City Council

November 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 November, 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 Sixth District Gia Deasy Seventh District Julia (Julie) Sole Eighth District Bruce McDaniel Ninth District Kandice (Kandi) Nuzum Absent: Fifth District Charles (Chuck) Warner 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 IN RE: OPENING CEREMONIES City Clerk Janet Keller gave the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag led by Councilmember Garcia. IN RE: SPECIAL PRESENTATION Mayor Bolyard, City Manager Travis Blosser, City Clerk Janet Keller, City Attorney Kevin Sansalone, and each member of Council presented six-year-old, Mila Floyd, with 21 Squishmallows, a plush stuffed toy, for her drive. She has collected 400 of the toys in the last two months as part of a donation drive to deliver the stuffies to children in need at hospitals in the area. Mayor Bolyard also presented Mila with a proclamation regarding her drive of giving, caring, and helping others. 1  APPROVAL OF MINUTES Mayor Bolyard noted that each member of Council had received a copy of the minutes from the Regular Meeting held on October 22, 2024. She asked if there were any corrections, deletions, or amendments. Councilmember Rice moved to approve the minutes as submitted. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Nuzum. The Mayor declared the minutes approved as submitted by voice vote of Council. PUBLIC HEARING S No public hearings were scheduled for this meeting. ANNOUNCEMENTS IN RE: SQUISHMALLOW PRESENTATION Councilmember Rice told Mila Floyd, to be six years old and to start volunteering at such a young age, that is something that we should be doing at our age and for her to do something like that at such a young age, it is fantastic. Councilmember Nuzum thanked Mila for attending the meeting and also thanked her parents because she has had some good raising. Mayor Bolyard announced that Mila is an amazing leader at six years old and this made a huge difference to patients at WVU Medicine Children’s as well as other hospitals. She said that she was excited to see what she will do next and that she is changing the world now and for future generations. IN RE: EAST FAIRMONT HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS SOCCER TEAM Councilmember Moran congratulated the East Fairmont High School soccer team for winning the state championship. Mayor Bolyard also extended her congratulations to the East Fairmont High School girls’ soccer. There will be a small parade on the East Side on Wednesday, November 13th, for all fall sports and celebrating the student athletes at East Fairmont, starting at 6:00 p.m. IN RE: THANK YOU TO PARADE VOLUNTEERS Councilmember Moran thanked the volunteers and staff for helping to make the Veteran’s Day parade event go off smoothly. Councilmember Nuzum said the Veteran’s Day parade was very nice. She said that we should always honor the Veterans and not just one day a year. 2 IN RE: NEED OF FOOD DONATIONS Councilmember Nuzum reported that with the holidays coming up, the Soup Opera and Union Mission will need food, if anyone would like to donate. IN RE: CULTIVATE MEETING Councilmember Moran reported that Cultivate is meeting Wednesday, November 13th, at 5:30 p.m., at East Fairmont Middle School. She said that they will be talking about volunteerism. The Mayor stated that the Cultivate mini grants will be due by Friday, November 15th. IN RE: FSU STUDENT INTERN Mayor Bolyard expressed her appreciation to Gabrielle Ball, a FSU student, studying business and marketing and has been shadowing at the City today. CITIZENS PETITIONS There were no petitions for this meeting. CITY MANAGER ’S REPORT IN RE: HANNAH ’S STUDIOS RIBBON CUTTING Mr. Blosser said that he wanted to give a shout out to Hannah’s Studios for their ribbon cutting downtown on Adams Street. IN RE: 1ST ANNUAL FRANK-N-STEIN FESTIVAL The City Manager reported that the first annual Frank-N-Stein Beer Festival was held in downtown Fairmont on October 26th. He said that it was an extreme success with more than 700 attendees. He gave a shout out to the Marion County Chamber of Commerce and to Main Street Fairmont for their work on the festival. IN RE: CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS BEING INSTALLED Mr. Blosser announced that Public Works is busy decorating the community for Christmas. He said that over the next couple of weeks you will begin to see Christmas decorations going out on the majority of our decorative street lamp poles. IN RE: PARKING AUTHORITY MEETING HELD Mr. Blosser reported that he held a Parking Authority meeting and held some discussions around reviewing some of the downtown metered parking and looking at certain areas 3 with potential adjustments. IN RE: MERCHANT MCINTYRE & ASSOCIATES MEETING The City Manager announced that he has had a first round of project discussions with Merchant McIntyre & Associates, our Federal Advocacy Consultants in Washington, DC. He also mentioned that discussions will be held next week around some of the transitions with the incoming Trump White House as well as changes in Congress. He noted that he was appreciative of Merchant McIntyre’s relationships with both political parties in Washington, DC and we will begin working aggressively on securing funds from the different funding pods in Washington for priorities of City Council here back home. IN RE: NORWOOD PARK The Manager reported that you will be able to see significant work occurring at Norwood Park by our contractor, Green River Group. The project is proceeding on schedule with only a couple of minor issues related to a tree that will now have to be removed and a section of the parking area that will need some over excavation based on some bad fill. The area of bad fill has been identified as the area of the old Norwood School, leading our team to conclude that the fill is probably from the demolition of the school. IN RE: CITY CLERK COMMENDED Mr. Blosser gave a shout out to City Clerk Janet Keller for her work with the County Clerk’s Office during the election. He noted that it was the first time he attended going down to the Election Center and it was an experience to see how quickly the staff and folks move down there. He said that Janet volunteered and helped and recommended ways in which we can help the County more in this process. He also commended some employees from our Public Works Department who helped out with taking election equipment to precincts and bringing it back and helping at the Election Center that evening. He added that those employees are: Erin Parker, David Ford, Charles Bunner, David Sawyers, Matthew Gump, James Ashcraft, and Robert Gifford. He said that he appreciates all of those employees so very much for signing up and participating in helping the County with our election. IN RE: EVEREST DRIVE BRIDGE The Manager said that he had a meeting with the newly-selected engineering firm, HNTB, that is the firm designing the Everest Drive Bridge. He noted that it was the scope meeting and they will be moving quickly. The thing that reassured him in that process was DOH, at several different components, mentioned the need for speed with the engineering firm that the dollars associated with that bridge and several others in WV are part of the Infrastructure Act that was passed by Congress and there are deadlines to that funding in assuring that this bridge gets completed and designed and out to bid as quickly as possible. IN RE: THIRD STREET BRIDGE DECORATIVE LIGHTING 4 Mr. Blosser said regarding the decorative lighting issues on the newer Third Street Bridge, that is currently the responsibility of the WVDOH as we do not have a maintenance agreement on that section. They have ordered all of the equipment to do the improvements to those lights and fix the electrical issues associated with them. Once that is completed, we will move quickly to get the maintenance agreement completed. He went on to say that those will be the only decorative street lamp poles that will not receive Christmas decorations given how many of those lights are burned out. CONSIDERATION OF COUNCIL BUSINESS IN RE: INTRODUCTION, FIRST READING, SET PUBLIC HEARING, AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FAIRMONT PROVIDING FOR AND AUTHORIZING THE PURCHASE OF THOSE CERTAIN PARCELS OF REAL ESTATE SITUATE IN THE CITY OF FAIRMONT, MARION COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA, NAMELY: CERTIFICATION # DESCRIPTION ______ _ 246879 Pt Lt 69 McKinney & Billingslea St (Plat 60-498), Fairmont Fairmont Corp 201 Billingslea Street, Fairmont, WV 26554 247769 Blk 4 Lt 14 Courtland St Fairmont Union Corp 915 Courtland Street, Fairmont, WV 26554 247131 Lot Uzztown, Fairmont City TBD Williard Avenue, Fairmont, WV 26554 245547 9880 SQFT Beltline, Fairmont Fairmont Corp No Address 247744 2 Ft Strip Pt Lt 15 Riverside Add & Lt 12 Ogden Ave Fairmont Fairmont Corp 605 Ogden Avenue, Fairmont, WV 26554 246884 Block C Lot 58, Fairmont Fairmont Corp TBD Willard Avenue, Fairmont, WV 26554 247128 Blk 6 Lt 8 Cliff Avenue Fairmont City 325 Cliff Avenue, Fairmont, WV 26554 246878 Pt Lt 15 Field St Amos Subdiv (112-185) Fairmont Fairmont Corp 1221 Field Street, Fairmont, WV 26554 246874 Lt 139 Spruce Street, Fairmont Fairmont Corp 5  126 Spruce Street, Fairmont, WV 26554 246868 LS 37-38 Chew St (Plat 169-1) Fairmont Fairmont Corp 115 Chew Street, Fairmont, WV 26554 247774 Blk 3 Lt 9 & Pt Lt 8 Potomac Ave Fairmont Union Corp 610 Potomac Avenue, Fairmont, WV 26554 247754 LS 24 & 25 Ogden Ave, Fairmont Fairmont Corp 707 Ogden Avenue, Fairmont, WV 26554 BY THE CITY OF FAIRMONT FROM THE STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA AUDITOR AS A RESULT OF THE NON-PAYMENT OF THE REAL ESTATE TAXES, AND PROVIDING FOR AND AUTHORIZING THE CONVEYANCE AND TRANSFER OF SAID PARCEL(S) OF REAL ESTATE FROM THE CITY OF FAIRMONT TO SUBSEQUENT PURCHASER(S) IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CITY OF FAIRMONT'S APPROVED HOME RULE PLAN AND THE ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED THEREUNDER; RATIFICATION The City Clerk read the proposed ordinance by synopsis for the first time. Mayor Bolyard entertained a motion for the introduction of an ordinance authorizing the purchase of certain parcels of real estate by the City of Fairmont from the October State Tax Sale. Motion: Councilmember McDaniel moved for the introduction of the proposed ordinance. Councilmember Sole seconded the motion. The Mayor declared the public hearing set for November 26, 2024. IN RE: INTRODUCTION, FIRST READING, SET PUBLIC HEARING, AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL FOR THE CITY OF FAIRMONT PROVIDING FOR THE PUBLIC AUCTION OF SURPLUS REAL PROPERTY OF THE CITY OF FAIRMONT, SITUATE IN FAIRMONT CITY UNION DISTRICT, MARION COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA, BEING 916 MORGANTOWN AVENUE, FAIRMONT, IDENTIFIED AS PARCEL 12 OF MARION COUNTY 05-04, AND COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS THE FORMER EAST SIDE FIRE STATION; MINIMUM BID; RESERVATION OF RIGHTS The City Clerk read the proposed ordinance by synopsis for the first time. Mayor Bolyard entertained a motion for the introduction of an ordinance providing for the public auction of 916 Morgantown Avenue, commonly referred to as the former East Side 6 Fire Station. Motion: Councilmember Deasy moved for the introduction of the proposed ordinance. Councilmember McDaniel seconded the motion. The Mayor declared the public hearing set for December 10, 2024. IN RE: INTRODUCTION, FIRST READING, SET PUBLIC HEARING, AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL FOR THE CITY OF FAIRMONT AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING ARTICLE 920 STREET SWEEPING, AND STREET MAINTENANCE AND IMPROVEMENT AND POLICE PROTECTION CHARGES TO INCLUDE THE ESSENTIAL MUNICIPAL OR PUBLIC SERVICE OF REPAIRING, UPKEEPING, MAINTAINING, IMPROVING AND REPLACING SIDEWALKS ADJACENT TO PUBLIC STREETS AND ROADWAYS AS A USE FOR WHICH THE FUNDS, MONEYS, AND REVENUES RECEIVED THEREFROM MAY BE USED. The City Clerk read the proposed ordinance by synopsis for the first time. Mayor Bolyard entertained a motion for the introduction of an ordinance amending Article 920 Street Sweeping, Street Maintenance, and Police Protection Charges to include the public service of repairing, upkeeping, maintaining, improving, and replacing sidewalks adjacent to public streets. Motion: Councilmember McDaniel moved for the introduction of the proposed ordinance. Councilmember Deasy seconded the motion. The Mayor declared the public hearing set for December 10, 2024. ADJOURNMENT The Mayor entertained a motion for adjournment. Motion: Councilmember Nuzum moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Sole. The Mayor declared the meeting adjourned by voice vote of Council at 7:27 p.m. 7