City Council

July 8, 2014 The regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Fairmont was held at 7:00 p.m. on the 8th day of July, 2014, 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 Frank G. Yann Third District Deborah D. (Debbie) Seifrit Fourth District William H. (Bill) Burdick Fifth District Charles E. (Chuck) Warner Sixth District Daniel K. (Dan) Weber Seventh District Vacant Eighth District Robin W. Smith Ninth District Ronald J. (Ron) Straight, Sr. Also present were: City Manager Jay Rogers City Clerk Janet L. Keller Fire Prevention Officer Edward Simmons IN RE: OPENING CEREMONIES Junior Bennett, Utility Department employee, gave the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag led by Councilmember Seifrit. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Mayor Straight noted that each member of Council had received a copy of the minutes from the Regular Meeting held on June 24, 2014. He asked if there were any corrections, deletions, or amendments. Councilmember Smith moved to approve the minutes as submitted. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Warner. The Mayor declared the minutes approved as submitted by voice vote of Council. PUBLIC HEARINGS 1 IN RE: AN ORDINANCE AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING THAT PORTION OF ORDINANCE NO. 403, AS AMENDED BY ORDINANCE NO. 1365, AND ORDINANCE NO. 1486, WHICH IS CODIFIED AS PART 15 FIRE PREVENTION CODE, ARTICLE 1507, BUREAU FOR FIRE PREVENTION, SECTION .07 STATE CODE AND FIRE MARSHAL RULES, OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FAIRMONT, TO PROVIDE FOR THE ADOPTION OF THE STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS SET OUT IN TITLE 87 LEGISLATIVE RULE, FIRE COMMISSION, SERIES 1 FIRE CODE, AND ESTABLISHED AND ADOPTED BY THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA, EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2014, EXCLUDING HOWEVER ALL STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS DIRECTED TO THE OPERATION OF LOCAL FIRE DEPARTMENTS, IF ANY Pursuant to a notice duly published in the Times-West Virginian on June 30, 2014, a public hearing was convened to obtain citizen input on an ordinance regarding the adoption of the Fire Life Safety Codes. The Mayor asked if anyone present desired to speak to the proposed ordinance. LT. ED SIMMONS with the Fairmont Fire Department spoke in favor of the proposed ordinance. He explained that this ordinance basically adopts, at a local level, what the State Fire Commission has already adopted through legislation. He noted that it went into effective July 1, 2014 and by adopting this ordinance it allows him, in his job, to enforce these codes at a local level and it allows that if there are any problems with compliance with these codes, that he can take someone to Municipal Court instead of going to the County level and/or Magistrate Court; therefore, the funding will stay in the City. He mentioned that he works closely with the City Building Department and the Building Codes were updated last year so this ordinance now updates his side of the codes. Mr. Rogers mentioned that Council has previously adopted the current versions of the State Building Code and he would ask that Council would give consideration to doing the same with the Fire Codes. He then asked Council for the passage of this proposed ordinance. There being no one else to speak, the public hearing was called to a close at 7:09 p.m. ANNOUNCEMENTS IN RE: RESIGNATION OF COUNCILMEMBER GARCIA 2 Councilmember Weber stated that he was very disappointed and sad that Rob Garcia resigned from City Council effective June 30, 2014. He said that Councilmember Garcia was a dedicated Councilmember from District 7 and loves the City of Fairmont and its citizens. He noted that he was very supportive of all our schools in Marion County and the individual sports teams and he will be missed. He wished him well in his future endeavors. The Mayor said that Councilmember Garcia was instrumental in a lot of things he did and gave a lot to the community. He said that he will be sadly missed but he will still be around in the community. IN RE: PUBLIC WORKS COMMENDED Councilmember Warner commended the Public Works Department for cleaning up after the wind damage storm this afternoon. IN RE: NOTEWORTHY SWEETS Councilmember Gribben thanked the City Councilmembers and the public for attending the ribbon cutting at Noteworthy Sweets. IN RE: CLOSING OF 4TH STREET BRIDGE Councilmember Gribben said the closing of the 4th Street Bridge will be a plus and a minus for a while. He noted that it would be a plus in the terms of something more being done so that we will have the bridge at Third Street. IN RE: 4TH OF JULY CELEBRATION Councilmember Gribben noted that the 4th of July celebration was a wonderful experience for this community and hoped to have more just like that in the future. Councilmember Seifrit noted that the celebration was incredible to see all of the people attending the event. She noted that it was a nice evening. Councilmember Burdick noted that he attended the 4th of July celebration in Fairview. He noted that they had a great parade and a great gathering. He also mentioned that the fireworks were great that evening at Palatine Park. IN RE: SALE OF PSEUDOEPHEDRINE 3 Councilmember Yann commended CVS Pharmacy for discontinuing the sale of pseudoephedrine in the State of WV. He noted that this will go a long way to take us off the top three in the United State in problems that they are having with this. IN RE: MARION COUNTY RESCUE SQUAD Councilmember Seifrit stated that the Marion County Rescue Squad was the only one in the State of WV and out of 1,300 EMS’s across the country, 207 were given an award from the American Heart Association because of the instruments they have that can report heart attacks so the information is already there for the doctors if they have to have surgery when they arrive at the hospital. IN RE: FUND FOR SHOOTING VICTIM Councilmember Seifrit reported that the family of the boy that was shot back in April has set up an account at MVB Bank. She noted that it would really be nice if everyone in the community could make a donation to help the family with his medical bills. IN RE: TRASH PICK UP Councilmember Burdick noted that trash pickup last Wednesday in Bellview was spotty. He asked the other Councilmembers that if they have issues with trash pickup to notify the City Manager. CITIZENS PETITIONS IN RE: PAVING OF ALLEY REQUESTED CARMELLA HERMOSILLA, a resident of 1117 ½ Virginia Avenue, asked Council to pave the alley behind her home. She said that she lives in the alley between Gaston Avenue and Virginia Avenue and the alley is in terrible condition. She noted that you can’t even walk in the alley. She asked the City if the alley could be paved. CITY MANAGER’S REPORT IN RE: 4TH STREEET BRIDGE CLOSURE Mr. Rogers said that his office received a report from the District #4 Headquarters of the WV Department of Highways and the report list several deficiencies in the bridge and classifies the bridge as being in critical 4 condition and recommends that the structure be closed to all traffic. He said that Public Works, Police and Fire took immediate action to begin that closure process. He noted that temporary measures are being used with barricades and we have arranged for permanent fencing to be installed by the end of this week. Mr. Rogers went on to say that we really need to focus on the Third Street Bridge project of getting that replacement project done. He mentioned that the design has been approved by the State and Federal Highways and that gives a relocation from 4th Street to 3rd Street and will provide that continuous link that will take us to Locust Avenue. He went on to say that we have been through the public comment periods and been through most of the environmental and historical issues and now we seem to be working through the Department of Highways at the Federal level to get approval for property acquisition to begin. IN RE: CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTER The City Manager said the new Customer Service Center will be open on Monday, July 14th at 109 Merchant Street, the former Wesbanco Bank satellite office. IN RE: STREET MAINTENANCE REPORT Mr. Rogers presented Council with an updated report on the Street Maintenance Collection Charge. IN RE: PROGRAM MANAGER The City Manager introduced Hanna Weaver, the new Program Manager for Marketing and Communications for the City of Fairmont. He mentioned that she began working for the City of Fairmont on June 30th. CONSIDERATION OF COUNCIL BUSINESS IN RE: ADOPTION, AN ORDINANCE AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING THAT PORTION OF ORDINANCE NO. 403, AS AMENDED BY ORDINANCE NO. 1365, AND ORDINANCE NO. 1486, WHICH IS CODIFIED AS PART 15 FIRE PREVENTION CODE, ARTICLE 1507, BUREAU FOR FIRE PREVENTION, SECTION .07 STATE CODE AND FIRE MARSHAL RULES, OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FAIRMONT, TO PROVIDE FOR THE ADOPTION OF THE STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS SET OUT IN TITLE 87 LEGISLATIVE RULE, FIRE COMMISSION, SERIES 1 FIRE CODE, AND ESTABLISHED AND ADOPTED BY THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA, EFFECTIVE JULY 1, 2014, 5 EXCLUDING HOWEVER ALL STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS DIRECTED TO THE OPERATION OF LOCAL FIRE DEPARTMENTS, IF ANY Mayor Straight entertained a motion for the adoption of an ordinance regarding the adoption of the Fire Life Safety Codes. Motion: Councilmember Smith 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 Council and the ordinance designated as Ordinance No. 1624 was duly adopted. ADJOURNMENT The Mayor entertained a motion for adjournment. Motion: Councilmember Smith moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Warner. The Mayor declared the meeting adjourned by voice vote of Council at 7:35 p.m. 6