City Council

December 15, 2015 The regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Fairmont was held at 7:00 p.m. on the 15th day of December, 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 Eighth District Thomas (Tom) Mainella Ninth District Ronald J. (Ron) Straight, Sr. Absent were: Seventh District Philip R. (Phil) Mason Also present were: City Manager Robin I. Gomez City Clerk Janet L. Keller City Attorney Kevin V. Sansalone IN RE: OPENING CEREMONIES Councilmember Moran gave the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag led by Councilmember Warner. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Mayor Straight noted that each member of Council had received a copy of the minutes from the Regular Meeting held on December 8, 2015. Councilmember Mainella 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 There were no public hearings. ANNOUNCEMENTS IN RE: FEAST OF THE SEVEN FISHES FESTIVAL Councilmember Warner reported that she had fun at the Feast of the Seven Fishes for the 10th season. Councilmember Yann thanked all of the volunteers and people that prepared the cooking school during the Festival. He noted that it was a great weekend in Fairmont. Councilmember Moran recognized Main Street Fairmont and all of the volunteers that prepared for the cooking school and the Festival. She noted that it takes a lot of people with a lot of commitment and it showed. The Mayor noted that he had a good time at the Festival as well. He suggested that they extend it or make it go to another block. IN RE: CHRISTMAS PARADE Mayor Straight reported that he and Councilmember Mainella walked in the Christmas parade and had a good time doing that. CITIZENS PETITIONS There were no citizen’s petitions for this meeting. CITY MANAGER’S REPORT 2 IN RE: THANK YOU FOR WARM WELCOME City Manager Gomez thanked Council for the very warm welcome to truly one of the friendliest cities not only in West Virginia or the region but in the United States. He thanked Council and everyone that he has met so far and especially the City staff who have been so wonderful in the first week and two days of his employment here. IN RE: CITY STAFF COMMENDED Mr. Gomez thanked the City staff that helped in the events this week, particularly Public Works and Police, for doing a fabulous job in helping Main Street Fairmont and then for getting the city streets back in order and with the clean up on Monday morning. IN RE: STREET LIGHT POLICY The City Manager noted that he omitted mentioning the street lights last week. He reported that he needs to meet with Mr. Staggers with Mon Power First Energy to see where we are but to also address the continuing of the street light audit and in other areas involving a policy for our street lights when there are requests to add them or other issues or concerns that arise as we move forward. IN RE: THIRD FLOOR SECURITY Mr. Gomez advised Council that we are looking to address security of the third floor and looking to add a controlled or secured entry. He noted that staff has expressed concern and he will address Council and the public as measures are taken. He said that it might be a little more of a controlled entrance point into the third floor building. CONSIDERATION OF COUNCIL BUSINESS IN RE: ADOPTION, A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FAIRMONT PROVIDING FOR AND AUTHORIZING A LIEN, TO BE SECURED BY A DEED OF TRUST AND NOTE IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $110,000.00, FOR THE COST OF DEMOLITION AND REMOVAL OF CERTAIN DILAPIDATED AND VACANT STRUCTURES LOCATED AT THE FOLLOWING ADDRESSES: 3  337 CLEVELAND AVENUE, FAIRMONT, WV 26554 532 WALNUT AVENUE, FAIRMONT, WV 26554 FROM IDH1, LLC, A WEST VIRGINIA LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY; APPROVING THE FORM OF THE TRANSACTIONAL DOCUMENTS; AND AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AND DELIVER ANY SUCH DOCUMENT AS MAY BE NECESSARY ON BEHALF OF THE CITY OF FAIRMONT; RATIFICATION Mayor Straight entertained a motion for the adoption of a resolution providing for the demolition of 337 Cleveland Avenue and 532 Walnut Avenue. Motion: Councilmember Linger moved for the adoption of the proposed resolution. Councilmember Warner seconded the motion. Discussion: Councilmember Burdick asked if the City was going to start loaning money in order to take down property. Mr. Gomez responded by saying that the answer is not for every parcel. He said that this one is one that is a good opportunity to partner with the property owner to alleviate the dilapidated structure but the intent is not to do that with every single structure but certainly there is an opportunity here to apply that. Councilmember Moran asked if the City has done this in the past. City Attorney Sansalone said that at one time we had a demolition loan fund which was funded by the WV Housing Development Fund and the money was loaned to entities for demolition purposes including the Fairmont Community Development Partnership and that money was secured by deeds of trusts and notes. He added that some of that money has been repaid and some of that money is still outstanding and payments are being made on it and we are still collecting it back. He said that this particular transaction provides for a lien first in priority so if the property owner fails to make necessary payments under the deed of trust and note then we will foreclose and the 4 property will become ours free and clear of any other liens and encumbrances. He said that the documents that provide for the transaction were attached to the resolution including the two title letters which provide that it is a legal first priority. He then said that yes, we have done this before but not necessarily with our money although we were obligated to pay the money back if the persons to whom we let the money did not pay it back. Councilmember Moran asked if they did not pay the money back, all we get is the building we want to destroy. Mr. Sansalone said no, we will get the property upon which the building sits because the building will be gone. He added that the site will be cleaned up and we will get the four lots on Cleveland and Locust. He explained that the building will be gone because the property owner has to tear the building down in order to be entitled to receive any portion of the funds and then the funds will be distributed to the contractor that he hires and to him. He noted that the property owner is in charge of the demolition. Councilmember Weber asked if there was a date specified on this demolition. Mr. Sansalone said that he did not believe there is a date. He does know that the property owner has a contractor lined up and he has done the ten day notice and some of the asbestos testing and he has provided estimates because the estimates are what we used to determine the amounts of the loan. He did not know if he has secured a date from that contractor yet or not. Roll call was taken by the Clerk. Mr. Gomez said that clearly we are under some constraints as we go forward to take care of dilapidated properties to demolish and a little bit of a different strategy here than what really has been done in the past but somewhat innovative to take down quite of a big eyesore in a very prominent part of the city. He said that we are looking for creativity and some innovation but again not something that we are looking to do. He said that clearly we will be running out of money if we continue to do some of these but we will continue to explore many different avenues and proposals and some creative funding to address this issue that is clearly not going to go away overnight. He noted that it was a long term strategy, long term 5 solution. He then thanked the City Attorney, Finance Director, and the other staff for working on this. Councilmember Weber said that when we demolish these buildings and we have empty lots, for example the Adams Street property has been empty for now three to four years and we have yet to initiate any kind of program to develop these properties and businesses to come in. He said to have empty lots in the City of Fairmont seems to be a waste and also it does not show us being as progressive as we need to be. He noted that this concerns him but to have empty lots scattered throughout the City, he does not think it does us a lot of favors except to remove the blight. He said that the City of Fairmont really needs to take the initiative to really encourage some new construction and some new businesses to come into downtown Fairmont. The Mayor declared the resolution adopted by unanimous vote of those Councilmembers present. ADJOURNMENT The Mayor entertained a motion for adjournment. Motion: Councilmember Mainella moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Weber. The Mayor declared the meeting adjourned by voice vote of Council at 7:17 p.m. 6