City Council

September 24, 2024 The regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Fairmont was held at 7:00 p.m. on the 24th 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: First District Joshua D. (Josh) Rice 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 Also present were: City Manager Travis L. Blosser City Attorney Kevin V. Sansalone City Clerk Janet L. Keller Communications Manager David Kirk Director of Planning Shae Strait SSB Secretary/Treasurer Lara VanFossen IN RE: OPENING CEREMONIES Dr. Mark Staples gave the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag led by Councilmember Rice. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Mayor Bolyard noted that each member of Council had received a copy of the minutes from the Regular Meeting held on September 10, 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. 1  PUBLIC HEARING S IN RE: AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL FOR THE CITY OF FAIRMONT AUTHORIZING, APPROVING AND PROVIDING FOR THE ACQUISITION, ESTABLISHMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF CERTAIN PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS, NAMELY: COAL RUN STRUCTURAL EVALUATION & REPAIR WORK BUFFALO CREEK LIFT STATION & FORCE MAIN REPLACEMENT CHLORINE ROOM (WWTP) STRUCTURAL EVALUATION & REPAIR WEST FORK LIFT STATION FORCE MAIN REPLACEMENT NEW CHLORINE BUILDING (WWTP) DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION TO BE FUNDED IN PART FROM THE CITY OF FAIRMONT ’S AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN (ARPA) FUNDS ALLOCATED FOR SUCH PURPOSES, AND PROVIDING THE CITY MANAGER OR HIS DESIGNEE WITH AUTHORITY TO DO ALL THINGS REASONABLE AND NECESSARY IN CONNECTION THEREWITH. Pursuant to a notice duly published in the Times-West Virginian on August 30, 2024 and September 6, 2024, a public hearing was convened to obtain citizen input on an ordinance authorizing the construction of certain public improvement projects to be funded from the City’s ARPA Funds allocated for such purposes. The Mayor asked if anyone present desired to speak to the proposed ordinance. LARA VANFOSSEN , Sanitary Sewer Board Secretary/Treasurer, spoke in favor of the proposed ordinance. She said that these improvement projects have been brought to the Board and to Council before and they were adopted at that time. She did a brief overview of each project and what it would include. She thanked Council for their continued support of the Sanitary Sewer Board and said they are looking forward to seeing these projects completed. There being no one else to speak, the public hearing was called to a close at 7:07 p.m. IN RE: AN ORDINANCE TO APPROVE AND ADOPT CURRENT REPLACEMENT PAGES TO THE FAIRMONT CITY CODE. Pursuant to a notice duly published in the Times-West Virginian on September 13, 2024, a public hearing was convened to obtain citizen input on an ordinance to approve and adopt current replacement pages to the City Code. The Mayor asked if anyone present desired to speak to the proposed ordinance. There being no one to speak, the public hearing was called to a close at 7:08 p.m. ANNOUNCEMENTS 2 IN RE: THANK YOU TO THE CITY MANAGER Councilmember Rice thanked the City Manager for fixing the flag poles along the Gateway Connector. He said 12 flags have been put up after the poles were fixed. IN RE: MARY LOU RETTON PARK Councilmember Rice reported that renovations are taking place at Mary Lou Retton Park. He mentioned that a ceremony will be held in the very near future after the renovations are completed. IN RE: CULTIVATE GRANT APPLICATIONS DUE Councilmember Moran announced that Cultivate Fairmont grant applications are open and the deadline on the grants is October 31st. The grant application is available on the Cultivate Fairmont’s webpage. These are for community members to do small projects to make Fairmont a better place. IN RE: STAFF GIVE BACK AT WINDMILL PARK Councilmember Garcia gave a shout out to all city employees that participated in the staff give back at Windmill Park on September 16th. He noted that another give back will take place on September 30th. IN RE: LOCAL HOMECOMINGS Councilmember Sole mentioned that two local homecomings will be coming up in the next couple of weeks. Fairmont Senior High School activities will be taking place this week with the parade and game on Friday with the dance on Saturday. The following week is full of activities with Fairmont State University. She noted that their parade will be on Thursday, awards ceremonies on Friday and then the game on Saturday. IN RE: WATER SURVEY SENT OUT Councilmember McDaniel announced that the City of Fairmont Water Utility sent out a survey about lead piping to all residents. It is part of the lead/copper rule from the EPA. All water utilities, especially our size, have to do an inventory and a questionnaire and that enables them to find out when your house was built, if you have copper pipes, or lead pipes, etc. He then encouraged everyone to answer the questions and return the survey to the Utility Department. IN RE: NEED FOR POLL WORKERS Councilmember Nuzum mentioned again this meeting 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. She noted that they pay $200.00 for the day. The last poll worker classes will be held on October 15th and the 16th with early voting to begin on October 23rd. 3  CITIZENS PETITIONS IN RE: FAIRMONT ARBOR APARTMENTS RACQUEL WARNER , a resident of the Fairmont Arbor Apartments, addressed Council concerning the condition of the apartment building in which he resides. She said that she has been bringing her concerns to Council since 2021 and her needs are not being considered. She told Council that they do not know what the tenants are going through and each time she comes to Council to complain about the building, they retaliate against her. She presented pictures to Council and stated that she even has videos if anyone would like to see them. Mayor Bolyard asked Ms. Warner to leave her phone number with the City Clerk so we can contact her to help connect her with those that can do something and listen to her concerns about the information that she has shared with Council. CITY MANAGER ’S REPORT IN RE: CITY STAFF GIVE BACK Mr. Blosser thanked city staff, including Fire, Planning, Inspections, and Utilities, for showing up for the first staff give back day at Windmill Park on Monday, September 16th. He noted that staff will be back there again on Monday, September 30th at 10:00 a.m. to finish painting and installing new mulch around the playground equipment. He added that other playground equipment will be installed, namely a new merry-go-round, in the old merry-go-round location. We received an order for new fully ADA compliant water fountains that will be installed in all municipal parks. IN RE: THANK YOU TO CENTRAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH The City Manager thank Central United Methodist Church for inviting him to speak at their “Young at Heart” meeting that they had this month. He was able to share with them, on behalf of City Council, all of the exciting things that we are doing and focused in on the more than $3 million worth of investments that we are making in our municipal park facilities this fiscal year alone. IN RE: ENGINEERING SERVICES Mr. Blosser announced that Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc. (CEC) was the selected firm for our comprehensive engineering services so we will begin working with them. He publicly thanked the three firms that interviewed, Thrasher, Alpha Architects and Engineers, along with CEC. They all gave great presentations and made it an extremely hard decision but ultimately, CEC came out on the top of that decision out of the three firms. We look forward to working with CEC, whether it goes from sidewalk improvements in the community as well as getting into our Parks Master Planning. 4 IN RE: WATER SURVEY Mr. Blosser also mentioned that it is extremely important that the public complete and send in the survey on the lead lines. He noted that it is a big deal while we do not have significant concerns over lead lines within the City of Fairmont, it is important for residents to complete this survey so that we can turn that data in and we can make sure that we are having an opportunity to go after funding, if we would need to in order to replace any issues that may be there with lead service lines. CONSIDERATION OF COUNCIL BUSINESS IN RE: ADOPTION, AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL FOR THE CITY OF FAIRMONT AUTHORIZING, APPROVING AND PROVIDING FOR THE ACQUISITION, ESTABLISHMENT AND CONSTRUCTION OF CERTAIN PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS, NAMELY: COAL RUN STRUCTURAL EVALUATION & REPAIR WORK BUFFALO CREEK LIFT STATION & FORCE MAIN REPLACEMENT CHLORINE ROOM (WWTP) STRUCTURAL EVALUATION & REPAIR WEST FORK LIFT STATION FORCE MAIN REPLACEMENT NEW CHLORINE BUILDING (WWTP) DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION TO BE FUNDED IN PART FROM THE CITY OF FAIRMONT ’S AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN (ARPA) FUNDS ALLOCATED FOR SUCH PURPOSES, AND PROVIDING THE CITY MANAGER OR HIS DESIGNEE WITH AUTHORITY TO DO ALL THINGS REASONABLE AND NECESSARY IN CONNECTION THEREWITH. The City Clerk read the proposed ordinance by title. Mayor Bolyard entertained a motion for the adoption of an ordinance authorizing the construction of certain public improvement projects to be funded from the City’s ARPA Funds allocated for such purposes. Motion: Councilmember Sole moved for the adoption of the proposed ordinance. Councilmember Deasy 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. 2053 was duly adopted. IN RE: ADOPTION, AN ORDINANCE TO APPROVE AND ADOPT CURRENT REPLACEMENT PAGES TO THE FAIRMONT CITY CODE. The City Clerk read the proposed ordinance by title. 5 Mayor Bolyard entertained a motion for the adoption of an ordinance to approve the current replacement pages to the Fairmont City Code for July, 2024. Motion: Councilmember McDaniel moved for the adoption of the proposed ordinance. Councilmember Sole 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. 2054 was duly adopted. IN RE: ONE RE-APPOINTMENT, FAIRMONT BUILDING COMMISSION, FIVE-YEAR TERM TO END OCTOBER 31, 2029 . Mayor Bolyard entertained a motion for one re-appointment to the Fairmont Building Commission for a five-year term ending October 31, 2029. Motion: Councilmember McDaniel moved to re-appoint Chris Parr to the Fairmont Building Commission for a five-year term ending October 31, 2029. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Nuzum. The Mayor declared Chris Parr re-appointed to the Fairmont Building Commission for a five-year term ending October 31, 2029 by unanimous vote of Council. IN RE: ADJOURN TO EXECUTIVE SESSION Mayor Bolyard entertained a motion for Council to adjourn to Executive Session pursuant to WV Code 6-9A-4(2)(9) and City Charter Section 2.11(a)(3) – To consider matters involved or affecting the purchase, sale, conveyance, or lease of real property. Motion: Councilmember Nuzum moved to adjourn to Executive Session. The motion was seconded by Councilmember McDaniel. The Mayor declared the meeting adjourned to Executive Session by voice vote of Council at 7:28 p.m. She announced that Council will not be discussing any additional business when the meeting is reconvened. IN RE: MEETING RECONVENED The Mayor declared the meeting reconvened at 7:44 p.m. 6  ADJOURNMENT The Mayor entertained a motion for adjournment. Motion: Councilmember McDaniel moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Sole. The Mayor declared the meeting adjourned by voice vote of Council at 7:45 p.m. 7