City Council

October 14, 2025 The regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Fairmont was held at 7:00 p.m. on the 14th day of October, 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 Marketing Manager David A. Kirk IN RE: OPENING CEREMONIES Rev. Eric Hines gave the invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag led by Councilmember Moran. IN RE: PROCLAMATION – DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AWARENESS MONTH Mayor Bolyard presented a proclamation to two employees from Hope, Inc. and to two City of Fairmont police officers acknowledging October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. IN RE: PROCLAMATION – COMMUNITY P LANNING MONTH Mayor Bolyard presented a proclamation to Shae Strait, Director of Planning, in recognition of October being recognized as Community Planning Month. After receiving the proclamation, Mr. Strait recognized his professional staff in the Planning Department. 1  APPROVAL OF MINUTES IN RE: MINUTES FOR THE SEPTEMBER 23, 2025 MEETING Mayor Bolyard noted that each member of Council had received a copy of the minutes from the Regular Meeting held on September 23, 2025. She asked if there were any corrections, deletions, or amendments. Councilmember McDaniel moved to approve the September 23, 2025 Regular Meeting 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 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 September 26, 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. Councilmember McDaniel asked what happens if the property is not auctioned. Mr. Blosser replied that we continue to hold on to it until the next round of surplus. There being no one else to speak, the public hearing was called to a close at 7:12 p.m. ANNOUNCEMENTS IN RE: COMMUNITY IMPACT SESSION Councilmember Moran reported that she attended the Community Input Session for the Momentum Adventure Park. She noted that she appreciated everyone that took the time to come out to that meeting. IN RE: UNION MISION OPEN HOUSE Councilmember Moran announced that the Union Mission had an open house, and she got a tour of the Mission and heard about the work that they are doing there. IN RE: COMMUNITY CON VERSATION 2 Councilmember Moran stated that she is hosting another community conversation, this Saturday morning, October 18th, at 8:30 a.m. at Parkside. She note that they will talk about whatever people come in and want to hear about. IN RE: ARTICLE IN TIMES-WEST VIRGINIAN Councilmember Weber said that he has been a critic of the Times-West Virginian for many years. He said that last week an opinion from someone was published in the paper that he disagreed with. When someone writes a letter that we do not know if it is praiseworthy, critical, or satirical in relation to a fictional character in the comic books about Batman and difficult to understand whether or not it was praiseworthy or critical or satirical but since there is no author given in the newspaper, he thought the newspaper is at fault for that. He said that they need to make sure, before they publish something in the newspaper, that it is signed by the person who is writing the letter/opinion. He closed by saying that they need to apologize to our City Manager in regard to that opinion. IN RE: CITY EMPLOYEES COMMENDED Councilmember Sole commended and thanked all of our police, fire, and city staff persons who made sure that during the busy homecoming season that we pulled off three homecoming parades in one week. IN RE: FAIRMONT STATE UNIVERSITY ALUMNA AWARD Councilmember McDaniel acknowledged Councilmember Sole for receiving the Outstanding Alumna Award from Fairmont State University during Homecoming 2025. He noted that it was a testament to her service to the community and her ongoing love for Fairmont State. IN RE: 30 TH ANNUAL MUNICIPAL WEEK Mayor Bolyard announced that this week is the 30th annual Municipal Week. In the City of Fairmont, we have 198 employees both full-time and part-time and they are dedicated each and every day to improve our lives, keeping us safe, and strength our city and our community with the work that they do. She commended each employee for the work that they do for the City of Fairmont. CITIZENS PETITIONS There were no citizens petitions for this meeting. CITY MANAGER ’S REPORT Mr. Blosser reported the following updates on various projects:  Construction work is happening in downtown with the street paving project getting underway. A notice has been put out that the Jefferson Street Bridge coming from 3  the Connector will be shuttered, however, traffic will still be able to go down Jefferson Street and across the bridge. He said that this is in order to deal with the base repair of work that will happen on Jefferson Street which will be pretty significant, 20 inches below the surface to re-establish the base so when they lay new asphalt, it will hold up with the truck traffic that our streets now see. He noted that this work will go on until October 21st but could be shorter or longer.  Work is continuing on Adams and Madison Street. They have the first drain in, and the second drain is underway and should be completing the third drain soon.  The milling and paving related work will be the last component of this project. After they are done on Jefferson Street, they will be moving to Cleveland Avenue and that entire section of Cleveland Avenue will have its entire base replaced on that street.  The slip repair and storm drainage work on Fairmont Avenue is moving along very nicely. The City has completed its tie-in work on Beverly Road, and the remaining work is all DOH. He reported that they will not, at the moment, be moving further up the hill. That road should be opened in the next few weeks.  Regarding the City sidewalks, work is well underway. The crew is moving toward certain cleanup component pieces as well as work around fencing that will be going in different areas with walls to provide fall protection. The sidewalks on Adams Street between Jefferson Street and Madison will be poured over the next two days and then that work will be completed. We are adding a component of work on Adams Street which will be by the Veterans Plaza parking garage in order to deal with water intrusion in that intersection.  We will be working with the County to get this information out, but they are doing work on Jefferson Street by the pull-off area by the second-floor entrance at the Magistrate side of the J. Harper Meredith Building. Sidewalk work will increase around the J. Harper Meredith Building based on approval by the County Commission to fund the replacement of sidewalks up to and around the J. Harper Meredith Building while our contractor is here. He noted that work will happen after all of the work has been addressed on what will be around where asphalt paving is occurring. He mentioned that we are adding an ADA related sidewalk work on the Library campus for the Library in order to provide better ADA access to the bottom section of their floor. IN RE: SMALL BUSINESS NETWORK Mr. Blosser said that he had a meeting with the Small Business Network, and it was a very good conversation and received some great feedback about ways to improve some of our processes, in particular around business licensing. IN RE: COMMUNITY IMPACT SESSION 4 The Manager reported that there was incredible public engagement session around Momentum Adventure Park and the West Fork Rail Trail extension. He said that they had almost 50 folks in attendance and the feedback was incredible. He said that they plan to make the facility better even before it goes out to bid. IN RE: PODA DISTRICT Mr. Blosser said that last week, we rolled out the Friendly City Spirits District. He said our first PODA district during the Fairmont State Homecoming parade was a great time. He noted that parades will be amazing moving forward and there are two other entities that are moving forward with their application with the ABCA for the Friendly City Spirits District. IN RE: FEMA MEETINGS Mr. Blosser said that he will be having meetings with FEMA this week around the public assistance dollars that will be available to the City. He said that he will be hosting a meeting with them at the Water Filtration Plant Conference Room to go over different aspects of projects that the City has as well as reimbursement projects that we can move forward on based on the Father’s Day flash flood. IN RE: STREET LIGHTING The City Manager said that he has had several conversations with folks in the community around street lights. He said that we have been working with Mon Power regarding the outages. He explained that Mon Power is having issues with getting parts or bulbs to fix the existing framework that is there. He went on to say that other cities have established a program that would switch out as lights are burned out, that it would be replaced with a new LED fixture. We have been working with Mon Power to target a couple of areas and replace lights with the new LED lights. Four LED lights were installed on Cleveland Avenue past the old Dunbar School, one LED light was placed at 9th Street and Sylvan Avenue in a residential neighborhood, and a new light was placed in front of Fox’s Pizza on Fairmont Avenue. Based on what we have seen so far, we will begin moving forward with a program with Mon Power and as we put in street light outages, we will be seeing those new LED fixtures installed. Mr. Blosser also mentioned that several of our bridges or other lights that are maintained by the WV DOH, we are working with a partnership with the DOH that would allow us to perform maintenance related work to those lights. CONSIDERATION OF COUNCIL BUSINESS IN RE: ADOPTION, AN ORDINANCE PROVIDING FOR THE PUBLIC AUCTION OF SURPLUS PERSONAL PROPERTY OF THE CITY OF FAIRMONT; RESERVATION OF RIGHTS. The City Clerk read the proposed ordinance by title. 5 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: Councilmember Weber moved for the adoption of the proposed ordinance. Councilmember Warner 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. 2084 was duly adopted. IN RE: INTRODUCTION, FIRST READING, SET PUBLIC HEARING, AN ORDINANCE APPROVING THAT CERTAIN INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT FOR COOPERATIVE FIRE, RESCUE, EMS, SPECIAL OPERATIONS, AND EMERGENCY/DISASTER RELIEF RESPONSE THROUGH MUTUAL AID AND AUTOMATIC AID BY AND BETWEEN MARION COUNTY VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENTS, THE CITY OF FAIRMONT, MARION COUNTY HOMELAND SECURITY, AND 911, TOGETHER WITH THE ADDENDUM DATED ______________, 2025. The City Clerk read the proposed ordinance by synopsis for the first time. Mayor Bolyard entertained a motion for the introduction of an ordinance approving the Interlocal Agreement for mutual aid by and between Marion County Volunteer Fire Departments. Motion: Councilmember Weber moved for the introduction of the proposed ordinance. Councilmember Sole seconded the motion. The Mayor declared the public hearing set for October 28, 2025. 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, etc. Motion: Councilmember McDaniel moved to adjourn to Executive Session. The motion was seconded by Councilmember Weber. 6 The Mayor declared the meeting adjourned to Executive Session by voice vote of Council at 7:33 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 8:11 p.m. ADJOURNMENT The Mayor entertained a motion for adjournment. Motion: Councilmember Rice moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Councilmember McDaniel. The Mayor declared the meeting adjourned by voice vote of Council at 8:12 p.m. 7