City Council

September 10, 2 024 The regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Fairmont was held at 7:00 p.m. on the 10th day of September, 2024, at the Public Safety Building located at 500 Quincy Street in Fairmont, West Virginia. Mayor Bolyard called the meeting to order. Roll call of members was taken by the City Clerk. Councilmembers present were: Second District Anne E. Bolyard Third District Rebecca Moran Fourth District Richard (Rick) Garcia Fifth District Charles (Chuck) Warner Sixth District Gia Deasy Seventh District Julia (Julie) Sole Eighth District Bruce McDaniel Ninth District Kandice (Kandi) Nuzum Absent: First District Joshua D. (Josh) Rice Also present were: City Manager Travis L. Blosser City Attorney Kevin V. Sansalone City Clerk Janet L. Keller Communications Manager David Kirk IN RE: EXCUSE COUNCILMEMBER RICE Mayor Bolyard entertained a motion to excuse Councilmember Rice from this meeting. Motion: Councilmember Garcia moved to excuse Councilmember Rice. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Warner. The Mayor declared Councilmember Rice excused from this meeting by voice vote of Council. IN RE: OPENING CEREMONIES Dr. Mark Staples gave the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag led 1 by Councilmember Deasy. IN RE: PROCLAMATION PRESENTED Mayor Bolyard read and presented a proclamation to Nile Peaytt in recognition of September being recognized as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Mayor Bolyard noted that each member of Council had received a copy of the minutes from the Regular Meeting held on August 27, 2024. She asked if there were any corrections, deletions, or amendments. Councilmember Deasy 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 HEARING S IN RE: AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL FOR THE CITY OF FAIRMONT AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING CHAPTER FIVE OFFICERS AND DEPARTMENTS, ARTICLE 143 DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE, SECTION 143.05 REPRODUCTION FEES, TO PROVIDE FOR AND CREATE A FEE OR CHARGE FOR THE PRODUCTION AND/OR REPRODUCTION OF AUTOMOBILE CRASH/TRAFFIC ACCIDENT REPORTS Pursuant to a notice duly published in the Times-West Virginian on August 30, 2024, a public hearing was convened to obtain citizen input on an ordinance amending Article 143.05 to provide for and create a fee or charge for the production and/or reproduction of automobile crash/traffic accident reports. The Mayor asked if anyone present desired to speak to the proposed ordinance. Mr. Blosser spoke in favor of the proposed ordinance. He said that he followed up with Chief Shine after Councilmember Moran’s question from the last meeting and he wanted to clarify the charge. He said that currently individuals who come into the station to get a police report are paying $10.00 and people who are doing it online are paying $20.00. We are moving everything to one like some of the other larger municipalities because of the resources they will provide to law enforcement as well as the report generated to it. The way their process works is that it can only be one fee because their system cannot recognize two different fee layouts. That is why we went with the $20.00 and kept it at that. Technically, parties have already been paying to get a police report, the only difference would be individuals coming in to pick up a report would be $20.00 now rather than the original $10.00 that it has been. There being no one else to speak, the public hearing was called to a close at 7:09 p.m. 2  ANNOUNCEMENTS IN RE: FRN RIBBON CUTTING Councilmember Moran made a reminder of the FRN ribbon cutting on Friday, September 20th at noon. IN RE: CULTIVATE WORKSHOP Councilmember Moran reported that Cultivate Workshop is this week, September 12th at 5:30 p.m. at the FRN and they will be talking about how to apply for a mini-grant. IN RE: VEGGIE DROP Councilmember Moran also mentioned that there will be a Veggie Drop on September 12th. Connecting Link is coordinating that and they expect vegetables to arrive at 2:30 p.m. at the Board of Education Building. IN RE: THANK YOU TO CITY MANAGER AND DEPARTMENTS Councilmember Garcia thanked the City Manager and staff for cutting the weeds on the bank in Bellview. He also mentioned that the Water Department took care of a water leak in Bellview. Councilmember McDaniel gave a shout out to the folks in our Utility Department for repairing the main 16-inch line break on the East Side. He called the City Manager and within the matter of an hour or two, pressure was back to normal and they were working on the leak. He said good work. Mayor Bolyard gave her appreciation to everyone involved, especially David Kirk, Communication Manager, and others for planning the ground breaking at Norwood Park last week. She noted that it was truly a beautiful day and said thank you to everyone that made that happen. IN RE: MARION COUNT Y PUBLIC LIBRARY FOUNDATION EVENT Councilmember Sole reported that they had a very nice inaugural event for the Marion County Public Library Foundation prior to the Council meeting this evening. She said that they are doing great things there and we are very fortunate to have the public library that is in our community. IN RE: NEED FOR POLL WORKERS Councilmember Nuzum mentioned that there is a need for poll workers. If anyone would like to be a poll worker, please contact the Marion County Clerk’s Office, and let them know. She noted that they pay $200.00 for the day. She noted that she will be making 3 this announcement until the election takes place. CITIZENS PETITIONS IN RE: WINDMILL PARK BENNIE AND ELISE KYLE, 139 Bourbon Street, addressed Council regarding the playground equipment at Windmill Park. He previously brought complaints to Council at the August 13th Council meeting regarding the park. He criticized Council for not having the playground equipment ready for the children to use over the summer. He also brought a list of suggestions for Council to consider adopting for the management of the park. CITY MANAGER ’S REPORT IN RE: SAFETY ACTION PLAN GRANT Mr. Blosser announced that the City of Fairmont was awarded $200,620.00 through the U.S. Department of Transportation to develop a city-wide safety action plan. This funding is part of the DOT’s Safe Streets and Roads for All Planning and Demonstration Grants. The DOT announced 284 awardees across the United States and the City of Fairmont was the only planning and demonstration awardee in the state of West Virginia and was awarded the full amount requested. He presented Council with a map of the Beltline area and stated that the “red area” that is circled, one of the things of this report was looking at potential changes in that neighborhood as it relates to the traffic flow and to provide better safety. He included a press release as well as a copy of that map just so Council could see the affected area that those grant dollars would be utilized to allow us to test run potential changes for safety. He went on to say that they heard from the residents and from the school system and others regarding the proposed changes. Once the action plan is completed, the City will be eligible for an implementation grant from the SS4A program, which will turn the action plan into a reality. IN RE: CURB CUTS The City Manager reported that work has begun on the downtown 88 curb cuts and ramps so certainly traffic has been backed up. They are prepping those in order to begin laying the concrete and that is a requirement for the State in order to potentially move forward with street paving, which is scheduled to take place in the summer of 2025. IN RE: ENGINEERING FIRM Mr. Blosser announced that the selection of the engineering firm for our various projects, when we talk about sidewalk improvements, park improvements, street improvements, trail improvements, all of those pieces were part of getting that engineer of record on board to start working on these projects. One of the first things that they will be assigned is to target replacement of sidewalks in the downtown core where that street paving will occur so we can try to get a head of that work that the DOH will be doing and repair any sidewalks that will need to be repaired in the downtown. They will also be looking at other 4 areas like East Park Avenue that is slated to be paved as well and the potential for us to design that and then submit for state funding to be done at the same time street paving happens there. IN RE: NORWOOD PARK GROUND BREAKING The City Manager also expressed his thanks to David Kirk for the Norwood Park ground breaking and for successfully delivering an incredible event. It was the first ground breaking that the City of Fairmont has had for a very long time and David knocked it out of the park. IN RE: WINDMILL PARK UPDATE Mr. Blosser said that Mr. Kyle has a mission and what that mission is, we do not fully know. He said that our staff is making incredible strides at the park. He went on to say that we did not hire a contractor and pay $15,000 to have someone come in to install the playground equipment. We were able to re-juggle some things and worked to get additional information that we did not have prior on the park equipment. That park equipment is now installed. Our crews did that within one week’s timeframe and had all of that equipment installed. They are now laying the concrete to fasten all of that stuff into place. He then reported that we have two planned days, September 16th and September 30th, from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m., that will be staff give back days for City of Fairmont staff. We also encourage members of the public if they would like to join and participate and be part of the solution with us on those dates as well. Mr. Blosser said that regarding the one citizen engagement session that happened at Windmill Park, he wanted to update Council on some of those items. Some of the items that were part of the improvement were the following:  Concrete corn hole boards. This will certainly help to provide the opportunity that the constituents would not have to bring their own corn hole boards every time.  New mulch for the swing sets as well as swing set pads to keep the mulch from moving.  Planning a new pavilion that would be constructed over the concrete corn hole boards. Rain or shine they would be able to play.  The community also requested camaras because of the vandalism at the park.  New water fountains have been ordered.  Constituents said that they would like to see the old basketball courts turned in to pickle ball courts. Pickle ball has become a pretty significant sport so these would be the first pickle ball courts to be installed in the city limits.  New grills which will be ADA complaint.  New fencing for the pickle ball courts  Upgrading all of the trash cans  We will be placing a bid out for the other two softball fields to receive improvements to those fields. The Manager noted that these are just the improvements through the ARPA standpoints 5 and staff has been working on some of the longer-term requests. He added that a splash pad was requested by some of the residents, however, that will be significantly more costly that we will not be able to accomplish with ARPA Funds but we will take that feedback and look at making future and additional park improvements. IN RE: HELICOPTER AT EAST MARION PARK Mr. Blosser said that the Huey Helicopter that is displayed at the East Park Marion Park, the original crew of that helicopter, that flew missions during the Vietnam War, will be in town on September 15th from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. for a special book signing event. He stated that the event will be held at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at the East Marion Park. The public is invited to attend. IN RE: BARBER ACADEMY GRAND OPENING The City Manager reported that the New Generation Barber Academy had their ribbon cutting this week. He thanked them for increasing their participation in the community. CONSIDERATION OF COUNCIL BUSINESS IN RE: ADOPTION, AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL FOR THE CITY OF FAIRMONT AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING CHAPTER FIVE OFFICERS AND DEPARTMENTS, ARTICLE 143 DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE, SECTION 143.05 REPRODUCTION FEES, TO PROVIDE FOR AND CREATE A FEE OR CHARGE FOR THE PRODUCTION AND/OR REPRODUCTION OF AUTOMOBILE CRASH/TRAFFIC ACCIDENT REPORTS The City Clerk read the proposed ordinance by title. Mayor Bolyard entertained a motion for the adoption of an ordinance amending Article 143.05 to provide for and create a fee or charge for the production and/or reproduction of automobile crash/traffic accident reports. Motion: Councilmember Warner moved for the adoption of the proposed ordinance. Councilmember McDaniel seconded the motion. 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. 2052 was duly adopted. IN RE: INTRODUCTION, FIRST READING, SET PUBLIC HEARING, AN ORDINANCE TO APPROVE AND ADOPT CURRENT REPLACEMENT PAGES TO THE FAIRMONT CITY CODE 6 The City Clerk read the proposed ordinance by synopsis for the first time. Mayor Bolyard entertained a motion for the introduction of an ordinance to approve the current replacement pages to the Fairmont City Code for July, 2024. Motion: Councilmember Deasy moved for the introduction of the proposed ordinance. Councilmember McDaniel seconded the motion. Discussion: Mr. Blosser thanked Janet Keller, City Clerk, for staying on top of keeping our Code Book updated. The Mayor declared the public hearing set for September 24, 2024. IN RE: ADOPTION, A RESOLUTION TO RESCHEDULE THE REGULAR CITY COUNCIL MEETING OF TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2024 TO TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2024 AS PER SECTION 1.3 OF COUNCIL ’S RULES OF ORDER AND PROCEDURE. The City Clerk read the proposed resolution by synopsis for the first time. Mayor Bolyard entertained a motion for the adoption of a resolution to reschedule the Tuesday, December 24, 2024 Council meeting to Tuesday, December 17, 2024. Motion: Councilmember Sole moved for the adoption of the proposed resolution. Councilmember Deasy seconded the motion. Roll call was taken by the Clerk. The Mayor declared the resolution adopted by unanimous vote of Council. IN RE: ADOPTION, A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL FOR THE CITY OF FAIRMONT ENDORSING THE FRANK-N-STEIN CRAFT BEER AND HOT DOG FESTIVAL SPONSORED BY THE MARION COUNTY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE TO BE HELD IN THE CITY OF FAIRMONT ’S DOWNTOWN HISTORIC DISTRICT ON SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2024. The City Clerk read the proposed resolution by synopsis for the first time. Mayor Bolyard entertained a motion for the adoption of a resolution endorsing the Frank-N-Stein Craft Beer and Hot Dog Festival sponsored by the Marion County Chamber of Commerce on October 26, 2024. 7 Motion: Councilmember McDaniel moved for the adoption of the proposed resolution. Councilmember Sole seconded the motion. Roll call was taken by the Clerk. The Mayor declared the resolution adopted by unanimous vote of Council. IN RE: ONE RE-APPOINTMENT, FAIRMONT PLANNING COMMISSION, THREE-YEAR TERM TO END SEPTEMBER 17, 2027. Mayor Bolyard entertained a motion for one re-appointment to the Fairmont Planning Commission for a three-year term ending September 17, 2027. Motion: Councilmember Deasy moved to re-appoint Mike Jura to the Fairmont Planning Commission for a three-year term ending September 17, 2027. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Nuzum. The Mayor declared Mike Jura re-appointed to the Fairmont Planning Commission for a three-year term ending September 17, 2027 by unanimous vote of Council. IN RE: ONE APPOINTMENT, FAIRMONT PLANNING COMMISSION, THREE- YEAR TERM TO END SEPTEMBER 17, 2027. Mayor Bolyard entertained a motion for one appointment to the Fairmont Planning Commission for a three-year term ending September 17, 2027. Motion: Councilmember Sole moved to appoint Hanna Turner to the Fairmont Planning Commission for a three-year term ending September 17, 2027. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Deasy. The Mayor declared Hanna Turner appointed to the Fairmont Planning Commission for a three-year term ending September 17, 2027 by unanimous vote of Council. IN RE: ONE ALTERNATE APPOINTMENT, BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS, UNEXPIRED TERM TO END JUNE 25, 2027. Mayor Bolyard entertained a motion for one alternate appointment to the Board of Zoning Appeals for a three-year term ending June 25, 2027. Motion: 8 Councilmember Sole moved to appoint Ryan Majic to the Board of Zoning Appeals as an alternate for an unexpired term ending June 25, 2027. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Nuzum. The Mayor declared Ryan Majic appointed to the Board of Zoning Appeals as an alternate for an unexpired term ending June 25, 2027 by unanimous vote of Council. IN RE: ADJOURN TO EXECUTIVE SESSION Mayor Bolyard entertained a motion for Council adjourn to Executive Session as per WV Code §6-9A-4(b)(2)(A) and City Charter 2.11 (a)(1)A – to discuss pending litigation in Sears v. City of Fairmont. Motion: Councilmember McDaniel moved for Council to adjourn to Executive Session. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Moran. The Mayor declared the meeting adjourned to Executive Session by voice vote of Council at 7:40 p.m. She noted that no business will be conducted once the meeting is reconvened. IN RE: MEETING RECONVENED Mayor Bolyard declared the meeting reconvened at 8:10 p.m. ADJOURNMENT The Mayor entertained a motion for adjournment. Motion: Councilmember Nuzum moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilmember McDaniel. The Mayor declared the meeting adjourned by voice vote of Council at 8:11 p.m. 9