City Council - Regular Meeting

That's important.

The first item that we have this evening is our public forum. We have nine individuals that have signed up the first of which is Ethel Harris.

I'm Ethel Harrison. I live on 34th Street. I do make this a habit most of the time of coming to City Council. So I'm not first. A lot of people know me. If you don't know me, you should get to know me. So my concern is we talk about all these restrictions and the restrictions that you're going to have for the church. But it seems that... You know, you have a restriction for the e-bikes and e-scooters. Those don't seem to be working very well. As Chad was going down Grand Central chasing them, and they didn't really care. So I don't think your restrictions is working too good. That could be very dangerous. And so the next one would be that... back about a year and a half ago, it was brought up about the old buildings there, where LP sits. And we were told at the council meeting, we're going to make up some new ordinance and take care of that. So the landlord's gonna have to fix them. Well, now here we are, on into the second year, so nothing has been done again. So Really, don't tell us what you think we want to hear. Tell us what you're going to do and give us some action. So what really things? Why do you really think your restrictions on the church is going to work? The others haven't worked. And now, you're going to sell drinks at the Freedom Festival? I thought that was supposed to be family-oriented. But we're going to have kids down there running into these people that got booze in their hand, walking around. Is that how it's going to be? And what's that going to do to the other parks? Is that opening up the other parks, like when the bands at Spencer Park play music? Oh, I think I'll get me a case of brew and go up and sit down and drink and have a good old merry time. Is that going to be allowed? booze in all these other parks here in the city. So all I'm saying is, you know what? I don't care about one nice restaurant in Vienna. But that only opens up a door for all these other little joints to pop up. that's down there and it's not even legal because it's in residential and it was not changed back to business. So vape shops, gambling, drinking, let's go to Vegas. So I object to the alcohol, but I would like the people to see this is what Vienna used to look like. Beautiful little town. Mustard Deli. You remember that, don't you? Reggie. Mustard Valley. Chad, do you remember that? Well, of course I do. Yes, you do. I have my restaurant there, too. Then I think there was the one called Binky down the street or somewhere. Nope, same building. Huh? Same building, same family. Same building? Yeah. Okay. What a nice town. I know I'm getting old. I'm not reverting back. I just think we got to clean Vienna up and make it a family oriental little city again. And I object to the alcohol. Thank you.

Thank you. Kathy Boswell-Davis.

Kathy Boswell-Davis, 58th Street. I just want to say that I strongly disagree for the possibility of number two, three and four on unfinished business tonight on the agenda. I think it's a bad idea within walking distance of several churches. And it's just would be a bad thing for the city. We've got doctors and and lawyers coming here for a family friendly neighborhood and this would destroy it.

Thank you.

My name is Brian Leversee, and I'm a resident here in Vienna. I'm also the pastor at Fellowship Baptist Church on Rosemar. And I want to first of all just say that I'm your friend. I pray for you all regularly. I appreciate what you do. And as a friend, I've come tonight with specific concerns about the ordinance changes regarding alcohol in our community. I feel like I represent the voice of quite a few people in our community. Our church serves the community, operates within the community. I hear from a lot of people in our community. And the overwhelming sense that I get is that these concerns aren't just with me, but with a large number of people in the city of Vienna. I think there's a lot of people that are going to talk about their disdain for alcohol products coming into our city. I thought instead of that, I would just tell you a personal story about us moving to the area here almost six years ago now. We moved from Southern California and we came here as I was called the pastor of the church. And we just fell in love with the people here in Vienna. We fell in love with so many things that are so charming about the city. As we began to settle in, it was during COVID, so it was hard to kind of get around and settle in. But as we were driving through the area in general, that we were very curious about. They're called City Perks. And as we were driving around, actually my wife and I got very excited because we love coffee. And I thought, here's a city that's very passionate about coffee. This little ma and pa City Perk thing must be lighting it up because they're everywhere. And so I went into our staff meeting at church on a Monday morning. And I shared with the guys around our table, I said, you know what? We're getting to know the city. We love this place. I've decided that I'm going to go ahead and take my wife out on a date to one of the city perks tonight. And they all kind of chuckled and they didn't really say anything else to me except, yeah, you should really go and date. And they then revealed to me, oh, no, you probably don't want to do that. And they shared with me what it was. And I'm just telling you, having moved to the area, my heart broke just a little bit. And the reason why is because I think that we through ordinances have the opportunity to shape a story about the areas that we live in. I think we have the opportunity to share with others who might be visiting or moving to the area certain indicators that this would be a place you would want to raise a family that you would want to move into. And being a pastor, I know some of the ramifications of allowing things that tend to prey on people's vices, especially as I come to minister in the area and I know specific challenges that we deal with within this area, not foreign to other areas as well. But as I began to meet with people that had family members, people who themselves were struggling with gambling addiction, various other types of things, referencing these particular establishments, I realized that, man, the prevalence of these things, something must have slid somewhere. for this to take place. And I think this is where that starts. I think it's where we make abrupt decisions about ordinances that have protected certain aspects of our community for a long time because we think it's going to contribute to growth. However, all of the studies, all the indicators that I've read show that the possibility of that kind of nightlife opening up in an area does not contribute to the positive growth of the community. In fact, it vastly degrades it. Is that my time already? I don't think so.

I think I got you. We will award you 15 seconds. 15 seconds back.

OK, very good. I could spend time tonight recounting a lot of different studies conducted by the CDC, studies conducted in the city of Baltimore, studies conducted even in Norway concerning when they loosen ordinances and they allow establishments that offer all night bar drinking establishments how it raises crime, how it contributes to the degeneracy of the community. As a pastor, I probably know firsthand as people come in council with me the grip that some of these things have on a number of folks even within our community. I understand growth. I want our city to grow. I really do. I want it to grow healthily. I want it to grow vibrantly. I don't believe this is the answer to it, and I think you're deafening yourself to the understanding that a bulk of the people of our area don't think this is the answer for it. I implore you, look at doubling down on making this place a family-friendly city that people like me and my six want to move to, that we want to invest in, that we want to build lives in. I would not be attracted here by hot spots and bars opening up in the downtown. And if you look... Pastor? Yeah?

We're at time.

Are we at time? Yes. I should have grabbed your guys' time back. I hope you get the point. I'm praying for you. I love our city. I think we're heading in so many good directions. I think this is a really bad idea.

Roger Conlon.

Roger Conley, 9th Avenue, here in Vienna. And thank you, Mayor and Council, for allowing us to have these conversations. in the very strongest possible opposition to these ordinance amendments but before I get into that I would like to just say that I believe this administration mayor Emmerich reporter Smith council I think you guys have done a lot of really good things in a short period of time and for that I thank you is one of those good things folks Wood County by and large is a very conservative County and I would submit to you that the conservative hub of Wood County is Vienna and I don't say that speculatively at all over the last several years I don't know how many miles that I have walked inside the city of Deanna, whether it be campaigning for myself or helping others in their campaigns. I don't know how many doors I've knocked on, how many people I've talked to, but it's been a lot. And those experiences leave no doubt in my mind, folks, that if this came to a vote with the citizens of Deanna, it would be resoundingly defeatable. It wouldn't even be close. You know, as I look around this crowd, this room full of people this evening. It it reminds me of a similar event a few years ago when I was on the city council sitting right there in the seat for Councilman Morrison is sitting tonight. We had brought before us that ordinance would have allowed for the sale of alcohol at an earlier hour on Sundays. I was very opposed to that. Many of the people Indiana we're very opposed to that and as I look around the room tonight I see several people here tonight that was in that very meeting fortunately we were able to vote that down and I hope I hope history repeats itself yeah you know there's an awful lot of people here tonight and I'm sure they're not all going to speak but real quickly coach how many of you are here in opposition to this ordinance amendment With that, I want to close by saying just this. Each one of you on the bench have one vote. You have one vote. Please do not allow your one vote to overrule the will of the people. The will of the people says this is a terrible idea. And please vote this down. Thank you for your time.

Rob Thomas.

I'm Rob Faust from 4200 Grand Central, and I'm not here to talk about options. I'm here tonight to talk about the amendments that are being discussed with the alcohol. And in full disclosure, I think I own real estate that would actually be in this footprint. So I'm one of the owners. I guess I could potentially benefit from this if it happened. But I rise tonight to say, why now? What's the rush? Why do we have to have a vote tonight that's going to change this city forever? So I stand today, and I'm not in support of this, and I'm not against it. I'm really not. I'm kind of in the middle, and I don't have enough information. And I think if everybody sitting up here, which I think I know you all, and I respect you all, but honestly, folks, none of us have enough information to take this vote tonight. We don't. It's gonna, where are the feasibility studies? Where are the economic impact studies? I saw people online today talking about if this passes, this is gonna fix all the empty buildings in downtown Vienna. Really? You think there's somebody that owns a building in downtown Vienna that says the only reason my building is empty is because I can't get a liquor license. I don't think that's true. But we don't know, that's the point. So I would encourage council to call a timeout, take a break, listen to the people. Let's have some town hall meetings. I'm willing to narrate them. I'm willing to put up some money if we have to. Let's have some town hall meetings and let the people in this community come together and tell you how they feel. Let's get all the business owners that own those empty buildings together and set them down in a room and say, what could the city do to help you fill that building? But to say that if we pass this, this is going to fix this problem, I just don't think it is. So what I've seen, my folks are going crazy today. What I've seen is people are extremely passionate about this. And on both sides. And I just think that we don't have enough information. I don't think anybody in this room has enough information. Because once you open this door, once you let this genie out of the bottle you can't put it back in once you open it up and tell and let some business owner an entrepreneur go open a bar what are you going to do go knock on his door and say hey we changed your mind you're out of business you're not going to be able to do that this is a decision that is going to affect the city of vienna from today forward and i would just encourage you Take a time out, table this issue, listen to the people, schedule some meetings. This might be the best idea that anybody's ever come up with. I don't know. And it might also be a bad idea. I rise tonight to just say, I think that it's more important to make the right decision, not a fast decision.

And next, is it Cynthia, is it Mueller?

Yes.

Hello?

Yes.

That was a lucky guess. Robin, if you think your phone was going off the hook today, you should have known mine. Or mine.

I'm Cynthia Mueller, and I live on 39th and 9th Avenue.

And I was born and raised here. I came back here some years ago and had my first child while my husband was overseas.

I came back here this time because I'm old.

Because my family is here. after reading over these proposed ordinance I don't want any of that at all period because I've seen what it happened in Louisville Kentucky on Bardstown Road it makes a mess and what you do is there's only a few people that are going to really benefit economically from this But then there are people that are going to have to pay extra taxes to support your police that you're going to need to keep up with all this. Because not only do you have alcohol, but drugs comes along with it. And I know from experience from my two oldest children. So I just really think you really need to rethink this whole mess.

Thank you.

WM? Yeah, Reagan. Is that what it is, William? Yeah, it's Mike. Oh, there you go. Yeah. No names, Mike. Well, you're up, sir. I'm up, thank you. Gibbs.

Yeah, Gibbs. My name's Mike Gibbs. I live on 4th Avenue, off of 41st Street. I have to accept this in the room. Probably 27 years, something like that. Had a lot of family up here over the last, I'd say, 60 years. A lot of my family lived up here. I'm against these actions they want to take. For one thing, they're trying to bring people in here. It's what they continually out here when I come to council meetings. You think leaving bars up until 12, 1, 2, 3 o'clock in the morning is going to bring more people in? You've got all these new schools up on the hill up there, and you're taxing this. then you want us to put up with drunks in our city. What are you going to do if you're a council member and you pass this, and I've seen a lot of drunk drivers dead, and somebody gets killed, one of the citizens gets killed, or somebody's child gets killed because somebody's intoxicated and hits them and runs over them. How are you going to feel about that? If I sat in there, I'd feel pretty bad. So I don't think it's a good idea. Something else I had to say, and... I've got a lot of problems with Washington, D.C. anymore. I don't think that they represent the people in some ways, not the current administration, but the older administration. I think they're up there to represent us, and I don't think they're doing, especially some of the people in Congress and Senate, are not doing a very good job. So I'm going to say this to you fellows, because you represent the people. You're here to serve the people, to make the right decisions, to make the community grow, to make it safe, to make it prosperous. All right? So what I'm seeing is in D.C., they're not falling into line with what is good for the country. So I even looked it up. I said, well, what if they pass this? Can we file a class action suit? I looked it up. No, we can't. Can't stop it. Can we file an injunction? No, we can't. So whatever you guys do, you're responsible for it. The citizens don't have any recourse to stop you, just like we don't have any recourse to stop Congress a lot of times in Washington, D.C. I don't think that's right. This is America. We were built on religion. We were built on freedom, freedom of speech. And if we continue down the road we're going, letting people in positions of power tell us what they're going to do, and whether we like it or not, they're going to do it anyway, I don't think that's America. So that's mainly what I've got to say. Appreciate you all having me. Let me speak.

Nancy Talbot.

I'm Nancy Talbot, 1310 14th Street. And basically, a lot of people have already said what I wanted to say. I'm concerned because as a mother and a grandmother and a great grandmother now, Vienna, I've always been proud of the fact that I call it the little village of Vienna, where the older buildings are. I would love to see that turned into something that honors our heritage. Have little shops, have some of these, you know, development things that takes us back to our history. I want it family-based. If you bring in alcohol, I just don't like it. I was really concerned when I was kind of reading along and Some of you all try to make it restricted. I don't drink myself, but I have friends, and I've worked out in New York and California and all that, and I do know some people who work like to drink. They like to go out and meet with their friends after work, and sometimes work is late in the night. I just don't think that belongs in the area that you're wanting to put it. Amen. because it's family area. If you look at, you said it's on Grand Central. There are houses on Grand Central. There are churches on Grand Central. And there's apartment buildings even. I just don't think this is a good idea and I agree with some of the others that said, why are you doing this so fast? Is somebody gonna profit from this? Because the only people that's gonna profit are people who are gonna run a business and sell the alcohol. Because the other one is we're going to have to pay more for police protection. We're going to have to be careful going across the street. And if you do it until 2 a.m., are they going to be doing drinking until 2 a.m. and be right next door to a church or close to school? I just don't like that. I'm sorry. I agree with all these people. Why the rush? Why don't we have a town meeting? I think, as you saw tonight, the majority, if it went on a ballot and the citizens went out and voted on it, I figured it'd be totally voted out. Not even just to the 2 a.m. thing. A lot of the citizens probably don't want any alcohol sold in a certain area that's close to the churches or close to the citizens. Just saying. I hope you reconsider your ideas. Thank you.

And Daniel Miller signed all the way at the bottom. You must have been the one to be the very last one.

Oh, yeah. You're the closer, are you? I'll try and be. One second. Hello, my name is Daniel Miller, 2807 17th Avenue, House of Delegates District 11 candidate. I stand before the City Council and the Mayor of Vienna to voice my support for the ordinance amending Section 1329.11 to remove the prohibition barring alcohol sale, dispersal, and consumption on commercial properties situated in part of Vienna. For the past two months, this ordinance has been discussed and drafted. The language has been pruned and is ready to vote on. The removal of this prohibition is a step in the right direction to revitalizing Vienna by providing opportunities for smaller businesses that wish to sell alcohol, such as restaurants, mom and pop convenience stores, convention centers, I do like a painting set, and bars. The city will grow in revenue, promote business owners to move to the area, and bring the city more name recognition for its progress. I understand there is concern for what may come into those commercial zones, such as clubs. I will say that any person wishing to own a nightclub would find this a money pit. The city has a noise ordinance and competent police. peace and enforce the 10 p.m. noise ordinance. I hear the concern over vices. We cannot control people's choices, but we can provide ordinances to support recovery efforts. How long has this prohibition been in place? The city can change or appeal an ordinance if it does not work.

Change is scary.

And it doesn't always work, but how can things get better if we don't try something new? Thank you all for your time.

I want to say thank you for everyone that took time to come and speak and share your opinions. We always want to be respectful. Even though we may disagree on things, it's important that we respect one another's opinions and differences. but I appreciate everyone that spoke and all of you that have come out this evening. The report of the minutes from the 5-14-26 meeting have been printed, posted, and circulated. Are there any corrections or additions to the minutes? If not, the minutes will stand as submitted. Moving on to the items that we have under Unfinished business, the first of which is an ordinance establishing a fishing authorization process of catch and release within Vienna. Mr. Skogstad, do you want to read that in title or in itself?

I think we just do it by title, and I'll go through each of the articles. An ordinance establishing a fishing authorization process and catch and release fishing requirements for city-owned or managed parks, ponds, and or lakes within the city of Vienna as amended. Article 1 sets out the purpose. Article 2 sets out a catch and release requirement. Article 3 sets out an exception for special events. Article 4 lays out what the fishing license requirement is. And briefly, all anglers 16 years of age or older are required who are going to fish in city-owned or managed parks, ponds, lakes, or other bodies of water have to have a valid West Virginia fishing license. They don't have to have a trout stamp. And you can't go frog digging. Exemptions, the state exemptions for state license requirement exempted folks who are 65 or older who have their senior lifetime licenses, residents who are blind and so forth. And then, of course, it suspends it if there's a special event. jeremy and lays out penalty that's the uh essential of the ordinance that you have tonight i will point out that um when i draft these i drafted this as a request with the guidance of the mayor um but i'm now official a lot more when i was younger and i can't seem to get my kids that interested in it but maybe that's part of my fault but i have a friend who is a avid an avid catch and release trout fisherman. And I just sat down and talked to him. And he said, well, did you think about this? And I said, no, I did not. So I have attached two amendments to it that I think may be beneficial to council to consider, and you can get to those in a second. But one is Bartle's hook restriction. It says, basically, if you have a treble hook, you would have to, for catch and release, the fish swallow them. It makes it a lot easier to get them out. And second, it allows for single hooks. And the thought on that is, if you do get kids that are into fishing, it may be a little bit easier on a single hook for them to deal with it. And the second is a seasonal trout harvest. And I haven't really thought of this either, which is why I stick with loitering and not fishing.

Did you say loitering or loitering? Either. I'm very good at both.

A seasonal trout harvest, and I hadn't thought of this either, but we put basically, this was an all year round catch and release program. Second amendment that I would suggest is just for trout, because I'm glad I thought about it. When we stock trout, when they stock multiple fish up there, to allow you to keep between June 1st and October 1st. That way everybody has an easy idea, or has a good idea, clear idea, that you can keep the trout up to four. I took that number from the from the krill count that they use in kids fishing. But the trout are going to die from the heat anyway. the main ordinance is what i read at the beginning and then i added the two possible amendments so obviously you'll vote on the first or this is the second reading you'll vote on the ordinance that's been presented and then if council chooses to adopt any one or both or neither of the two amendments you have to go through the process for that so i have a motion to accept the ordinance on the second reading i have a motion do i have a second i have a motion in the second open for discussion i would agree that we add

those two amendments to that uh can we do it as well you can do it you can do it as one if you want yes just make a motion to amend it you want to do it all right so the motion is my preference i don't know why i don't have a reason however you guys want to do it yeah uh well yes i like to make a motion on the first one uh where it talks about no person shall fish in a pond lake rosebud or body of water owned or managed by the city of neana using multiple hook lures unless all hooks are barbless burning bars are completely compressive so as to be functional barbless and then number two i would like to make a change single hook lures may be used with barbless hook you want to change it to and remove either barb or no barbs at all

I have a motion and a second. Anybody got any discussion about hooks?

Just one question. So a single barb hook versus a barbless hook. I'm not fishing. I'm a fisherman. But is it the barb, for instance, if this is kids fishing on a single hook with a barb, does that improve their chances to catch a fish? It probably improves their chance to catch a lot. And so is a single barb hook so difficult even when you release the fish into the mouth. So I guess that's the trade.

That's been my experience with our cubs that it's difficult. Are you a fisherman?

I mean that's what I'm asking for. So that would be the only thing is with no blind, does that increase your chance to catch a fish if you're a kid and if it's just a know you typically have a perinatal suppliers and then you work the hook out and off the fish case but so that would be my only concern is if does that render the fishing experience much less chance of success it's it's just a thought i had i really have the opinion about whether we should borrow more

My experience fishing when I was younger was that I didn't catch any fish. When I got older and I had a daughter, we went out to C.O. Erickson's pond, and he didn't even allow bait. He said, just throw the line in there with a hook, and he had a barbless hook. And Aaron caught more fish that day than I caught in a lifetime. So I don't think a barbless hook is going to prevent kids from catching them. Wasn't it?

I don't believe that a barb or barbless. A lot of private ponds, people in private ponds, private lakes, they say barbless only and you can take your child out there and you can catch 30 fish before lunchtime if you want to.

I have a motion and a second. Is there any other discussion on the amendment to Barred barbless hooks. Did you get that? Yep. That was good. All those in favor of the amendment, I signify by raising your right hand. The amendment passes.

Are you making a second amendment? Yes. I'm just questioning. I don't have a problem with the way it stands other than why would we stop something this fine to travel then? I'd rather spend the money stocking the fish that will grow. Well, they're not all going to die. It's a warm water.

Yes. That's up to you guys. Again, trout fishing is a lot of fun. And this is a recreation. But I'm not here to take a position one way or another. If you want to amend it, I'm not the fishing game folks. That's up to you all.

For all of you that were not here last week or two weeks ago, this only applies to the little pond next to Madonna Wildlife Reserve. Lake Betsy. Lake Betsy. It doesn't apply to the river end or the waterway. water source that we're talking about.

So Ron, I would answer your question to say is that this is a mandate that we have to stop with trout. This is just saying if we were to ever choose to stop with trout, this is what we would do in response. We don't have to put trout in it. This is just the precautionary that we do. Okay. I'll motion any amendment. Do I have a second? I have a motion and a second. Any other discussion? All those in favor of the annual trout harvest, please say goodbye. Are there any other opinions? Having passed the two amendments and having no others, I have a motion and a second. All those in favor of passing on the second reading of the ordinance establishing the fishing process of catch and release, signify by raising your right hand. Ordinance passes on the second reading.

I'll prepare a final draft with the amendments in court.

Moving on to item number two. It's the second reading of Mending Vienna Municipal Code 521.0682 and 521.0683, Intoxication of Drinking in Public Places. Do you want to read that in its entirety?

And this is an ordinance of Vendee Venus, Code 521-0682 and 521-0683, intoxication of drinking in public places, being ordained by the Common Council of the City of Vienna that it hereby amends 521-0682 and 8-3 to read as follows. Paragraph 2, drink alcoholic liquor, wine, or non-intoxicating beer in a public place. 3, tender a drink of alcoholic liquor, wine, or non-intoxicating beer to another person in a public place. This ordinance shall take effect upon passage of approval. It is the intent of this ordinance only to amend the general prohibition of consumption of alcohol and beverages consumed or sold in a public place to include wine. And as I stated at our last meeting, I think that ordinance, the ordinance that we have in place conspicuously misses wine. And so this just adds that to the ordinance and makes it clearer, I think, to enforce the general prohibition.

So speaking, you know, in the The basic sense. Currently, our ordinance states that you're not allowed to drink alcohol or non-intoxicating beer in a public place. It doesn't address anything with wine. So in accordance with the old ordinance, there is nothing in our city code that would prohibit somebody from cracking open a bottle of Merlot or whatever. I'm not a wine drinker. Thunderbird. Red wine, white wine. I don't drink it. uh there's nothing out of ordinance that would keep somebody from doing that and sitting on the street corner and drinking because we don't have a prohibition against it this now adds wine to that list so you can't sit on the street corner or a park bench and drink red or white wine this isn't author or ink okay I thought you said any. Yeah, so any wine. So again, just to provide clarification, we're not approving an authorization to do this. We're adding wine to the current ordinance so that they can't sit on the park bench or the street corner and drink wine.

It won't affect any religious ceremonies or any of the other institutions or anybody that's using it. There are specific exemptions for all of that stuff. But actually, as

Having heard the ordinance for second reading as submitted, do I have a motion to accept? I have a motion and a second. Anyone? Motion and a second. Any discussion? We must have explained that really well. Yes. All those in favor of passing the ordinance on second reading as submitted, please signify by raising your right hand. Ordinance passes unanimously. Moving on to item number three is the second reading of an ordinance authorizing the sale, service, possession, or consumption of alcoholic beverage on city-owned or city-managed property.

I'll just read it by title and then try to summarize it. This is an ordinance authorizing the sale, service, possession, or consumption of alcoholic beverages on city-owned or city-managed property under conditions established by the city of New York. So what essentially this ordinance does is if we have a program or a festival or plan to have an event, this allows for the city to have direct control, if it takes place on city property, of how any alcohol sales would be. conducted, how they would, you know, the containers, the number of drinks and so on and so forth, the conditions under which they're sold, and it puts that under the direct control of the city. The city has already passed a policy that lays it out. A lot of the stuff would be essentially dealt with by contract between whatever vendor it was. Part of this is to address an issue, and I'm sure the mayor may want to go into this more than I do, but briefly, Spencer's Landing has become the spot where we host programs like the Freedom Festival. In years past, there have been alcohol sales that have been adjacent to the Freedom Festival. There were two properties that are not within the city that are adjacent, one on each side. Minnie Bell and I think Mr. Weigel, Mr. Harper's property. I think there were beer tents that were set up there in years past. What this does, and those are all, so the city has to deal with the outcome, the ramifications, but has no way to address or control how alcohol will be sold. What this ordinance does is allow the city to have a mechanism to deal with those issues. So we're down there. We have the Freedom Festival with all of the normal things we have to deal with, including having law enforcement and emergency services. But the city doesn't have any control over how alcohol may be sold there. And I think, well, that's the legal reason for it and essentially that's the ordinance that you're passing I'm sorry and voting I'm sorry not passing you're voting but that's the voting that's the ordinance that passed on first reading but essentially that's it it allows the city the flexibility to use those properties if it so chooses it's not a mandate the city has to it's not a mandate the city is required to allow on city property, it just develops a mechanism where if that were to occur, these are the conditions under which it could occur. And there's a policy in place that was passed by resolution at the last meeting in anticipation of this potentially passing. So that's what we see.

Do I have a motion to accept this ordinance on second reading? So do I. Do I have a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Opening for discussion. I will give, you give your legal side, I'll try that. So right now, right now the city owns several pieces of property throughout the community that are bordered by county property, which we have zero control over whatsoever. I can't do anything with it. I can't enforce anything with it. It's covered under, on the law enforcement side, it's covered by the county. We don't have any mechanism in place to be able to try to control what would go in or on around these areas. So say if there's an event from anywhere from downtown to Spencer Landing, as Mr. Skogstad stated, we don't have anything in place. Last, you know, we talked about fairs and festivals and those things. And we did have a situation last year where there were alcohol sales off-site. Well, You've got then the scenario that I have no real control over what was sold, where it was sold, how it was sold, how much could be sold, and what the restricted area in which that it could be sold in. There was nothing in place. We had nothing in ordinance that gave the city the ability to basically put these parameters on what was going on. Even when we spoke with, you know, law enforcement, I spoke with Chief Powell, there was very, very minor actions that we could take to enforce it if somebody had gone over and they had bought 13 drinks or, you know, we had no control over how much you could sell or what could be sold. This gives the city a mechanism in place so that we have the availability to put these restrictions in so that we can protect those that are attending, those that are participating in this, and to be able to regulate with reliability coverages and things that groups would have to have to be able to protect the city in and of itself. I've never had that on the books because it's never come up before because we've never been in a position that we're really doing anything along these lines. So this is a step to safeguard and to give the city itself the ability to regulate where it would be sold, how many could be sold, you know, what could be sold in that instance and provide those mechanisms so that we could do that. So that's what this does in a nutshell.

Just to add a little, to clarify just a little bit, because I think that some of the folks that spoke at the public forum talked about what they said about alcohol sales to the parks in general. Could you just go bring a case of Coors Light? No, you cannot. Just to point it out, no person or entity shall possess, sell, serve, distribute, or commit the consumption of alcoholic beverages on city or under city-managed property unless expressly authorized by the city through a written permit issued by the mayor or his or her designee. You have to be a lawful business entity authorized to conduct business in the state of West Virginia. You have to maintain all of your West Virginia ABC documents. licenses you have to comply with all the provisions in the city of vienna policy governing the sale possession consumption of alcohol on city under city managed property and all the permanent conditions therein so this is not just so we're all clear this is not just a this ordinance does not just allow city property this is a very narrow set of circumstances that requires a permit requires rules that have to be abided abided by and uh and uh but anyway that's just so we're all clear that this isn't just a blanket uh repeal or or what have you on the prohibitions of selling alcohol this is a very narrow um set of conditions i guess this would say any other discussion

And I'm just saying that, and I think Mayor and Mr. Sculls have done a great job of really summarizing the ordinance. And I would encourage everyone to take a look at the last meeting's agenda. if you're having questions about this it's a really well drafted policy um and i'll tell you whenever i first read the ordinance i did have concerns but as i read through the policy that was drafted i think it really put my heart at ease as far as what the intention is and i think like mayor said um and mr scogs that both said it it gives us a mechanism to kind of control what happens on city-owned properties Without it, there's a lot of things that can happen on the neighboring properties that we really have no control over. And with this policy in place, which was voted for and passed last meeting, so it's already established. With this policy in place, I believe this is a positive way to be able to control what takes place on a suburban property.

Eric?

They're making fun of me because I just had a knee replacement in December. I think this is really, really essential. When I was here as prosecuting attorney, I got stuck with another one of those free jobs. I was the second president of the Parkersburg Homecoming Board. And without this kind of authority, we wouldn't be able to have Parkersburg Homecoming. And down in Charleston, we had the dollar festival. various other vessels that people from all over come to and enjoy and since i i would certainly support the importance is there any other discussion having a motion in a second and no other further discussion and or amendments

those in favor of passing the ordinance on second reading as submitted please signify by raising your hand ordinance passes unanimously ladies and gentlemen The next item up on our agenda is the ordinance on second reading amending section 1329.11 of the codified city ordinance to remove certain restrictions on the sale of alcohol within district two as amended. Mr. Skogstad.

This is an ordinance amending section 1329.11 of the codified ordinances of the city of Vienna to remove certain restrictions on the sale of alcohol in district two as amended, being ordained by the common council of the city of Vienna that section 1329.11 of the codified ordinances of the city of Vienna is hereby amended to remove the prohibition on the sale, giving, or dispensing of liquor, alcohol, spirits, wine, or beer for on-premises consumption on commercial property situated within that portion of District 2, bounded on the south by the southerly side of 20th Street, and extending in a northern direction to the northerly side.

having heard the ordinance on second reading do i have a motion to accept so do i have a second having a motion in the second open for discussion so i'm going to jump in and say that you know just based on expect for everybody in the room and their concerns as well as uh you know our read one thing i want to mention is this has not come as a fast decision this has been discussed for years i've been on council this is my third term this has always been a topic of conversation stating that I would like to amend what we have to impose north of 20th Street an amendment to restrict alcohol sales no later than 11 p.m. and also something that people who may or may not be aware of you know but so south of 20th Street in our commercial district and all of this is our same commercial district from just covered by West Virginia VCC regulations establishments there are free to stay open until 2 a.m. should they choose none do I think the latest that we have any establishment open is maybe midnight or a weekend and so that's just one thing to be clear so this will restrict if the amendment passes the alcohol sales to 11 p.m. north of 20th Street unlike remainder of vienna and one of the things you know with officer ingram here and you know that you know we have one of the best funded well-trained um most respected police forces in the region and they are certainly capable and competent as we exist today and fully staffed to uh to manage um the enforcement of our laws and keep an order of peace in our city regulations in place. So with that, I would move to amend the restriction to 11 p.m. north of 20th Street to this ordinance.

So the amendment is to add a provision that says no alcohol sales may be made. Sales, service, provision, distribution, I need to know the language, right?

No alcohol sales

Do you want the word consumption in your amendment?

In legal terms of board, we effectuate the intent of the ordinance. That's a great lawyer. All right. Let's do this. All right.

No alcohol sales may be authorized. No alcohol may be sold. uh provided were distributed after 11 p.m what you want to say you want the amendment to read between Sundays it's some places that ship so you work in the coal mines you got off at 4 o'clock 5 6 o'clock

there there is why he's taking time to get your correct verbiage right if anybody needs a bottle of water or anything we have them sitting you're more than welcome to those they are non-alcoholic Nothing has been turned from water into wine here this evening.

This is purely by Steve, by the way.

So our ordinance, if this is right, our ordinance is 2 a.m. to 7 a.m. Which reflects?

We can say from 11 to 10 a.m. Yes. 11 p.m. to 10 a.m. No alcohol sales, service and or distribution. or no sales service and or distribution of alcoholic beverages may occur between 11 p.m. and 10 a.m.

I have a motion to add an amendment that would restrict the sale of alcohol from 11 p.m. to 10 a.m. Is there any other discussion?

I would just like to say something. I would be more comfortable with that being midnight. And the reason that I say that, I think that one hour of time, and I know it seems probably missable, but I think that we need to think about the businesses and their viability. And that one hour of time between 11 p.m. and 12 midnight especially on the weekends, can be a lot of sales for businesses. I don't think we need to worry about, we're not going to be having bars and strip clubs. i did talk to lindsay pierce off today and she did say that people you know she's been approached by businesses like restaurants looking for places to locate and one of the things they're looking for to someplace where they can serve alcohol. We're talking more like an Applebee's or an Outback, something like that. We're not talking about, you know, diet bars and things. So I'd like to, I mean, is there any way that we can change that from 11 p.m. to midnight?

I am strongly... strongly opposed to that. This is in a residential area. We're making an exception. We're trying to find a compromise and put something in place. We have homes in this area. We have residents that have lived in this area for many years. I went to area establishments like Applebee's and Wings and I discussed with them what their last call times were. This does not fall out of anything that would be out of the ordinary. Applebee's cuts off at 9.45, is it 9.45 through the week? No, 10.45 through the week and 11.45 on the weekends. They are, but their last call is 11.45.

Right, they have to, so sort of before they close.

And respectfully, I disagree, and I would in no way favor adding an additional hour to this amendment.

Procedurally, you have an amendment on the floor that's been seconded. That needs to take a vote. And then another amendment that wants to be appropriated could be motioned and seconded after that.

Did you have another discussion?

Yeah. Yeah, so I think it was about a month and a half ago Mayor brought this in as a discussion point to really kind of air out some of our thoughts and concerns about, you know, the potential disorder that's coming for our council. And that night, you know, and I had given it a lot of thought up until this point. And I really thought, you know, at the time I said 10 p.m. I thought, you know, having having a time of 10 p.m. would allow a restaurant to come in. And really, my mind was always focused on restaurants. The more I've given consideration to this, I really fall back to the fact that we've initiated a $150,000 task order to the greatest engineer company in the state of West Virginia. um to come in and to present develop a plan uh for i mean what's going to end up being a beautiful piece of infrastructure down here on city-owned property um thinking about you know the potential the growth that we're going to see down here and i know it's going to take some money we talked you know it could be upwards of 1.8 million for this project which i mean that's come out in chambers so uh but seeing the potential for that um It seems like, and listen, it seems like in my personal opinion that allowing that to be the catalyst of growth or allowing, you know, things of that nature to be the catalyst of growth, uh, that seems like the right way to go about it. However, I also recognize that as an elected person, I can't always use my personal opinions and my personal feelings to act as a responsible leader of the city. And then I have to think about, okay, if a restaurant, say somebody wants to come in and they want to open a business in our downtown area and they want to bring, they want to invest into our community, they want to see our community grow, uh, they're, they're, they're pouring themselves into it. I am a small business owner and I understand, you know, it's a, it's a investment into the community, wherever you're doing things to, uh, to make things better, to make improvements. Um, and I, and I want to encourage that. And I understand that, um, you know, if, if, uh, If having a restaurant, you know, having something here in town and being able to see a lot of people like to have a glass of wine or a beer with a dinner. You can go down to Olive Garden and do it right now or Applebee's or all of the other restaurants that we have here in our great city. These places are already established and they're there. I think having the ability to bring in a restaurant like that in this area Um, it would be good for, it would be good to see, you know, some of these front doors coming up on Grand Central Avenue. And, uh, you know, um, I think it would be a positive thing for, for people to, uh, to be able to walk from, you know, uh, uh, the, the, the stuff that we have down at Spencer's Lane, you know, potentially John's Manville in the future and come up and have, and have, uh, a nice dinner or a nice lunch with, the restaurant right there um i don't think it has to be i don't think it has to revolve around alcohol personally i definitely don't believe alcohol needs to be a catalyst for growth but that means that i do i do also think that having a shutdown time is important i don't want to see alcohol sales going until 2 a.m i think there's plenty of research out there to back you know that says this is going to cause problems this is this is going to be a headache and i think our law enforcement officers you know they unfortunately are the ones that see a lot of you know the the results of the the late nights so um i i can't personally say that i'm in favor of the ordinance um but as a representative of the city i try to remove my personal feelings out of the equation and try to see what's best for the city and ultimately i do think that this could help our city

so in presently and council's aware of this because they've dealt with the issue on different occasions between 28th and 34th street there's a bar on alcohol sales that's part of the commercial district there's no sale of alcohol um by the glass well yes by the glass um you could have a store that would uh they could sell there but this is but anyway so Initially, the original draft of the ordinance had a provision that said nothing 200 feet of a store or what have you. The ordinance that you have in front of you eliminates the restriction altogether. And I'm doing this so council understands. Each category of alcohol, and there are essentially three categories that are governed by the state. There's what's statutorily called non-intoxicated beer. And you have two different categories of licenses. So you have non, you have beer, you have liquor, and you have wine. So you get a Class A or Class B beer license. So that's typically what your bars and restaurants do. A grocery store, delicatessens, caterers, party supply stores, and certain other retail establishments that are dedicated solely to food and food products and table supplies and what have you. It's interesting. You buy to have a party. Class A and B liquor licenses. And even though they share the same name, they have different names. So Class A beer is just think of that as your traditional liquor store. And Class B is your mixed retail outlets, a convenience store that has a license to sell liquor, or like the CVS that has a liquor section in it. And then you have wine. You have Class A wine licenses, and that's Class A is, again, for on-premises. Those are your private restaurants that we're all talking about. Private wine bed and breakfast is a spa. You may go get a massage and glass of wine or whatever. Class B are for the off-premises. That's for the people that sell bottles of wine or wine by growler or grocery stores or what have you, the places that sell that. And I say all of that because the state will be the one that is going to be issuing licenses and considering what the business is. So you can put a business in and you apply for a license and it's going to be up to And there are different, based on what category of license you have, is what can govern where you can sell things. So if you want to sell beer, non-intoxicated beer, but only class A. So if you want to have a bar or a restaurant, that can only be within 200 feet of any church or school. And it specifically exempts out a class B. So if you have a convenience store besides a church, they would still be able to sell beers. That would be able to happen in this area if there were a place to put a convenience store.

But that can already happen.

But that can already happen. Well, we can't handle the orders because we've been... Well, yes, I guess it could. Because it's Class B. It could be, yeah. Because that's Class B. That already happens. But put a restaurant in, the restaurant couldn't be within 200 feet of the church or school with a wine. There's no school or church distance restriction. But typically, those places sell mixtures. They sell wine, alcohol, wine, beer, liquor. So they would have the same restriction that they Retour liquor store class a or class B. There's no district. There's no district restriction So in theory you could have this great old-school liquor store In this district and I say that just because I don't know how clear I made it at the last time and I want to Make it clear. So the only clear statewide school church distance rule is for beer class a that's for selling by the drink can't be within 200 feet of school the other state is The CSRs and the legislative rules that govern this, they all say a reasonable distance or what have you. It's a very nebulous time, but it is what it is. Those businesses will all have to apply for the state and have to go through all of the state's rules to get their licenses. And I only say that just because I want to make sure that everybody understands what my understanding of what that is.

So right now we're going back to the amendment, which is from 11 p.m. to 10 a.m. I have a motion.

I've really struggled with this, to be quite frank with everybody. I'm 67 years old, and with the exception of five years of my life, I'm a lifelong resident of the city of Indiana. I grew up on 28th Street, Leavitt Avenue, and walked to school, to Neal's School. There used to be a little restaurant across Neal's School at the time, Hospitality Inn. We had the Quality Burger on 28th Street. where hospitality in was across the school. It went into a gas station and now there's a pharmacy there. And there may have been a couple other structures there. What I'm concerned about is what we call this area, downtown Vienna, that I see a lot of vacant buildings. And it really hurts to see my city not having any type of economic development plan as far as I know. to make the city great. And then I started thinking about that because I listened to everybody concerned about selling alcohol in Indiana, downtown Indiana. And I hear you. But I got to thinking, back in the day, in the early 70s, there was a piece of land that was an airport, and they decided to build a mall down there. And that caused huge economic growth. For example, where Hobby Lobby was, that was a little farm. There was cattle and horses there. And it was a little two-lane road from Parkersburg to Vienna. And you had a couple of factories there. It caused, the mall came, and it caused what we call the Miracle Mall. But you see all these businesses below 20th Street down to Grand Central Mall. which is not a coffee place. By the way, I thought that was a coffee place too.

That's how many of I was. Ryan, if you want to go get coffee, obviously we know a place.

I don't drink that much Bloody Mary, and I don't drink coffee either. But I see Vienna grow, and I don't You know, and I like that city, but I don't have a problem with the city growing. And I think from my perspective, just because of the Miracle Mile and all the growth we've had over the years, I do not see us passing this ordinance going to have a negative effect. That's my own personal opinion on that. I was against it because there was no timeframes. We are now having a time frame where alcohol is being prohibited, you cannot sell, and I think that is a control. I think it's going to signal to businesses that are known for their alcohol versus known for their food will be deterred from coming in here just because of the time frame. That's just my personal thought. I may be wrong on that. So that's kind of where I stand on this is that I'm really glad that we are

I don't have anything to do with the current amendment.

11 to 10. Let's vote on the amendment and then we'll move on to other discussion.

Well, let me say a couple of things. Yeah. Okay. So when I was talking to Lindsay today, we were talking about different businesses and so forth, and she had found some information. And I'm not suggesting that we keep this at 2 a.m., but this is just information. Harpersburg allows restaurants to stay open until 2 a.m. and sell alcohol. Belpre's 2.30 a.m., Marietta's 2.30 a.m. And so basically, you know, what happens is that even with that openness to be open that way to sell alcohol, there are very few businesses in Parkersburg, Belpre, and Marietta that do that. J.P. Henry's closes at 11.30, Winter Hazard at 10.00, Huffman's Pine Steakhouse at 10 p.m. The Lost Anchor at 10 p.m. Wynn's, etc. is 11 p.m. and then 12 p.m. on weekends. And so is Apple's. So, you know, you've got businesses that even though they have the option to stay open that late and to survive off that late, that is not their priority to do that so you can't find any restaurants here in this area that even though they're allowed to by state law stay open that's like not saying that someone might not try to open a bar or something like that that's not what i'm saying all right so this is this is not a conversation back and forth uh i'm going

Added to the discussion. All those in favor of the amendment, signalling from 11 p.m. to 10 a.m., signify by raising your right hand. Thank you. Moving on now to other discussion and or other amendments.

I'd like to go ahead and talk about a couple of things. I mentioned Lindsay Pearsall before. She's the director of the County Economic Development. And she is also our partner in Vienna of working to bring businesses and such to our city to be able to stimulate economic growth. What Tony was saying about Spencer's Vending is absolutely the basis for this. And I think Mr. Leach has said this has not been a fast decision. This has been talked about for a very, very long time. This came to the Planning Commission in January of this year. And the Planning Commission recommended that Deanna adopt this alcohol ordinance. It's been amended a little bit, but basically it's the same. And send it to City Council to look at approving it. So this has not been a past decision. There's been a lot of discussion. There's been a lot of talk. There's been a lot of ins and outs about it. i think vienna is doing what it needs to do to be the best city that it can be um when i was talking to lucy we were talking about a couple businesses and harry you might be familiar 1010 in south charleston that restaurant on first street little tiny restaurant in south charleston they serve alcohol they're not open late but it's again they would not do the business that they do without the sale of alcohol. Southern Craft in North End is similar in that it's basically in a residential area and they sell alcohol, but they also close it. The other thing I wanted to say, economic development is paramount to our city. it brings in the revenue that we need to be able to function so with the increase in business in restaurant sales in alcohol sales we have increased money for city improvements city repairs we have increases in property taxes we have sales tax we have b o tax repairing streets hatching potholes developing parks it doesn't come free We have to have the money to do that. And the only way that we have the money to do that is to develop the cities to get a revenue stream. Spencer's Landing will help, obviously, but we also need to develop downtown. And so, you know, when I vote on this, this is because I believe that this is the best thing to do for the city. It's not based on anything else. It's based on our responsibility. to do what we think is best for the city. Not our opinion, not our beliefs, not anything else, but what is best for the city. So that's what I'm voting on when I vote on that.

So now we're just on to the regular ordinance itself. As amended. So I did a video the other night and basically explained how all of this came about. In the original recommendation was that they'd be removed without restrictions. I brought forward a proposal that kept restrictions and did that. And it caused me to then look even deeper into the state code and how that affected. And I looked at the churches. One, there's Neal schools blown away. So I didn't take that into consideration. But I did take... the library of wayside united methodist wesley the independent baptist vienna baptist and the church of the christ into consideration and i looked at what would be a 200 foot radius and that's what mr skogstad said is already defined by a state code that you can't have Staying from the voting last session because I don't property in this area in Especially I own property in the 200 foot area. So the property that I own will be excluded regardless I know there's been some conversation about how this profits and council and accusations made so we just want to be clear about how all of those things do affect and i just wanted to state for the record that the property that i own will be excluded by the 200 foot radius that is already in state law right now you can already buy alcohol in this area for years everybody is familiar with the u-bolt through is anybody not familiar with what the u-bolt through is Now, so everybody knows what the e-book for it is aren't Dollar General or it was Foodland and Wiggly Wiggly and now the Vienna Market. Dollar General. You know, there's a half dozen places where you can go already in this area and buy alcohol. I was very opposed to removing all the restrictions. However, with an 11 p.m. cutoff time, I believe most individuals would agree that would deter, and where our concern is and where my concern was, for bars and those type of establishments to go in. Restaurants, I've gone to countless numbers of restaurants that serve alcohol. Growing up, my father's here, we didn't go in any restaurant that served alcohol growing up. We did a lot of Bonanza, Ponderosa, Long John Silver's back in the day. I was fine growing up like that. However, as I left the area and I went around the world with the Army, I saw the bigger picture on what was there. And I understood, and I think many of us have probably went to alcohol so the question wasn't whether or not we would allow and welcome a nice restaurant to be able to come and be able to establish itself and if you look at it really in general according to our city code when it comes to opening business in general you have to have parking spaces you have to have all of these various things so a large portion of this area is already going to be excluded because of the current code that we have in place there's going to be a very limited area that this would even apply to that would give that opportunity. Then you draw the 200 foot circle, and I have that if anybody wants a copy of it or to look at it, around those six churches that I mentioned in the library, it takes out a lot of those areas as well. So this provides That yes, it could open up the possibility for a restaurant to come in that we could see, you know, seven craft was mentioned these various things. That could come in and open a decent restaurant, but it protects now the community from a 2am last call bar life. or a club opening up in these residential areas. So I'm grateful, Mr. Leach, that you introduced that amendment and that it was accepted by council. That's all I got. Anybody else got anything they want to say? Any other comments, Angela? Having a first and a second, now voting on the Ordinance as amended, am I saying that correct? Yes. Listen, you're going to have to do this and make the language right. All those in favor of accepting the ordinance as amended, please signify by raising your right hand. Motion passes with five, with one abstain. all right does anybody need a break i'm going to adjourn for 10 minutes and we'll start our meeting back in and if you want to stay for the rest of the meeting feel free to grab a bottle of water

all right let the record reflect that at 7 45 p.m we are coming back into session

Mr. Adam Jones and your compadre here, Mr. Bart, yes, we've shared all of the stuff on Facebook, are going to speak to us about the Jackson Middle School project in addition.

Yes. Thanks for having us. I'm glad it's cleared out a little bit. This is going to be a way easier topic, I promise you. So,

That's not city controlled property, right?

Oh, and that was on the live video.

So a couple weeks ago, I approached Councilman Morrison about the possibility of seeking city help on this project that Coach Parks and I have been discussing for probably a month, month and a half now, somewhere around there. Under Coach Parker's leadership, the wrestling program has really developed and really flourished with numbers. Jackson School does not have a mini gym. It's the only middle school in Wood County that does not have a mini gym. Therefore, in the fall you have four basketball programs, a cheer program, and a wrestling program vying for one gym. That takes practice up to about 9.30, sometimes 10 o'clock at night in Jacksonville. It's not really fair for any student athlete, middle school or high school level. So, you know, we are looking to build a second athletic facility on top of the football field. It will be adjoined to the existing weight room. This building will serve solely as a dedicated wrestling facility. That will be close to 2,000 square feet for wrestling only. Locker rooms for male athletes, female athletes. It will also house the West Virginia Hospital's athletic trainer. We will remove the building that we have dedicated to her for that, and she'll be housing there. We're also going to... put the new concession stand in there. So both of those buildings we poured out and we will house both facilities inside the new building. The grand scheme of things we were pulled by Wood County Schools is hopefully in the next two, three years that field is going to be turfed and they're going to put an all-weather track up there. and house the middle school athletic events there. Right now we buy for PHS space, South Erickson facility, and Williamstown as well. And when you throw in freshmen, JV, varsity football, along with soccer, there's not a whole lot of time for middle school athletics at those facilities. In two or three years when that is put into place and that is there, we will also have a brand new facility for concessions, the athletic trainer, the wrestling program. So we, like I said, I spoke with Mr. Morrison, I can't remember what it was, but he approached Mayor Emmerich and we spoke and we wanted to see if we could get a donation from the city to help us reach our goal on the building. We have got a quote from a company out of North Carolina to build the building. We presented to the Board of Education on Tuesday. They had a couple questions for us. We are meeting with Caleb Lawrence, the assistant superintendent who's in charge of facilities and grounds for Wood County Schools tomorrow to finalize and rough out a couple of the small details and then get the approval June 9th at their next meeting to move forward with the project. Like I said, we are seeking $35,000 donation from the city. I'm a police officer here in the city. I've served the city for 18 years. I've been a football coach since 2012. Coach Parks also serves on my staff on the football team too. Everybody that knows me knows that I believe the youth the city you know we can discuss alcohol sales and all that but at the end of the day if the youth leave this area there's nothing for youth the city dies so my firm opinion is if we build for the youth and we get back to the youth and the youth stay if we invest they stay and if this facility gets built as what killing schools hopes to that's huge for the city that is If one of the schools decides to open up to the public, that is a nice walking track for the community to go up and walk. The other thing about this new facility is the police department will also utilize it for trains, defensive tactics and whatnot. So it's a multi-purpose facility. we would guesstimate that there will be about 400 student athletes that will utilize this per season. That goes from Jackson athletics all the way down to the Vienna Rec programs, whether it be football, Vienna cheer, and then there's possibility of bringing back a Vienna Rec wrestling program as well. So 400 significant um so like i said we're just asking for a contribution from the city um this is this this project is being funded solely on donations from private entities and that's it um so we are just like i said just wanted to present that and yeah so real quick in our discussion yes um the city of vienna already has access to

facility correct i know we have volunteer firemen city employees that are able to to use law enforcement community as a whole would be or use that at times in this facility based upon availability would obviously with your needs being the priority that same mou of understanding would be there between

My question was, so obviously $35,000 is not going to get you. Correct. Let's say you don't get that. Okay. So is this allocation contingent upon you getting the other funding such that?

if you can't put it together what happens to that thirty five thousand dollars so the conversation that adam and i had um is that the city's donation would not be paid until all the funds were secured and i'm sure other investors are going to feel that people that are donating funds will want that clear, yes, he's committed, yes, she's committed, yes, they've committed, this entity's committed, then you pull all those together. Then basically you go and call in those IODs.

Correct. So basically, as of right now, our plan would be to break her out as soon as we get permission from what kind of schools on June 9th. We're already about 65,000 in.

So the building was- In addition, and this would be another 35,000. So with the city's 35, we're about 65 right now total.

We, the building's only 93, so we're really close. Our goal was 150, and that would outfit some, you know, rough it in on the interior, HVAC and whatnot. But the building alone, just the rough shell, which is more than enough to get started with everything, is only 93. So we're really close to that, reaching that goal already. And we truly believe in the next two weeks that we'll reach that, the remaining balance of that.

another question and this is equal time sharon marks reached out to me last week and she's trying to raise donations to pave the track you know she's been the girls track coach for 20 years long i mean everybody knows her contribution and and she asked me to make a contribution which i agreed and she also asked me for ideas for some funding sources the same thing and i said well And so I just want council to be aware that we've got another group

so what can you say so i'll elaborate on that so uh mr lawrence approached me that they opened a bid and the bid was 39 000 to black top that track which is the first step to all weathering a track you have to black top it and then they come in they spray so caleb or mr lawrence approached me and one know if we could help offset that just a little bit not the full amount not the full 39 000 if we could find a 5 000 or 10 000 donation to help with that And that's when I contacted Mrs. Marks and put her on top of that. So they're not looking for the full amount of the $39,000. They were simply looking just for a small amount like the $5,000 to $10,000 to help offset the $39,000. That's all they're looking for on that. They're not looking for an entity to fund the full project. Wood County Schools has budgeted $39,000.

he just wanted to know if there was availability for somebody to donate towards the project so you know considering these multiple requests and if that so just so i understand so you have every anticipation you're going to raise the 93 grand for the building correct your total project is 150. 93 gets us the building right yeah we have we have a solid quote for 93 on the building okay and so then understanding that you're saying that the board has agreed to the 39 grand for the track i just want to make sure like i said they're the track so they have a they sent out their bidding cut their bidding for the black topping for wikina schools and facilities and for to do the back parking or the track at

they have that they've budgeted that they've they've got that but he asked if they're if we could piggy if they could piggyback a little bit on the donation side of it to help offset some cost to the black double track your donation side in other words are you going to be contributing money from the what you guys collect that's why i reached out to sharon for

make sure I'm clear so the 35 you're coming to us for is continued upon you raising the rest of funds to achieve your goal that concomitant with that effort the board is going to fund 39 grand Sharon's trying to put another five grand or so on top of that and the We will be right back.

in the building that really is has to be where it is is the hallway that connects the two buildings together it has to stay right like we can only move the building so far to the left and so far towards the fence so that hallway has to line up the size of the wrestling room has to stay the same but we can slide it around if we need to the concession window will have to stay on the end near the bleachers because we can't turn it towards the track because obviously if they expand the track then it's in you can't stand on the track and then run on the track but really none of that affects your funding that's all easily manipulated stuff that's all lego pieces will be inside correct correct um any other questions on that all right um

Then let's move then to the resolution authorizing a donation of $35,000 for the Jackson Multisport Facility project.

Whereas the city of Vienna has received a request for $35,000 to support construction of the Youth Program Development Center in Jackson. Whereas the facility will provide permanent space for youth athletics, including wrestling, football, and cheerleading, and is expected to benefit hundreds of local youths. Whereas the project promotes youth development through safe structured programming that fosters discipline, leadership, and community engagement, now therefore be a result that the Common Council of the City of Indiana hereby authorizes the donation of $35,000 to Jackson Middle School slash the Wood County Board of Education or their designee, construction of said facility pending final approval of the project by jackson middle school and orwood county board of education it further resolved that the mayor recorder authorized to execute any documents necessary to carry out this donation do i have a motion to accept the resolution as presented second i've got a motion in a second um open for discussion i'll say this and and you all know i'm all for this i think it's great um and i think uh

Mr. Jones, you know, hit it that this is going to serve tens of thousands of Indiana students, children, teens for the next several decades. I mean, you know, the amount of money that we're looking at here as a donation towards this facility pales in comparison to the things, you know, the amount that we budget yearly for other areas and Um, you know, for instance, like the, uh, the senior citizens and not that I'm knocking, I love the facility that we have. I love the facility. I love the facility that we have for seniors. And I fully support that every year. I'm just thinking that it's easy to put forth, you know, um, a smaller amount like this, even if, even at a one time basis. uh for development of something that's going to support our children here in the city uh for you know the next half a century at least uh for 35 000 to me it's a no-brainer and i feel like uh you know a lot of um the city would agree and event and also benefit from this so thank you for bringing this and thank you guys for you know putting the time and the work and the effort and getting this together and continually and i'm looking forward to seeing it actually

ordinance or the resolution that our donation will be contingent upon them securing the additional funds do you want to make a motion to amend the resolution to say that uh the it's further contingent upon um the project becoming fully funded that's exactly what i would like to make all right we have a motion

is contingent upon um when they're ready to put it out

flip the switch yeah we yeah we've already put it out we yeah i mean we're we're collecting now right but i'm saying when you get ready to correct say we need that yeah our goal was after the june 9th meeting show me the money so i have a motion and a second uh on the amendment um

I think it needs. How are you right at that?

It was just five.

The amendment should be clarified to make sure we, because I don't want this to become a.

So the amendment right now is a motion to make the funding available contingent upon the project.

So what we were asking was fully funded really should be just the building, not the full 150, right? That's right. Okay.

some of the 150 are things that we could function without you know like yeah we're we're good with that okay if there's no other discussion the question was called all those in favor of the amendment um

as made please signify by raising your hand and the amendment passes then moving on to the resolution as amended is there any other discussion on it because there's no other discussion all those in favor of authorizing the resolution as amended please signify by raising your right hand resolution passes unanimously thank you thank you so much so as the tail of this

to contribute $2,500 to Sharon's effort for the draft. Because it's not, we can't do it tonight because it's not on the agenda.

Yeah, I'm all for that. You know, I want this facility to be something that Vienna can be proud of as well. I mean, I know it belongs with you in schools, but I want the city to be proud of it. So, yeah, I'm all for that.

All right.

Moving on to the third item under new business is a resolution establishing the increase in the full-time permanent employee salary increases for non-seasonal employees and to increase the starting wages for all new full-time employees.

It is resolved by the Common Council of the City of Vienna that all full-time permanent employees and all non-seasonal part-time employees as well as the starting rate for permanent full-time employees shall receive a wage increase for fiscal year ending June 30, 2027 as follows. All current full-time permanent employees shall receive a 3% pay increase in addition to the annual hourly longevity pay increase of 35 cents per hour. All current non-seasonal part-time employees shall receive an hourly wage increase of 3%. All new hire full-time employees positions shall receive a starting pay increase of 3%.

Do I have a motion to accept the resolution as per written? Second. Motion, second, third, fourth, and fifth.

Is there any discussion?

increase for our employees. No other discussion. All those in favor of accepting the resolution as submitted, please stand by by raising your hand. I thank each and every one of you for your support of our Vienna employees. They are our greatest asset and I appreciate them greatly. Moving on is a resolution acknowledging the soccer field development at Jackson Park and rededicating the fields to Vienna Recreation Youth Soccer.

Whereas being a refuge soccer is initiated first phase of soccer field development at Jackson park. And whereas fields four, five and six are intended intended for continued use of the four youth soccer, including regulation size field, multiple smaller fields. Now, therefore be a resolved one. The council, the council acknowledges the initiation of the first phase of soccer field development at Jackson park two fields, four, five and six. shall continue to be dedicated to the inter-rec youth soccer with the intent to accommodate a regulation-sized soccer field and multiple smaller soccer fields. Three, this resolution shall take effect immediately upon adoption.

Do I have a motion to accept? Second. Do I have a second? Motion and a second. Open for discussion.

Thanks, Eric.

I would like to make an amendment to this. Hold on.

Yeah.

I know.

Sure. What do you got? Yeah.

I'd like to make an amendment to this that we... designate that the funds designated from the this foundation will go towards all funds will go towards the development of a full-size software facility something like that all funds donated by the historic foundation

As in all funds donated by the Dinsler Foundation, Inc. shall be appropriated and expended for the purpose and completion of this project. The amendment is, it designates that all funds donated by the Dinsler Foundation, Inc. shall be appropriated and expended solely for the purpose for the further completion of this project.

Are you good with that? Well, we need to define the full-size soccer field as the Olympic size, which is 120 by 70, because I don't want somebody saying full-size is one of these junior high soccer fields. An Olympic-sized soccer field is what I was referring to when I gave the first $50,000. Well, and I thought we didn't have that in writing. It was just an understanding. But before I give another $50,000, I want to make sure that we have in writing that we're talking about a real soccer field. Joe, were you going to say something?

Just when you incorporated this amendment that's floating around. All right. You can just add that language. But the size, which is defined as 120 by 70 in interior dimensions. Okay.

120 by 70.

120 by 70 yards.

Is there a reason why 120?

Oh my gosh. Does this measure in hectares maybe?

Where's Noah when you need him?

Well, we found Russ's patient number. The amendment that I've written, it says, shall designate that all funds donated by the Dissler Foundation Inc. shall be appropriated and exchanged solely for the furtherance and completion of a full-size soccer field 120 yards by 70 yards, otherwise known as Olympic size.

Can I ask a question? I know you're saying, you know, that size, 120 by 170 yards for the field itself, but what about the extra land that you need for, you know, seeding, side gardens?

Right, we're talking 120 by 70 yards.

just the dimensions of the interior dimensions of the field obviously it's going to have to have five or ten yards on each side and on the ends so does all that take and incorporate all that that you need as well we've walked that field and measured all that off in with the dimensions of that full-size field we have plenty of space for seating for sidelines

So the amendment that the Mayor has proposed shall be designated that all funds donated by the Bittsworth Foundation Inc. shall be appropriated and expended solely for the furtherance and completion of a full-size soccer field with interior dimensions of 70 yards by 120 yards, otherwise known as an Olympic-sized

motion and a second? Oh, I made the motion. I made the motion. I made the motion. You made the second. Any other discussion? All those with no further discussion, all those in favor as approving the amendment as read, please signify by raising your hand. All right. I have a motion and a second. No other amendments to this? and for the record he donated he don't he's already donated fifty thousand dollars and he is committed to donate pending this resolution being passed another fifty thousand dollars after eight o'clock everyone's getting smart is there any other necessary discussion

None?

All those in favor of approving the resolution as amended, please signify by raising your right hand. There you go. That's it. Moving on, do we have any reports, standing boards, annual committees? Nope. Remind everybody that next Friday the seniors are having their senior annual picnic. Those for 55 and older that would like to attend. That will be at Spencer's Park from 11.30 to 1.30? 11.30 to 1.30? Usually until it's done. Yeah, until there's no more food. That's June 5th. That's June 5th. I will be hosting another monthly brown bag luncheon June 4th from 11.30 to 12.30. That's where you're on lunch. We meet here on the council. You can bring me your questions, concerns, complaints, whatever it may be, and we'll be here to discuss. Are there any other council comments?

Tonight, my niece, Madison Stahl, graduated high school, and I just wanted to give her a shout out. Congratulations, Madison. She'll probably never watch this, but I just wanted to get that out there.

That's it. I'll have it in the background.

You can ask for a certified copy.

Is there any other council comments or nothing else?

I appreciate all the council staying the course tonight was a difficult meeting to get through compromise was appropriate the commitment was commendable and I second that thank you guys very very much