City Council

July 25, 2017 The regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Fairmont was held at 7:00 p.m. on the 25th day of July, 2017, at the Public Safety Building located at 500 Quincy Street in Fairmont, West Virginia. Mayor Mainella called the meeting to order. Councilmembers present were: First District Marianne Moran Second District Frank G. Yann Third District Robert (Rob) Linger Fourth District Kenneth (Brad) Merrifield Fifth District Fran Warner Sixth District Dora Kay Grubb Seventh District Philip R. (Phil) Mason Eighth District Thomas (Tom) Mainella Ninth District Ronald J. (Ron) Straight, Sr. Also present were: City Manager Robin I. Gomez City Clerk Janet L. Keller Fire Chief Edward Simmons Program Manager Martha Richards IN RE: OPENING CEREMONIES Rev. Wesley Dobbs of Morningstar Baptist Church gave the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag led by Councilmember Straight. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Mayor Mainella noted that each member of Council had received a copy of the minutes from the Regular Meeting held on July 11, 2017. Councilmember Moran moved to approve the minutes as submitted. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Yann. The Mayor declared the minutes approved as submitted by voice vote of Council. 1  PUBLIC HEARINGS There were no public hearings scheduled for this meeting. ANNOUNCEMENTS IN RE: STACY SPADAFORE ACKNOWLEDGED Councilmember Yann acknowledged a young lady. He said 15 years ago she was working in Morgantown with the Boys and Girls Clubs and decided to move back to Fairmont. She came back and got some advice and started with a three member staff and 50 students and now has over 250 students and 30 staff members. He wanted to acknowledge Stacy Spadafore for what she has done and what she has produced for the City and County. She started out with just one school and now it’s three schools and he wished her well in what she is going on to do and what she has contributed to Fairmont. IN RE: FAIRMONT ARTS WEEKS Councilmember Grubb reported that the Arts and Humanities are sponsoring an arts fair here in Fairmont and hoping to make it an annual program. She said that Fairmont Arts Week will be held August 11th - 19th. IN RE: SPECIAL ROAD BOND ELECTIN – OCTOBER 7, 2017 Councilmember Mason reported that a special election will be held on October 7, 2017 for a road bond issuance that will support $2.7 billion in road construction. He suggested that City Council adopt a resolution supporting the upcoming bond election. IN RE: REV. WESLEY DOBBS ACKNOWLEDGED Councilmember Straight extended congratulations to Rev. Wesley Dobbs for 30 years in spreading the word. He thanked him for all he has done for the community. IN RE: EAST FAIRMONT MIDDLE SCHOOL ENERGY EXPRESS Mayor Mainella stated that two weeks ago he was invited to East Fairmont 2 Middle School to read books to children in a program called Energy Express. He said that he was really impressed with the program and enjoyed the children. IN RE: ATTENDED MUNICIPAL COURT The Mayor noted that he went to City Court for the first time in a year or so. He said if you don’t occasionally go, you should to see that process work. Judge Julian is very professional and handles everything from vicious dogs to collecting delinquent fire fees. He said that the Court is held twice a week on Tuesday mornings and Thursday afternoons. He said if anyone attends, they will be impressed. CITIZENS PETITIONS IN RE: STOP SIGNS ON VIRGINIA AVENUE JOHN MYERS, a resident of 1028 Virginia Avenue addressed Council regarding the traffic on Virginia Avenue between the 10th Street and 11th Street. He said he is concerned about the children, he has grandchildren there, and there is a school with a playground. He calls the city police once or twice a week regarding the traffic and speeding. He wants to see something done before something tragic happens. He then requested a stop sign at 10th and Virginia Avenue and 11th and Virginia Avenue. He also requested it to be a 15 mph zone during the school year because of the fact that there is a playground in which all of the school children come there and play. CITY MANAGER’S REPORT IN RE: STOP SIGNS ON VIRGINIA AVENUE Mr. Gomez said that Virginia Avenue at 10th Street and 11th Street will both become four-way stops. He said as he looks at other areas of the City, he is looking to either correct parking or add additional traffic calming and that may include going forward with speed humps or tables but we are reviewing this internally as to how and where we would add those. He noted there were many potential areas to do that but it comes with a cost. That is the most requested item that he has received in 19 months regarding traffic throughout the city. He will provide updates to Council as information becomes available. 3 Councilmember Straight asked, regarding the speed humps, who would assume the responsibility if someone damages their vehicle and/or motorcycle and who is going to decide as to where they will go. Mr. Gomez replied that the City would assume the responsibility. The responsibility of any road hazard goes back to essentially the entity that owns the road. That does not mean that we are liable for every instance out there. He said we will review and determine whether to pay or not, the same if they hit a sidewalk or any other hazard. It is understood that when you do drive over a speed hump or a speed table that there are . . . they have to be well signed that they are approaching and must reduce your speed or slow down. It is an assumed risk of driving but it does increase a little bit of the exposure. He added that the City will go neighborhood by neighborhood to determine where would be the most effective place to place one and this will be a several years project and not something we will be able to do in six months. It will take some time to implement. In his prior work place, it was a 12 year program. IN RE: PAVING PROJECT The City Manager reported that the street paving project began this week and will likely continue all of the way through October. He said that they will be paving well over 80 streets and alleys. IN RE: CUSTOMER PORTAL Mr. Gomez said that we began our Customer Portal for our utilities where any current Fairmont utility account holder can go online and register online to view their daily water consumption. He then mentioned that you can have your utility bills sent to you electronically so you don’t have to wait for the paper version. He reminded everyone that the City bills for two months at a time. Councilmember Merrifield asked if signing up for the one program would alert you if there was a leak. Mr. Gomez replied yes. Our system has the ability for our Customer Service Center to also alert account holders if something is out of the ordinary. 4 IN RE: SALES TAX Mr. Gomez said that we began, as of July 1, 2016, charging the additional 1% sales tax. Our collections for FY2017 were over $500,000 above what we had budgeted. He noted we collected $1,728,008.98 for the additional 1% sales tax. We had budgeted just under $1.2 million. $344,000 of that amount went to replace the B&O Tax that was repealed when the 1% sales tax was adopted. The remaining near $1.5 million are going for the Police and Fire Pensions. IN RE: TIF UPDATE The Manager reported that the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) which is a very large part of the city that Council adopted back in 2015. For FY17, we collected $350,469.46 and that money is to be used for public projects which we have not completely determined what we will spend that money on but we do have some ideas. The priority list that was created by the TIF Committee prioritized some projects such as sidewalk improvements, utility enhancements but we haven’t made a definitive decision as to what they will go for. CONSIDERATION OF COUNCIL BUSINESS IN RE: ADOPTION, A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL FOR THE CITY OF FAIRMONT APPROVING THE REGULATIONS OF THE FIRE DEPARTMENT OF THE CITY OF FAIRMONT, WEST VIRGINIA (REVISED 2017) Mayor Mainella entertained a motion for the adoption of a resolution approving new Rules and Regulations of the City of Fairmont Fire Department. Motion: Councilmember Straight 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 Warner. The Clerk read the proposed resolution by synopsis for the first time. Fire Chief Ed Simmons explained a few of the changes that were being made in the Rules and Regulations. 5 Roll call was taken by the Clerk. The Mayor declared the resolution adopted by unanimous vote of Council. IN RE: ADJOURN TO EXECUTIVE SESSION Mayor Mainella entertained a motion to adjourn to Executive Session as per WV Code §6-9A-4(2)(9) and City Charter 2.11(a)(3) – to consider matters involving or affecting the purchase, sale, conveyance or lease of real property. Motion: Mayor Mainella moved to adjourn to Executive Session as per WV Code §6- 9A-4(2)(9) and City Charter 2.11(a)(3). Councilmember Mason seconded the motion. Roll call was taken by the Clerk. The Mayor declared the meeting adjourned to Executive Session at 7:36 p.m. by unanimous vote of Council. IN RE: MEETING RECONVENED The Mayor declared the meeting reconvened at 8:34 p.m. ADJOURNMENT The Mayor entertained a motion for adjournment. Motion: Councilmember Mason moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Straight. The Mayor declared the meeting adjourned by voice vote of Council at 8:35 p.m. 6