City Council

June 25, 2013 The regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Fairmont was held at 7:00 p.m. on the 25th day of June, 2013, at the Public Safety Building located at 500 Quincy Street in Fairmont, West Virginia. Mayor Straight called the meeting to order. Councilmembers present were: First District Robert D. (Bob) Gribben Second District Travis L. Blosser Third District Deborah D. (Debbie) Seifrit Fifth District Charles E. (Chuck) Warner Sixth District Daniel K. (Dan) Weber Seventh District Robert Garcia Eighth District Robin W. Smith Ninth District Ronald J. (Ron) Straight, Sr. Absent: Fourth District William H. (Bill) Burdick Also present were: City Manager Jay Rogers City Clerk Janet L. Keller City Attorney Kevin V. Sansalone Finance Director Eileen Layman IN RE: OPENING CEREMONIES Rev. D.D. Meighen gave the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag led by Councilmember Weber. IN RE: EXCUSE COUNCILMEMBER BURDICK Councilmember Seifrit moved to excuse Councilmember Burdick from tonight’s meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Warner. The Mayor declared Councilmember Burdick excused from this meeting by voice vote of Council. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 1 Mayor Straight noted that each member of Council had received a copy of the minutes from the regular meeting held on June 11, 2013. He asked if there were any corrections, deletions, or amendments. Motion: Councilmember Warner moved to approve the minutes as submitted. Councilmember Smith seconded the motion. The Mayor declared the minutes approved as submitted by voice vote of Council. PUBLIC HEARINGS IN RE: AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FAIRMONT, AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING ORDINANCE NO. 1484, WHICH ORDINANCE IS CODIFIED AS SECTION 1709.01 OF THE CITY CODE, TO PROVIDE FOR THE REPEAL OF THE STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS AS SET OUT AND PUBLISHED BY THE INTERNATIONAL CODE COUNCIL AND THE AMERICAN STANDARDS INSTITUTE IN 2009 AND THE 2003 INTERNATIONAL ENERGY CONSERVATION CODE-FOR RESIDENTIAL DWELLINGS, AND THE 2003 ICC/ANSI A117.1 ACCESSIBILITY AND USABLE BUILDINGS & FACILITIES CODE, AND FURTHER RE-ENACTING AND ADOPTING CERTAIN OF THE 2012 STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS AS SET OUT AND PUBLISHED BY SAID COUNCIL, THE 2011 NFPA 70 NATIONAL ELECTRIC CODE, AND THE 2009 ICC/ANSI A117.1 ACCESSIBILITY AND USABLE BUILDINGS & FACILITIES CODE WHICH STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS TO BE EFFECTIVE SEPTEMBER 1, 2013, AND THE 2009 INTERNATIONAL ENERGY CONSERVATION CODE FOR RESIDENTIAL DWELLINGS TO BE EFFECTIVE NOVEMBER 30, 2013, ALL OF WHICH WERE ADOPTED BY THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA, BY LEGISLATIVE RULE FILED DECEMBER 21, 2012 Pursuant to a notice duly published in the Times-West Virginian on June 17, 2013, a public hearing was convened to obtain citizen input on an ordinance to adopt the new State Building Codes. The Mayor asked if anyone present desired to speak to the proposed ordinance. There being no one to speak, the public hearing was called to a close at 7:06 p.m. IN RE: AN ORDINANCE AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING THAT PORTION OF CITY ORDINANCE NO. 1485, AS AMENDED, WHICH IS CODIFIED AS PART 17 BUILDING AND HOUSING CODE, ARTICLE 1709 WEST VIRGINIA STATE BUILDING CODE, OF THE CITY CODE, AND PARTICULARLY, SECTION 1709.02 SCHEDULE FOR PERMIT FEES AND PENALTIES AND SECTION 1709.03 DISCRETIONARY PROVISIONS THEREOF, TO AMEND AND SUPPLEMENT THE PERMIT FEES, ENFORCEMENT REMEDIES, PENALTIES, LOCAL 2 CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS, AND DISCRETIONARY SECTIONS SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR CHANGES WROUGHT BY THE ADOPTION OF THE STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS SET OUT BY THE INTERNATIONAL CODE COUNCIL AND AMERICAN STANDARDS INSTITUTE, ADOPTED BY THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA BY LEGISLATIVE RULE FILED DECEMBER 21, 2012 Pursuant to a notice duly published in the Times-West Virginian on June 17, 2013, a public hearing was convened to obtain citizen input on an ordinance to adopt the discretionary provisions for the new State Building Codes. The Mayor asked if anyone present desired to speak to the proposed ordinance. Mr. Rogers pointed out the two changes that were made in the fee structure. He said that one was the reconfiguration of the fee for a demolition permit where we have placed a cap on the cost of the demolition permit moving it down to where it would not exceed $50.00 for any project. He noted that this was in hopes that we would have more people that will file for demolition permits. He said the second change is for the electrical inspections. He said that the fees have increased from $25.00 to $50.00 to match what the inspections are in other areas. There being no one else to speak, the public hearing was called to a close at 7:08 p.m. ANNOUNCEMENTS IN RE: REQUIREMENT OF TAGS Councilmember Smith suggested that the people going out in the city and asking for money be required to give something back to the person that gives them money. He noted that the Board of Education is trying to get to the point where they require something in return so people know that person already gave money. IN RE: WV BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION Councilmember Garcia stated that he was able to attend the celebration for the 150th birthday of WV. Councilmember Warner also noted that he attended the WV Day celebration. IN RE: PAVING PROJECT Councilmember Garcia noted that the paving project is making his district look good. Councilmember Warner mentioned that the paving seems to be going quite well. 3 IN RE: SUMMER CAMP AT 5TH STREET PARK Councilmember Garcia stated a summer camp for soccer being held at 5th Street Park and is very well attended. IN RE: BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB Councilmember Blosser noted that he sits on the Board for the Marion County Boys and Girls Club. He said that they turned in their grant application for their 21st century grant which is the grant that provides almost all of their funding. He said that they have shrunken the pool of money for programs that are entering into that. He then asked for everyone to get out and show support the Boys and Girls Club. IN RE: CITY MANAGER COMMENDED Councilmember Blosser said that after serving on Council for the past six months, he commended City Manager Jay Rogers for all of his hard work and dedication to the City of Fairmont and the citizens. He then thanked Mr. Rogers and city staff for work that they have done and said that the past six months have really opened his eyes up to a lot of things that the City of Fairmont has done in order to move forward. Councilmember Gribben also commended the City Manager and noted some of the projects that have been taking place: Miller School property to be developed; Pierpont Community and Technical College moving into the downtown; the WV Day celebration; and the improvements to 612 MAC. Mayor Straight stated that he has served on Council for many years and this is one of the best groups that he has worked with and everyone has been open-minded and out in the public. He noted that we have a lot of positive things going on in this area. He said that Fairmont is blessed with the outstanding staff that we have. Councilmember Gribben said that there is a lot more to be done and a lot more that City Council needs to handle. IN RE: CERTIFICATE OF APPRECIATION Mayor Straight presented the City Manager with a Certificate of Appreciation from the Vietnam Veterans of America in recognition of our efforts and outstanding service which had benefited the Vietnam Veterans. CITIZENS PETITIONS IN RE: COMMUNICATION NEIL STALNAKER, a Cochran Street resident, addressed Council regarding the lack of communication as far as the City of Fairmont is concerned. He said that at times the City of 4 Fairmont does not get the message out to the citizens and the people do not know what is happening. He then asked for an update on the monthly citizen newsletter, a new web page, and a monthly article for the newspaper. He asked if these items were still coming or if he was wasting his time looking for them. Councilmember Blosser replied by saying that you can put all of the information out there for people but some of the people need to go look for it. He said a lot of times that’s the issue is that people don’t want to look for the information but at some point comes a time, as a Councilmember, he did not want staff to focus on putting together a newsletter to go out every month; he would rather them be focused on getting streets paved, doing things with parks, making sure the budgets are in line and other things like that. He went on to say that communicating is one thing, we have launched a twitter page, you have Fairmont 101 that is out now and the people that have been engaged in the Fairmont 101 program, those people have learned so much and have provided so many questions and so much input to things, those people are leaving here thinking the City of Fairmont does all of this work with this few staff members and you are getting all of this stuff done. He noted that you are only as good as the people that want to look for the information and some people have to look for it. He said, at some point, you have to get off the duff and go look for it. Mr. Stalnaker stated that he has even posted ordinances for people in order to answer their questions. Councilmember Blosser said that people don’t have time to sit on Facebook; there is work that needs to get done. CITY MANAGER’S REPORT IN RE: NEIL STALNAKER’S COMMENTS Mr. Rogers replied to Mr. Stalnaker’s comments. He said, yes, we are moving towards a new web page and he actually has a meeting this week with a vendor that he is having conversations with. He said that with the new accounting system, the integration of that system also has some components that we can integrate with our web page. He went on to say that you have the ability to turn in code enforcement issues and complaints and you can do those direct off the web page or there are apps for different phones that are out there or you can actually snap a photo of a property and be able to submit that and allow code enforcement to follow up. Mr. Rogers then said that in the simplest form, the City’s phone number has always been the City’s phone number and we are always there to answer phone calls and give people the direct information. He mentioned that the electronic media is probably where we are headed. He went on to say that we have plans to work on the electronic newsletter; however, it has fallen back to where we were as with our conversations with the Times-West Virginian. He then noted that Councilmember Blosser is right, it is currently an issue that we have of these duties are handled by people that are performing other duties for us, they were hired to be our Purchasing Coordinator or they were hired to be our Utility Coordinator, or they were hired to be a Program Manager in the Planning Department and now we are trying to dump these things on them and there are days where it is much more important that the Utility Controller gets the Public Service Commission report out 5 than updates made on the City’s web page. He said those are still issues that he needs to work out with how we fund those duties, how we position those duties, and bring that recommendation to Council. IN RE: PAVING PROJECT Mr. Rogers reported that the Public Works Department has received a lot of compliments from the public about the paving project and the process is going so much better than it did the first or second time around. He then went over some of the streets that have been paved. IN RE: GRASS CUTTING PROGRAM The Manager said that the part-time grass cutter in Code Enforcement starting cutting grass in various areas. He noted that the focus has been in some areas where we have had long standing, non-compliance issues, mainly those that are absentee property owners out of state or out of the area. He added that this was not a free grass cutting service. He noted that the time and material are recorded on each of those properties and a lien will be placed on those properties for their non-compliance. IN RE: PUBLIC WORKS BUILDING Mr. Rogers gave Council an updated on the Public Works building. He said that the paving contractor has begun to put down a base coat and the wearing coat should be placed later this week. He said that a security fence will be put up soon and once the fence is installed, the department can fully occupy the facility. IN RE: PIERPONT COMMUNITY COLLEGE IN DOWNTOWN The City Manager said that everyone will see an impact on the downtown Fairmont once Pierpont Community College moves downtown. CONSIDERATION OF COUNCIL BUSINESS IN RE: ADOPTION, AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FAIRMONT, AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING ORDINANCE NO. 1484, WHICH ORDINANCE IS CODIFIED AS SECTION 1709.01 OF THE CITY CODE, TO PROVIDE FOR THE REPEAL OF THE STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS AS SET OUT AND PUBLISHED BY THE INTERNATIONAL CODE COUNCIL AND THE AMERICAN STANDARDS INSTITUTE IN 2009 AND THE 2003 INTERNATIONAL ENERGY CONSERVATION CODE-FOR RESIDENTIAL DWELLINGS, AND THE 2003 ICC/ANSI A117.1 ACCESSIBILITY AND USABLE BUILDINGS & FACILITIES CODE, AND FURTHER RE-ENACTING AND ADOPTING CERTAIN OF THE 2012 STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS AS SET OUT AND PUBLISHED BY SAID COUNCIL, THE 2011 NFPA 70 NATIONAL ELECTRIC CODE, AND THE 2009 ICC/ANSI A117.1 ACCESSIBILITY AND USABLE BUILDINGS & FACILITIES CODE WHICH STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS TO BE EFFECTIVE SEPTEMBER 1, 6 2013, AND THE 2009 INTERNATIONAL ENERGY CONSERVATION CODE FOR RESIDENTIAL DWELLINGS TO BE EFFECTIVE NOVEMBER 30, 2013, ALL OF WHICH WERE ADOPTED BY THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA, BY LEGISLATIVE RULE FILED DECEMBER 21, 2012 Mayor Straight entertained a motion for the adoption of an ordinance to adopt the new State Building Codes. Motion: Councilmember Warner moved for the adoption of the proposed ordinance. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Garcia. Roll call was taken by the Clerk. The Mayor declared the ordinance adopted by unanimous vote of those Councilmembers present and the ordinance designated as Ordinance No. 1594 was duly adopted. IN RE: ADOPTION, AN ORDINANCE AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING THAT PORTION OF CITY ORDINANCE NO. 1485, AS AMENDED, WHICH IS CODIFIED AS PART 17 BUILDING AND HOUSING CODE, ARTICLE 1709 WEST VIRGINIA STATE BUILDING CODE, OF THE CITY CODE, AND PARTICULARLY, SECTION 1709.02 SCHEDULE FOR PERMIT FEES AND PENALTIES AND SECTION 1709.03 DISCRETIONARY PROVISIONS THEREOF, TO AMEND AND SUPPLEMENT THE PERMIT FEES, ENFORCEMENT REMEDIES, PENALTIES, LOCAL CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS, AND DISCRETIONARY SECTIONS SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR CHANGES WROUGHT BY THE ADOPTION OF THE STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS SET OUT BY THE INTERNATIONAL CODE COUNCIL AND AMERICAN STANDARDS INSTITUTE, ADOPTED BY THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA BY LEGISLATIVE RULE FILED DECEMBER 21, 2012 Mayor Straight entertained a motion for the adoption of an ordinance to adopt the discretionary provisions for the new State Building Codes. Motion: Councilmember Seifrit moved for the adoption of the proposed ordinance. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Warner. Roll call was taken by the Clerk. The Mayor declared the ordinance adopted by unanimous vote of those Councilmembers present and the ordinance designated as Ordinance No. 1595 was duly adopted. 7 IN RE: INTRODUCTION, FIRST READING, SET PUBLIC HEARING, AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY OF FAIRMONT’S 2013-2014 ANNUAL BUDGET: GENERAL FUND Mayor Straight entertained a motion and a second for the introduction of this ordinance and to set the public hearing for July 9, 2013 regarding an ordinance for a General Fund budget revision. Motion: Councilmember Seifrit moved for the introduction of the proposed ordinance and the reading of a synopsis in lieu of the entire ordinance. Councilmember Blosser seconded the motion. The Clerk read the proposed ordinance by synopsis for the first time. The Mayor declared the public hearing set for July 9, 2013 by voice vote of Council. IN RE: INTRODUCTION, FIRST READING, SET PUBLIC HEARING, AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY OF FAIRMONT’S 2013-2014 ANNUAL BUDGET: COAL SEVERANCE Mayor Straight entertained a motion and a second for the introduction of this ordinance and to set the public hearing for July 9, 2013 regarding an ordinance for a Coal Severance budget revision. Motion: Councilmember Warner moved for the introduction of the proposed ordinance and the reading of a synopsis in lieu of the entire ordinance. Councilmember Blosser seconded the motion. The Clerk read the proposed ordinance by synopsis for the first time. The Mayor declared the public hearing set for July 9, 2013 by voice vote of Council. IN RE: INTRODUCTION, FIRST READING, SET PUBLIC HEARING, AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FAIRMONT PROVIDING FOR THE LEASE OF THAT CERTAIN PARCEL OF REAL ESTATE OWNED BY THE CITY OF FAIRMONT, SITUATE IN THE CITY OF FAIRMONT, FAIRMONT DISTRICT, MARION COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA AND BEING PARCEL 34 OF MARION COUNTY TAX MAP 01-01, COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS THE ARMORY LOT, TO PIERPONT COMMUNITY AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE, WHICH PARCEL OR REAL ESTATE IS MORE PARTICULARLY DESCRIBED IN THAT CERTAIN DEED FROM THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF MARION COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA DATED AUGUST 7, 1984, AND OF RECORD IN THE OFFICE OF THE CLERK OF THE COUNTY COMMISSION OF MARION COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA IN DEED BOOK 966, AT PAGE 981 8 Mayor Straight entertained a motion and a second for the introduction of this ordinance and to set the public hearing for July 9, 2013 regarding an ordinance providing for the lease of the Armory Parking Lot to Pierpont Community and Technical College. Motion: Councilmember Warner moved for the introduction of the proposed ordinance and the reading of a synopsis in lieu of the entire ordinance. Councilmember Seifrit seconded the motion. The Clerk read the proposed ordinance by synopsis for the first time. The Mayor declared the public hearing set for July 9, 2013 by voice vote of Council. IN RE: ADOPTION, A RESOLUTION BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FAIRMONT, WEST VIRGINIA, AUTHORIZING THE ACCEPTANCE OF AN AWARD TO THE WEST VIRGINIA DEVELOPMENT OFFICE COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIVISION’S COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION GRANT PROGRAM ON BEHALF OF MAIN STREET FAIRMONT FOR THE SIGN, PAINT AND FAÇADE GRANT PROJECT Mayor Straight entertained a motion for the adoption of a resolution authorizing the acceptance of an award for Main Street Fairmont for the Sign, Paint, and Façade Grant Project. Motion: Councilmember Warner moved for the adoption of the proposed resolution and the reading of a synopsis in lieu of the entire resolution. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Blosser. The Clerk read the proposed resolution by synopsis for the first time. Roll call was taken by the Clerk. The Mayor declared the resolution adopted by unanimous vote of those Councilmembers present. ADJOURNMENT The Mayor entertained a motion for adjournment. Motion: Councilmember Smith moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Garcia. The Mayor declared the meeting adjourned by voice vote of Council at 7:50 p.m. 9