Common Council

AREGULAR MEETING OFTHE COMMON COUNCIL OFTHE CITY OFBECKLEY CONVENED AT 6:30PMONMAY 13, 2025, INCOUNCIL CHAMBERS AND VIA WEB-X. PRESENT: Mayor Ryan Neal, Interim City Manager Phillip Jarrell, Interim Recorder-Treasurer Jessica Chandler, Susan Miller Mayor & City Manager’sAssistant, City Attorney BillFile. Council Members: Natalie Coots, KipBuchanan, Nancy Shoemaker-Dingess, Frank Williams, Janine Bullock, Sherrie Hunter, andCody Reedy. The following City employees were present: ITTechnician Anthony Martin, IT Technician John Hopkins, BFD Chief EdThompson, Director ofBoard ofPublic Works (BPW) Mike Bolen, Beckley Events Coordinator JillMoorefield, Chief Dean Bailey ofBPD, Parks & Rec. Director Leslie Baker, andChief Code Enforcement Officer Donald Morgan. The Salvation Army’sRed Shield Youth Center ledinthePledge ofAllegiance followed by prayer bySharon Waters with First Christian Church. The public hadtheoption tojointhe meeting inperson, listen byWEB-Xfrom their computer, orlisten byphone, using the weblink orphone number provided thedayofthemeeting ontheCity’swebpage at Beckley.orgorthe City’sFacebook page. The Mayor called themeeting toorder at6:30p.m. The Mayor said thatallmembers ofthe Council were present andthere was aquorum. Council dispensed with thereading ofthe minutes from theApril 22, 2025, Council Meeting, copies ofwhich hadbeen distributed to each member. Council unanimously approved the minutes aswritten onamotion by Councilman Buchanan seconded byCouncilwoman Hunter. Council dispensed withthereading oftheminutes from theApril 29, 2025, Workshop, copies ofwhich hadbeen distributed toeach member. Council unanimously approved theminutes as written onamotion byCouncilwoman Hunter seconded byCouncilwoman Coots. Next ontheAgenda were Brief Comments From theMayor, Council Members, andthe Interim City Manager. Councilwoman Bullock thanked several Department Heads fortheir help. Sheasked theBoard ofPublic Works Director Mike Bolen ifhewould look atthe condition ofThomas Street, some streets inWoodcrest, andatPiney Oaks. Shevolunteered to payfortwo signs tohave twostreets inBeckley honorarily named iftheCity would approve. Shesaid thatthesidewalks intheCity need toberepaired. Councilman Buchanan said thatthe golf course atBlack Knight looks good andisexcited that theCity hired Landin Perry torunthegolf course. Hethanked Parks & Recreation Director Leslie Baker. Councilman Williams said thatitwas nice toseeQueen Ann Drive getrepaired. Hesaid the leases thatthe Cityhas need attention. Councilwoman Dingess said thatthesidewalks inthe City need toberepaired. Councilwoman Coots thanked theMayor forhelping mow andclean uptheThomas Keyser Rain Garden. Shesaid Matewan inMingo County, WV isbeing rejuvenated andsocantheCity ofBeckley. The Mayor said thattheSweet Treats Festival thatCity Events Coordinator JillMoorefield coordinated lastweekend along with the Rhododendron Festival was great. Hesaid thathelikes theenergy thatLandin Perry brings to theBlack Knight andthework heisdoing onthegolf course. Councilwoman Hunter was grateful forthe Cityparticipating inthe National Day ofPrayer again thisyear. Councilman Reedy said thatQueen AnnDrive needs tobeadopted intotheCity. HesaidthatBlack Knight needs tobeembraced bythecommunity, andheisglad tohear positive comments about golfing atBlack Knight. Mr.Jarrell said thatheisexcited about thenew employee Landin Perry overseeing golf atBlack Knight. Mr.Jarrell said that hehasbeen working ongetting 3bids fortheCity’sinsurance coverage. Hesaid bylawthisdoes not have tobeputoutforbid, butheisworking togetthree bids, if possible, which include ourcurrent insurance provider, theState, andathirdbid. OLD BUSINESS: Councilman Reedy said thatthe State Contract wasthe least expensive among Southern WV Paving andTriple AAA Paving. Councilman Reedy said thatInterim City Manager Jarrell talked toboth companies which arewilling tohonor theprices theState offered. Council unanimously approved rejecting bothbids andawarded thecontract toboth entities (Southern WV Paving andTriple AAA Paving, based ontheleast expensive and which haswhat theCity needs). Councilman Reedy made themotion seconded by Councilwoman Hunter. The quotes were incorporated into theApril 22, 2025, minutes. Next was theaward ofbid forconcrete. Council unanimously approved theonly bid received which was from Premier Concrete. Councilman Reedy made amotion toaccept thebid seconded byCouncilman Williams. The bidwas incorporated intotheApril 22, 2025, minutes. The council unanimously approved theonly bidreceived for stone andabrasives which wasfrom Appalachian Aggregates. Councilman Reedy made themotion seconded byCouncilwoman Hunter. The bidwas incorporated intothe April 22, 2025 minutes. Next, Mr.Fileread bytitle, Ordinance Changing Starting Time OfRegular Council Meetings OfBeckley Common Council From 6:30p.m.To 5:30p.m.OnSecond And Fourth Tuesdays OfEach Month. Mr.Filesaid thefirst reading ofthisordinance was onApril 22, 2025, and tonight isthe public hearing. Mr.Fileopened thepublic hearing. Mary West, Christina Baisden, Pam Upton, andRose Hicks spoke inopposition oftheordinance. Mr.Fileclosed thepublic hearing. Councilwoman Coots asked Mr. Fileifthiswould involve making a change totheCode. Mr.Filesaid thathewould need toresearch it. Council unanimously agreed totable theordinance onamotion from Councilman Reedy seconded byCouncilwoman Hunter. The ordinance ishereby incorporated into these minutes. NEW BUSINESS: Jina Belcher isamember oftheBoard ofDirectors fortheRaleigh County Memorial Airport andshespoke toCommon Council. Ms. Belcher andBobRunion, General Manager oftheAirport, requested aletter ofsupport for Contour Airlines asthemost suitable airline tooffer essential airservices (EAS) atthe Raleigh County Airport. Acopy oftheletter ofsupport ishereby incorporated into these minutes. Next, Chief EdThompson andCaptain Graham presented theCivilian Commendation Medal Award toDominic Drennan. Acopy oftheletter andcertificate arehereby incorporated into these minutes. Next, Council unanimously approved moving thenext Agenda itemtofollow theExecutive Session. This Agenda item isMotion ToApprove Cancellation OfLease Agreement Regarding The EastPark Community Center, 100Washington Street, Beckley, WV Dated Augst 5,2011, Between City OfBeckley And Southern West Virginia Multi-Cultural Museum And Community Center, Inc. Councilman Reedy made themotion seconded byCouncilman Buchanan. Next ontheAgenda was the1st Reading OfOrdinance Creating Land Reuse Agency (LRA). Council unanimously approved the motion totable theordinance made byCouncilman Reedy seconded byCouncilwoman Hunter. The Interim City Manager andInterim Recorder- Treasurer areattending atraining workshop next week regarding thistopic andmayhave ideas regarding thistopic. Next was thereceipt ofbids for sixBPD vehicles (Byrne Discretionary Community Project Grants Program – Dept. OfJustice). The quote byStephen’sAuto foraFord F-150was $46,608.00andforaFord Explorer was 44,176.00. Thenext bidwas fromMid-State Ford. They quoted $46,966.52foraFord F- 150and $43,625.40foraFord Explorer. These bids willbereviewed bytheChief ofPolice, Interim City Manager, Interim Recorder-Treasurer, andthe twoCouncil members atlarge for possible award atafuture Council meeting. Thetwobids are hereby incorporated intothese minutes. PUBLIC COMMENTS: The Mayor announced that ifcalling byphone, dial *3toraise your hand. Ifconnected bycomputer click the “hand icon” onyour participant’spanel. There wasn’tanyone whosigned uptospeak online. Mary West expressed concerns regarding the placement ofspeed humps onLarew Avenue. Shesaid that shewould payforadditional speed humps iftheCity willinstall them. Sheexpressed her opposition tochanging theCity Council Meetings to5:30p.m. Next, Tom Moseley saidthat people areafraid tofreely speak during their allotted time during public comments atthese meetings. Rose Hicks spoke in opposition tochanging thestart time oftheCity Council meetings & agreed thatperhaps the dates ofthemeetings could bechanged instead. Debbie Williams (wife ofCouncilman Williams) spoke infavor ofrenewing thelease withthe Multi-Cultural Center (MCC). Kiara Sorrell spoke infavor ofrenewing the lease with theMCC. Rodney Sorrell spoke infavor of renewing thelease with theMCC. Pam Upton spoke saying that she isnotopposed tohaving Council meetings at5:30p.m. Shesuggested holding Council meetings ontheopposite days thattheRaleigh County Board ofEducation Board meetings areheld. Sheisinfavor ofrenewing thelease with theMCC. Christina Baisden spoke inopposition tochanging the meeting timefor theCity Council meetings. Shesaid that Black Knight hasadeficit of $6Mandmoney continues being used to keep itopen when that money canbeused formany good programs that thecommunity needs. Belinda Hopkins isaBoard Member oftheMCC andspoke infavor ofrenewing thelease. PatWilliams isaBoard member oftheMCC andspoke infavor ofrenewing thelease withthe MCC. Robert Simons spoke infavor ofrenewing thelease with theMCC. Councilman Williams signed uptospeak butsaid hewould rather wait until Council goesinto Executive Session andseeifhestillwants tospeak after Executive Session. Anthony Martin, IT Technician, said noonewas signed uponline forpublic comments. Council unanimously agreed toenter into Executive Session at7:37p.m.onamotion by Councilwoman Shoemaker-Dingess seconded byCouncilman Reedy. Council unanimously agreed toenter back into theRegular Council Meeting at8:20p.m.onamotion by Councilman Reedy seconded byCouncilwoman Coots. Council unanimously approved tabeling themotion toapprove cancellation ofthelease agreement regarding theEast Park Community Center untilthe nextCouncil meeting onamotion byCouncilwoman Hunter seconded byCouncilwoman Bullock. City Attorney, Mr.File, saidthat there were no decisions made, orvotes taken during the Executive Session. Councilman Williams did not make anycomments. With there being nofurther business todiscuss, Council unanimously approved adjourning the meeting onamotion made byCouncilman Reedy seconded by Councilwoman Bullock. The Mayor adjourned the meeting at8:24p.m. Mayor Interim City Manager