City Council

March 12, 2024 The regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Fairmont was held at 7:00 p.m. on the 12th day of March 2024, at the Public Safety Building located at 500 Quincy Street in Fairmont, West Virginia. Mayor Bolyard called the meeting to order. Councilmembers present were: Second District Anne E. Bolyard Third District Rebecca Moran Fifth District Charles (Chuck) Warner Sixth District Gia Deasy Seventh District Julia (Julie) Sole Eighth District Bruce McDaniel Councilmembers absent were: First District Joshua D. (Josh) Rice Fourth District Richard (Rick) Garcia Ninth District Kandice (Kandi) Nuzum Also present were: Interim City Manager Janet L. Keller City Attorney Kevin V. Sansalone Interim City Clerk David A. Kirk Finance Director Priscilla A. Hamilton Planning Director Shae Strait IN RE: EXCUSING COUNCILMEMBERS RICE, NUZUM, AND GARCIA Mayor Bolyard moved to excuse Councilmembers Rice, Nuzum, and Garcia. Councilmember Warner seconded the motion. The Mayor declared Councilmembers Rice, Nuzum, and Garcia excused by voice vote of council. IN RE: OPENING CEREMONIES Mayor Bolyard led a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag led by Councilmember Moran. 1 IN RE: FAIRMONT CATHOLIC BASKETBALL Mayor Bolyard welcomed coaches and players from Fairmont Catholic School to honor both the boys and the girls teams for winning the Mason-Dixon Basketball Tournament. This was the first time in the over 100 years that the school has functioned that the boys’ and the girls’ teams both won this championship in the same season. The coaches introduced each of their players and thanked council for the recognition. IN RE: SOCIAL WORK AWARENESS MONTH Mayor Bolyard read a proclamation for Social Work Awareness Month, recognizing all the work that social workers continue to do to better the communities around the country and in West Virginia. APPROVAL OF MINUTES IN RE: MINUTES FOR THE FEBRUARY 27, 2024 REGULAR SESSION Mayor Bolyard noted that each member of Council had received a copy of the minutes from Regular Meeting held on February 27, 2024. She asked if there were any corrections, deletions, or amendments to be made to the minutes. Councilmember Warner moved to approve the minutes for the February 27, 2024, Regular Meeting as submitted. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Deasy. The Mayor declared the minutes approved as submitted by voice vote of Council. PUBLIC HEARINGS IN RE: A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE CITY OF FAIRMONT'S FISCAL YEAR 2024-2025 CITY BUDGETS: GENERAL FUND AND COAL SEVERANCE Pursuant to a notice duly published in the Times West Virginian on March 1, 2024, and March 8, 2024, a public hearing was convened to obtain citizen input on the 2024-2025 City Budget. 2 The mayor asked if there was anyone present to speak in favor of the proposed ordinance. PRISCILLA HAMILTON, Director of Finance, spoke in favor of the budget. She walked council through the process that lead to this point and looked ahead at the work that still needs to be done to meet the deadlines set by the state. She thanked Council for their assistance on this matter. JANET KELLER, Interim City Manager, also spoke in favor of the budget. She reiterated the importance of passing this resolution at this meeting in order to meet the timeline and deadlines set by the state. She thanked Mrs. Hamilton for her hard work on the budget. Mayor Bolyard asked if there was anyone present to speak against the budget. Being none, she asked if Council had any comments. Councilmember Deasy thanked City Staff, and specifically Mrs. Keller and Mrs. Hamilton, for all the work done to get this budget prepared. Councilmembers Moran and McDaniel echoed her thoughts, commenting that the work sessions were helpful in understanding the process and what needed to be changed and addressed. There being no one else to speak, the public hearing was called to a close at 7:16 p.m. ANNOUNCEMENTS IN RE: CONGRATULATIONS TO LOCAL THREATRE STUDENTS Councilmember Moran congratulated the cast of Fairmont State University Academy for the Arts’ upcoming production of Newsies Jr., saying she’s excited to see the show in May. She also congratulated Fairmont Senior High School and North Marion High School’s theatre troupes on the invitations to the state competition and wished them the best at the adjudications. IN RE: CONGRATULATIONS TO COACH BECKMAN Councilmember Moran congratulated Coach Beckman of East Fairmont High School for winning the title of Coach of the Year from the High School Coaches Association. 3 IN RE: FAIRMONT STATE UNIVERSITY WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Councilmember Moran congratulated the Fairmont State University’s Women’s Basketball team for winning the Mountain East Conference Championship. IN RE: FAMILY RESOURCE NETWORK MEET AND GREET Councilmember Moran mentioned a meet-and-greet being hosted by the Marion County Family Resource Network at its new location in the old City Center building on Fairmont Avenue on March 14th, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. IN RE: SUBSTITUTE BUS DRIVER Councilmember Deasy invited anyone interested that Marion County Schools is hiring substitute bus drivers. IN RE: SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS Councilmember Sole gave several shoutouts to the various sports teams around the county for recent accomplishments. All three boys high school basketball teams are headed for the state tournament and two champions from the county in high school wrestling. IN RE: UTILITY WORKERS Councilmember McDaniel gave a shoutout to the City of Fairmont Utility Workers for their work on Peacock Lane, finishing a sensitive repair with little in the way of invasive measures having to be taken. IN RE: LIEUTENANT MURRAY CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF SERVICE Mayor Bolyard congratulated Fairmont Police Department Lieutenant Murray for his 20th anniversary of serving with the City. CITIZENS PETITIONS IN RE: JO HARRY DRIVE CONCERNS JEFF BENARDZ, a resident of Jo Harry Drive, was joined by several other residents of the area to bring to Council their concerns over the parcel located at 1 Jo Harry Drive being zoned for commercial use. He and his neighbors voiced their concerns over the possibility of some high- traffic business or high-noise business being located directly next to their quiet 4 neighborhood. SHAE STRAIT, Director of Planning, said that there are limited avenues for correction that the Planning Department can do. Certain uses must be allowed without a full rezoning of the parcel. A full rezoning is also out of the question, as such a measure is not called for in the Comprehensive Plan adopted by the City. IN RE: WASHINGTON STREET LLOYD FERRELL, a resident at 836 Washington Street, spoke to council about the neglect of Washington Street near his property. He claims that the street sweeper never arrives, the road is neglected and the power company won’t even come out to change a street light because the road is condemned. CITY MANAGER’S REPORT The Interim City Manager gave her time to the Director of Planning to present the report from the Property Disposition Ad-Hoc Committee. IN RE AD-HOC COMMITTEE REPORT Mr. Strait presented the full report from the committee to council and spoke in detail about the group’s process and what the recommendation to council is. The report lays out the next steps it is recommended that council take to ease the process of selling city-owned property to interest parties. City Attorney Kevin Sansalone told Council that to implement the plan will likely take several acts of Council and may require previous ordinances on the subject be repealed. Council thanked the committee for its work on the report and the Mayor noted that each of the Councilmembers will review the report and act accordingly. CONSIDERATION OF COUNCIL BUSINESS IN RE: A RESOLUTION APPROVING THE CITY OF FAIRMONT'S FISCAL YEAR 2024-2025 CITY BUDGETS: GENERAL FUND AND COAL SEVERANCE The Interim City Clerk read the proposed resolution by synopsis for the first time. 5 Mayor Bolyard entertained a motion for the adoption of a resolution to approve the 2024-2025 Budget for the City of Fairmont. Motion: Councilmember McDaniel moved for the adoption of the proposed resolution. Councilmember Warner seconded the motion. Roll call was taken by the Clerk. The Mayor declared the resolution adopted by unanimous vote of Council. ADJOURNMENT The Mayor entertained a motion for adjournment Motion: Councilmember Warner moved at 7:56 p.m. to adjourn this meeting to Tuesday, April 16, 2024, at 4:30 p.m. in order to approve the Levy Rates. The motion was seconded by Councilmember McDaniel. The Mayor declared this meeting adjourned until 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 16, 2024 by unanimous vote of Council. 6