City Council

February 11 , 2025 The regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Fairmont was held at 7:00 p.m. on the 11th day of February, 2025, 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. Rice Second District Anne E. Bolyard Third District Rebecca Moran Fourth District Anthony T. Horton Fifth District Charles “Chuck” Warner Sixth District Daniel “Dan” Weber Seventh District Julia “Julie” Sole Eighth District Bruce McDaniel Ninth District Kandice “Kandi” Nuzum Also present were: City Manager Travis L. Blosser City Clerk Janet L. Keller City Attorney Kevin V. Sansalone Director of Planning Shae Strait IN RE: OPENING CEREMONIES Rev. Tony Jones with Morningstar Baptist Church gave the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag led by Councilmember Moran. IN RE: STATEMENT ON BLACK HISTORY MONTH The Mayor publicly read a statement highlighting the importance of Black History 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 January 28, 2025. She asked if there were any corrections, deletions, or amendments. Councilmember Rice moved to approve the January 28, 2025 Regular Meeting minutes as submitted. The motion was seconded by Councilmember McDaniel. 1 The Mayor declared the minutes approved as submitted by voice vote of Council. PUBLIC HEARING S IN RE: AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE PUBLIC AUCTION OF SURPLUS PERSONAL PROPERTY OF THE CITY OF FAIRMONT; RESERVATION OF RIGHTS Pursuant to a notice duly published in the Times-West Virginian on January 31, 2025, a public hearing was convened to obtain citizen input on an ordinance providing for the public auction of surplus personal property of the City of Fairmont. 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 7:05 p.m. ANNOUNCEMENTS IN RE: RANDY HINES – NAMED EXTRA MILE HERO Councilmember Rice read a thank you card from Randy Hines who was recently nominated by Mayor Bolyard and received public recognition as an Extra Mile Hero. Mayor Bolyard mentioned Council’s deepest appreciation to Randy Hines and said in nominating him, there was not enough space on the form to highlight and celebrate all that he does for the City and his community. CITIZENS PETITIONS There were no petitions for this meeting. CITY MANAGER ’S REPORT IN RE: BUDGET MEETINGS Mr. Blosser thanked Council for attending the Budget work sessions last week. He reminded City Council of the next steps. He said that there will be a public hearing with a resolution to adopt the budget on the March 11th agenda. He mentioned that a copy of the budget and his budget message is available at City Hall for public inspection for anyone who would so choose to visit City Hall during normal business hours to inspect that document. IN RE: DOH MEETING UPDATE The City Manager highlighted a discussion he had with the WV DOH at a meeting last week. He said that the Gateway Connector, there are certain sections of that, there was a discussion about skip patching. He noted that there are sections of lanes of that road 2 that are not just going to be skipped patched, they are going to have to skip patch the entire lane. The new DOH district manager said that they have a paving machine and additional milling equipment to mill those lanes. He said that work is going to happen and he will stay in touch with them. The Connector is slated for paving in FY27, however, that is not feasible given its current condition so we are going back and forth with them over some potential solutions of our involvement as the City with them. Mr. Blosser also shared that paving of all of the downtown streets are still on schedule to be paved this summer. He noted that there is some stormwater work that will probably start happening when spring breaks in order to do the stormwater work before paving starts. He said that he wants to make sure that the water is getting where it needs to but we also do not want any delays to that asphalt pavement. He said whatever we need to do to work with the State, we will do. The Manager mentioned that on an upcoming Council agenda, there will be an item to ratify working with the WV DOH on a larger maintenance agreement around several different items within the City with regard to their roadways in which we can partner with them to deliver better services to our constituents. IN RE: TWO AGENDA ITEMS Mr. Blosser said that there is a resolution on tonight’s agenda adopting the Goals, Objectives, and Priorities, the 5-year Strategic Plan. He noted that he adjusted that plan based on feedback from that work session and from feedback that Council delivered to him after the work session. He explained that another agenda item is for the introduction of an ordinance when folks are going to municipal court and are not responsive and we are sending out notifications to them through certified mail, the cost continues to increase with that and this ordinance allows for that to be processed as part of their court costs that they would have to pay for the reimbursement of that mailing. He noted that any law-abiding citizen will not be charged this fee only when it reaches those stages where we are sending out certified mail notifications, it is when this would be triggered. CONSIDERATION OF COUNCIL BUSINESS IN RE: ADOPTION, AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE PUBLIC AUCTION OF SURPLUS PERSONAL PROPETY OF THE CITY OF FAIRMONT; RESERVATION OF RIGHTS The City Clerk read the proposed ordinance by title. Mayor Bolyard entertained a motion for the adoption of an ordinance providing for the public auction of surplus personal property of the City of Fairmont. Motion: 3 Councilmember Warner 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. 2062 was duly adopted. IN RE: INTRODUCTION, FIRST READING, SET PUBLIC HEARING, AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FAIRMONT AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENTING CHAPTER NINE – JUDICIAL, ARTICLE 189 MUNICIPAL COURT OF THE FAIRMONT CITY CODE TO IMPLEMENT AND PROVIDE FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF ACTUAL COSTS TO REIMBURSE THE CITY OF FAIRMONT FOR CERTIFIED MAIL SERVICE RELATING TO THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE PROVISIONS OF THE CODIFIED ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF FAIRMONT 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 assessment of actual costs to reimburse the City of Fairmont for certified mail service. Motion: Councilmember Nuzum moved for the introduction of the proposed ordinance. Councilmember Warner seconded the motion. Discussion: Councilmember Weber asked how much does it cost for a citizen to be in court and what are those costs. KEVIN SANSALONE , City Attorney, stated that a DUI situation is the most and it is $177.00 in court costs because there are regional jail fees, teen court fees, and other fees that have been mandated by the WV Supreme Court of Appeals and other statutes and ordinances of the City of Fairmont. He said that for parking violations, there are no costs, just the $20.00 penalty that is established by the Code for non-payment if you let the ticket go more than 30 days. He stated that is what this is for because the Clerk has to send the notice to the person who failed to pay the parking ticket, certified mail notice to come to court so the penalty is all eaten up by the certified mail costs and the City only realizes $2.44 of that $20.00 penalty. He added that the driving force behind this ordinance was the fact that there was no assessment of costs related to parking meter violations. Mr. Sansalone went on to say that this will allow the same in Code Enforcement cases which also require notice by certified mail return receipt for the City to be able to re-coup the $17.56. The Mayor declared the public hearing set for February 25, 2025. 4 IN RE: ADOPTION, A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FAIRMONT APPROVING THE GOALS, OBJECTIVES AND PRIORITIES DATED FEBRUARY 2025 The Clerk read the proposed resolution by synopsis. Mayor Bolyard entertained a motion for the adoption of a resolution approving the Goals, Objectives and Priorities dated February 2025. Councilmember Sole moved for the adoption of the proposed resolution. Councilmember Nuzum 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 to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Rice. The Mayor declared the meeting adjourned by voice vote of Council at 7:19 p.m. 5