City Council

July 14, 2015 The regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Fairmont was held at 7:00 p.m. on the 14th day of July, 2015, 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 Marianne Moran Second District Frank G. Yann Third District Robert (Rob) Linger Fourth District William H. (Bill) Burdick Fifth District Fran Warner Sixth District Daniel K. (Dan) Weber Seventh District Philip R. (Phil) Mason Eighth District Thomas (Tom) Mainella Ninth District Ronald J. (Ron) Straight, Sr. Also present were: Interim City Manager Janet L. Keller Interim City Clerk Paula Friend City Attorney Kevin 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 Mainella. 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 23, 2015. He asked if there were any corrections, deletions, or amendments. Councilmember Warner moved to approve the minutes as submitted. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Weber. 1 The Mayor declared the minutes approved as submitted by voice vote of Council. PUBLIC HEARINGS IN RE: AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY OF FAIRMONT’S 2015-2016 ANNUAL BUDGET: GENERAL FUND Pursuant to a notice duly published in the Times-West Virginian on June 29, 2015, a public hearing was convened to obtain citizen input on the 2015- 2016 City Budget: General Fund. The Mayor asked if anyone present desired to speak to the proposed ordinance. EILEEN LAYMAN, Finance Director, spoke in favor of the proposed ordinance and discussed the highlights of the budget revision. There being no one else to speak, the public hearing was called to a close at 7:08 p.m. IN RE: AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY OF FAIRMONT’S 2015-2016 ANNUAL BUDGET: COAL SEVERANCE Pursuant to a notice duly published in the Times-West Virginian on June 29, 2015, a public hearing was convened to obtain citizen input on the 2015- 2016 City Budget: Coal Severance. The Mayor asked if anyone present desired to speak to the proposed ordinance. EILEEN LAYMAN, Finance Director, spoke in favor of the proposed ordinance and went over the highlights of the budget revision. There being no one else to speak, the public hearing was called to a close at 7:10 p.m. ANNOUNCEMENTS IN RE: ARTS AND ANTIQUES MARKETPLACE GRAND OPENING 2 Councilmember Moran stated that several Councilmembers just attended the grand opening and said that it is really great down there. There are a lot of vendors on the first and second floor and they are still getting more. She would like to congratulate Lou Spatafore for putting that together and having the vision for it. Councilmember Linger said it is great as businesses downtown continue to push and make the effort to make downtown a better place for everyone in town. Councilmember Warner said that she also attended the grand opening and there was a good crowd and the event was very nice. IN RE: GATEWAY CONNECTOR GRASS CUTTING Councilmember Moran said that she has traveled the Gateway Connector since it was opened and the grass looks better than it ever has, even with all of the rain, and kudos to the team of people that are taking care of it because it really looks good. IN RE: BAD BUILDINGS MEETING Councilmember Yann attended a BAD Buildings meeting last week and he was very impressed with the people that are on the committee. They have some very good solutions for the properties on the list, not that they are all doable, but they are willing to work things out. One lady attended and asked about issues with high grass. The Code Enforcement officials in attendance explained more about that. He then said that if you travel East Park Ave., for example, there is a lot where the owner lives out of town but he still goes in every few weeks and takes care of the property. He stopped and thanked the man because he said people need to be complimented for their efforts. IN RE: PAVING OF FAIRMONT AVENUE Councilmember Linger said that the paving of Fairmont Ave. was a very welcome site to everyone in town and he was very happy to see that happening. Councilmember Mainella said it was nice driving in on newly paved roads. 3 IN RE: JULY 4th CELEBRATION Councilmember Linger said that he watched the fireworks from down on Washington St. and that it was very nice to see. Mayor Straight said he also attended the event with family and it was a very well attended and nice event. IN RE: RESOLUTION ON THE AGENDA REGARDING TOWN MEETINGS Councilmember Linger said that he agrees with what the resolution says but disagrees with the need for the resolution. He said he thinks it sends a poor message to the community to have such a resolution. The rules that govern Council are well documented – the laws are there and in place. He said that we do not need another resolution for this sort of thing. It would be a shame to make a resolution about how councilmembers are to communicate with those we represent. We are a representative government and work for the citizens of Fairmont. If they want to talk to us in a forum outside of Chambers, it is their right. They can do that. This resolution does not keep them from doing that but creating this resolution gives it a feeling of wrongdoing, which should not happen. Later in the meeting, he is going to move to remove this item from the Agenda. Councilmember Weber said he did not understand why there was criticism of a resolution that was very clear. He thinks anyone can have a meeting but he has a problem with someone having a meeting and calling it a city forum. He said Council has a set time and date of the second and fourth Tuesday of every month and that is when people are welcome to come and talk to Council and find a resolution to their problem. If you want to have a meeting, just don’t call it a city function. Mayor Straight said that as far as this resolution, City Attorney Kevin Sansalone can speak on it shortly, which will address some of the concerns. Councilmember Mason asked if there was a meeting that was described as a city forum. Councilmember Weber said yes, it happened on June 30, 2015 and was advertised in the Times West-Virginian as a city forum to be held at the Women’s Club. Councilmember Mason said that was his meeting and all notes from that meeting were given to the City Manager. 4 IN RE: FIRE STATION REVIEW Councilmember Burdick said he is kind of upset that we did not have our meeting with the company that was hired for the fire station review. He wanted to know why it would take someone until September to come up here for review. IN RE: HIGH GRASS IN BELLVIEW Councilmember Burdick said that a lady told him about some high grass on their street, he turned it in and it was cut today so Code is out there doing their job. IN RE: RIBBON CUTTING FOR THE NEW STATE OFFICE COMPLEX Mayor Straight said that tomorrow is the ribbon cutting for the new state office building at 11:00 a.m. and invited everyone to attend. CITIZEN’S PETITIONS IN RE: BROOKSIDE DRIVE TWYLA MARRA, 9 Troy Lane, addressed Council regarding the drainage issues on Brookside Dr. from the apartment building owned by Bob Wise. She said she started calling the city in 2011 and even sent pictures and a letter to all of the councilmembers about the drainage and the empty buildings (Dr. Ahmad’s office and a barn on the Davis property) on Brookside Drive but nothing was ever done about it. She said their family has personally cleared the sewage drains and because the ditches are not deep enough, the debris gets caught. In 2014, Code Enforcement came out and made Mr. Wise fix one of the springs. However, since that time there are two more springs (she passed pictures around to Council) that have appeared. The City has checked it and it is definitely spring water. She said when they built their home in 1986, they had three springs that they had to fix and another resident up the road had to fix fifteen springs. Her question is if they had to fix their springs, why doesn’t Mr. Wise have to fix his, because it is affecting the road. 5 She continued by saying that Brookside Dr. is on the paving list for this year and if it is not fixed, the water is going to continue running out onto the road. She spoke to Mike Bragg with the City and he told her that there was a pipe under that road that needed to be replaced before paving was done. She said in the winter, they have to avoid the area due to the water across the road. There is a bus stop at the intersection and the kids have to walk up the edge of the road and she fears for their safety. When she drives to work, sometimes she has to go up Broadview and take the long way around to avoid Brookside Dr. because of the ice. Sam Marra said that they were told by the City that the springs had to be fixed on their property because it was harming the road and if they did not fix it, the city would fix it and then charge them for it. They are asking that the City pave Brookside but not until the water issues are fixed. They also want the water issues fixed for the safety of residents, children and vehicles. IN RE: MULTIPLE REQUESTS BOB GRIBBEN addressed Council. He would like to try and get more people involved in the things we are doing in Fairmont. He said that each councilperson that we have is one of our leaders. The City Manager has a leadership role with staff but the baseline of leadership is the councilmembers. We have a lot of good things going on in Fairmont. We have good churches, businesses, neighborhoods and community. However, they are not coming here to see Council. They are not involved enough in terms of coming to council meetings. Councilmember Mason said he appreciated the comments and that was what he has heard from his open forums so he can sit down and freely talk to people. CITY MANAGER’S REPORT IN RE: DEDICATION OF THE WEST VIRGINIA STATE OFFICE COMPLEX 6 Interim City Manager Keller reminded everyone about the dedication of the new building tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. IN RE: BUSY BEAVER GRAND OPENING Ms. Keller stated that Council is invited to attend the grand opening of the new Busy Beaver store located at Marion Square on Saturday, July 18 th at 11:00 a.m. Councilmember Yann stated that some of Busy Beaver’s traffic is coming to Marion St. due to people putting the address of “Marion St.” into their GPS devices instead of Marion Square. He said trucks are having a hard time maneuvering on the small streets. Interim City Manager Janet Keller said city personnel went up and spoke to management at Busy Beaver and hopefully that problem will correct itself soon. If not, proper signage may need to be put up on Marion St. IN RE: FAIRMONT 101 Ms. Keller said the next session of Fairmont 101 will be on Thursday, July 16th at the Public Safety Building regarding the Fairmont Police Dept. She said that the morning session starts at 10:00 a.m. and the evening session starts at 6:00 p.m. if any councilmembers would like to attend. IN RE: WORK SESSION WITH TRI DATA The Interim Manager reported that the final presentation of the Fire Dept. study will not be held until September 22nd due to conflicting schedules with Tri Data personnel. IN RE: CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ANNUAL DINNER The Interim Manager invited Council to attend the annual dinner for the Chamber of Commerce on August 12th. She said if anyone needs tickets to let her know so reservations can be made. IN RE: NEW POLICE SERGEANT DAVID MCGLONE The Interim Manager introduced David McGlone, who was sworn in Monday, 7 July 17th as the new sergeant in the Police Dept. She said he has been with the department for 18 ½ years and wanted to extend congratulations to him. IN RE: RETIREMENT OF POLICE CHIEF MORAN Ms. Keller reported that she received a letter of retirement from Police Chief Kelley Moran. She said he is retiring effective Friday, July 24, 2015 after almost 24 years with the department. She said he has taken another job in law enforcement and wanted to wish him the best in his new position. IN RE: INTERIM POLICE CHIEF – LT. STEVE SHINE Ms. Keller reported that due to the retirement of Police Chief Kelley Moran, Lt. Steve Shine has been named as the Interim Police Chief until a replacement is appointed. IN RE: QUESTIONS FROM COUNCILMEMBERS Mayor Straight reminded Council that if they have any issues, feel free to contact him if they cannot reach Ms. Keller and he will relay the information. Please give her a chance, even though something may not get done that day. She has a full plate right now. CONSIDERATION OF COUNCIL BUSINESS IN RE: ADOPTION, AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY OF FAIRMONT’S 2015-2016 ANNUAL BUDGET: GENERAL FUND Mayor Straight entertained a motion for the adoption of an ordinance providing for an amendment to the City of Fairmont’s 2015-2016 Annual Budget: General Fund. Motion: Councilmember Mainella moved for the adoption of the proposed ordinance. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Warner Discussion: 8 Councilmember Mason asked if we had already discussed this matter and Interim City Manager said it was discussed earlier in the meeting during the public hearing. 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. 1645 was duly adopted. IN RE: ADOPTION, AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR AN AMENDMENT TO THE CITY OF FAIRMONT’S 2015-2016 ANNUAL BUDGET: COAL SEVERANCE Mayor Straight entertained a motion for the adoption of an ordinance providing for an amendment to the City of Fairmont’s 2015-2016 Annual Budget: Coal Severance. Motion: Councilmember Yann moved for the adoption of the proposed ordinance. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Moran. Discussion: Councilmember Mason asked if we were adopting this ordinance without a public hearing. City Attorney Kevin Sansalone stated that we had a public hearing earlier in the meeting and now this is an action item for council. 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. 1646 was duly adopted. IN RE: INTRODUCTION, AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FAIRMONT AUTHORIZING THE CITY OF FAIRMONT TO LEASE 22.708 ACRES OF LAND TOGETHER WITH A RIGHT OF WAY FOR INGRESS AND EGRESS FROM SAID PROPERTY AND STATE ROUTE 72/4 FROM THE COUNTY COMMISSION OF MARION COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA IN WINFIELD DISTRICT, MARION COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA, BEING PART OF THE PROPERTY KNOWN AS THE POOR FARM FOR A SHOOTING RANGE FOR THE CITY OF FAIRMONT POLICE DEPARTMENT, AND FURTHER APPROVING THE FORM OF THE LEASE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY AND THE COUNTY 9 FOR SAID PURPOSE, AND AUTHORIZING THE EXECUTION AND DELIVERY THEREOF. Mayor Straight entertained a motion and a second for the introduction of this ordinance and to set the public hearing for July 28, 2015 . Motion: Councilmember Mason moved for the introduction of the proposed ordinance and the reading of a synopsis in lieu of the entire ordinance. Councilmember Linger seconded the motion. The Clerk read the proposed ordinance by synopsis for the first time. Discussion: Mayor Straight asked City Attorney Kevin Sansalone if this was regarding the shooting range that we were supposed to have. Mr. Sansalone said that the property that is the subject of the lease is the shooting range. It is the part parcel of the transaction that occurred relating to the State Office Complex and we had provided for the transfer of what the Police Dept. used as a shooting range to Ernie VanGilder in return for a portion of his property where the State Office Building is currently located. The Mayor declared the public hearing set for July 28, 2015 by voice vote of Council. IN RE: ADOPTION, A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL FOR THE CITY OF FAIRMONT OFFICIALLY DECLARING THAT ANY “CITIZEN MEETING”, “TOWN MEETING”, “TOWN HALL DISCUSSION”, OR PUBLIC GATHERING OF CITIZENS HELD, ANNOUNCED OR SCHEDULED BY, FOR, OR AT THE DIRECTION OF ANY INDIVIDUAL COUNCILMEMBER DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A “MEETING” OF THE COUNCIL FOR THE CITY OF FAIRMONT, AS DEFINED BY WEST VIRGINIA CODE §6-9A-2(4), AND THAT THE OPINIONS, REPRESENTATIONS, EXPRESSIONS, ADMISSIONS, ACTIONS, INACTIONS, COMMISSIONS AND/OR OMMISSIONS OF ANY INDIVIDUAL COUNCILMEMBER, OR ANY OTHER PERSON THERE PRESENT, DO NOT CONSTITUTE THE “OFFICIAL ACTION” OF THE CITY OF FAIRMONT AS A CORPORATE BODY, FOR ANY PURPOSE, INCLUDING THE PROVISIONS OF WEST VIRGINIA CODE §6-9A-2(5), OR THE OPINIONS, ACTS, OR EXPRESSIONS OF WILL OF SAID COUNCIL OR THE CITY OF FAIRMONT; 10 DISCLAIMER. Mayor Straight entertained a motion for the adoption of the resolution. Motion: Councilmember Burdick made a motion to remove this item. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Yann. Discussion: Councilmember Moran said that she is a member of the Women’s Club and she wanted to clarify something after looking back through her emails. She said that an email reminder was sent out by their president stating that there was an invitation for an “Upcoming City Forum Meeting”. Councilmember Warner said that she received the same email. Councilmember Moran said that the Women’s Club is referring to this as a city forum meeting so while Mr. Mason may not have called it that, the email blast is calling it that. She said she can see pros and cons to this resolution. She said that if she would have a meeting like this, the public doesn’t always know that if she would say that we can do this or that, that she is not speaking for everyone. Councilmember Burdick said that it is how the Women’s Club is interpreting it, not how we are interpreting it. Mayor Straight said this subject was brought up, it went to the Ethics Commission in Charleston and the scenario was placed to them as to what was going on and this is what came back from them. He then stated that City Attorney Kevin Sansalone was here if Council had any questions for him. City Attorney Kevin Sansalone said that there is a motion on the table to remove the item from the agenda and under Robert’s Rules that would be question as to whether it would be subject to debate. He said Council has to address that motion before someone would make a subsequent motion to adopt the resolution so that we can have a discussion as to the merits of the content of the resolution. He then said that Council has to address the procedural motion before proceeding. Roll call was taken by the Clerk and the following votes were recorded: Councilmember Weber No Councilmember Mainella No Councilmember Yann Yes Councilmember Moran Yes 11 Councilmember Linger Yes Mayor Straight No Councilmember Mason Yes Councilmember Warner No Councilmember Burdick Yes Mayor Straight declared this motion removed from the agenda by majority vote of Council. ADJOURNMENT The Mayor entertained a motion for adjournment. Motion: Councilmember Burdick moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Linger. The Mayor declared the meeting adjourned by voice vote of Council at 8:05 p.m. 12