spurchase oftheHistoric Black Knight andsaid taxpayer’sdollars should have been spent elsewhere. Hesaidtwo more buildings downtown have beenlost andnew buildings need builtaswellasa functional parking structure. Hesaid buildings downtown arecontinuing to deteriorate andlandlords ofvacant buildings need tobeheld accountable. Councilwoman Coots said thatshe wanted toletWV Collective know that they areworking onideas tohelpcut costs forWV Collective andthey have notbeen forgotten andshehopes thiswill bediscussed soon andputbackonthe next Agenda.  The Mayor announced thatifcalling by phone dial *3toraise yourhand. If connected bycomputer: click thehand icon ontheparticipants panel. Anthony Martin (ITTechnician) said thatnoone was online tospeak. Council unanimously approved entering into Executive Session regarding aCity Manager matter at7:39p.m.on amotion byCouncilman Williams seconded by Councilwoman Hunter. Council unanimously approved entering back into theRegular Council Meeting at8:18p.m. onamotion byCouncilman Reedy seconded byCouncilwoman Bullock. Council unanimously agreed onamotion made byCouncilwoman Hunter seconded byCouncilman Reedy forMr.Fileto meet with Counsel forMr.Resare to attempt toresolve anissue with his employment contract andrequested a Special Meeting forCity Council be scheduled Thursday, January 30, 2025, at 5:30p.m.toresolve theissue with the employment contract. TheMayor adjourned themeeting at8:20 p.m.onamotion byCouncilwoman Hunter seconded byCouncilman Reedy. Mayor City Manager