City Council - Regular Meeting

of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

We'll call this meeting into order. This is Morgantown City Council regular meeting for Tuesday, July 21. It is 7 PM. Clerk Wade, would you please call the roll? Yes. Joe Bugano?

Present.

Jodi Hollingshead?

Here.

Wheezy Michael? Here. Jenny Saline?

Here.

Brian Butcher?

Here.

Deputy Mayor Downs?

Here.

Mayor Trumbull? Here.

First item on the agenda is approval of minutes. The July 7th, 2026 regular meeting minutes and July 7th, 2026 special meeting minutes were included in the packet. Are there any additions or corrections? Seeing none, approved by consensus.

Yes.

Fantastic. We will move into correspondence. Our first item of correspondence is listed as a partner update with Milan Pushkar Health Right. They will be attending next week in lieu of this evening due to the severe weather happened earlier today. So we will move into our second partner update, Catholic Charities. And Executive Director Mark Phillips has had a bit of a biking accident and is unable to attend, but Grace Shelter Director Mindy Thorne is with us this evening.

Good evening. How's everybody doing tonight? As stated, I'm Mindy Thorne. I am the Director for Catholic Charities Grace Shelter here in Morgantown. We are a 19-bed emergency shelter, and we are located within Hazel's House of Hope. We are consistently full. We stay full. We have a downtime of about four hours from the time that somebody exits the facility until that bed space is filled. We are currently in the process. I, for those that don't know, just recently took over the position in November of 25. At the time of my takeover, our average turnaround time with a client in the shelter space was in excess of six months. through some increased partnerships and things like that we have gotten that average down to less than four months so it is decreasing we do not have a time limit on shelter stay that is one thing that I pushed really hard to make a change for because this journey looks different for every one of our clients that we serve so a timeline for somebody that is simply looking for employment to get back on their feet, to get housed, is much different than somebody else that is suffering from, say, substance abuse, mental health disorders. That path looks very different. We move forward in the housing first mentality, but we strive really hard to what we now refer to as helping our clients return to baseline. So that is to prepare them for the responsibility that comes with being housed. As much as in an ideal world, four walls and keys to an apartment should change things for people, it doesn't. So we work really hard to meet each client where they're at. And that is one of the biggest changes is we have our policies and procedures in place, but it is not a cookie cutter treatment that each client gets. Within the first 24 hours that they are in shelter, by chance they come in on a Friday or a Saturday, then it would be Monday, they are meeting with myself and my case manager on site. And we are identifying their most immediate needs, their less immediate needs, and then their future plans. One of the things that I think has made this change so successful is we're putting that power back in their hands. This is their lives, so it is their responsibility to tell us what it is that they need and how we can help them. And that I think has changed a lot of the mentality is it's not us barking orders at them on what they have to do in order to get to where they need to be. It's us meeting them at where they feel that they're capable of making these even small steps in the beginning. From the time that somebody enters shelter, if employment is something that they're seeking, we, through resources with our community partners, we have been successful in getting them employed, at least being interviewed within the first seven days. Out of the 19 clients I have in the shelter currently, 11 of them are employed. So we have made huge strides on that. A lot of that is important. We do work pretty closely with the Morgantown Transit Authority. They rely pretty heavily on the bus system up there. And so we have been able to be successful with that through making sure that that continues to be a resource for them. In the past eight months, we've also strengthened our partnership with Health Right, Valley Healthcare, WVU Medicine, I have pulled in as many strings as we can in order to make sure that our clients are getting every service that they need. Out of those, in the year 2025, we served in surplus of 200 clients, and that's just at Grace. We also then partnered with the West Virginia Coalition to End Homelessness for the most recent emergency winter shelter, where between the West Run location and Grace Shelter, we had an additional 70 clients. At the closing of the winter shelter in March, only five people returned to the streets out of those 70 plus people that we helped. So that was a huge partnership that we were able to have. It had its ups and downs, but we were able to get through it. With that, we are moving into planning for the next winter shelter. We had a pretty lengthy conversation today with the new president for the MCR board. And as of right now, there's pretty positive outlook for that shelter to return to Hazel's House of Hope. We have to wait for an additional board meeting in August for MCR and things like that. But it was a really optimistic conversation today. We already operate our shelter at Hazel's House of Hope. We have the space to continue to operate it. Um, I've also built a really good relationship with the other service providers in our building. Um, so that they, we've opened up those lines of communication. So that way when they have questions, when they have concerns, they come directly to me and we have really changed. I think the outlook as a whole in our community up there and are working really hard to move towards everybody. One vision moving forward and what we're doing. And so I'm optimistic that it's going to return. Um, our biggest roadblocks in that right now are funding. You all graciously agreed at our request to fund a portion of the winter shelter. Unfortunately, our request for such, like through the county commission, was denied. The winter shelter last year cost, our budgeted line item was $68,000. And as of right now, we only have $40,000 committed. So that's another big part of that conversation that has to take place is where's the rest going to come from? that comes with cuts to Grace Shelter, too, as well from a few different areas this year. So we definitely have some, I'm not even gonna call them roadblocks, I'm gonna call them speed bumps in front of us, because I know that we're gonna figure it out. But as far as everybody that was present during our meeting this afternoon, I'm confident that as long as we can get everybody to cooperate and make this happen, then we'll be able to serve our community for another year, for another winter.

I will add, at our H3 board meeting yesterday, it seemed more positive to me than it had in the last couple of months. And after your conversation today, the new president of the board, Dean Amaro, has already emailed the board saying it looks like it's moving in the right direction. Does anyone have questions for Mindy?

Yeah. Thanks, Mindy. First of all, I love your outlook and your approach, what I'm hearing about it. Your attitude seems great. I appreciate it. I love that you have metrics. You have some statistics and some data. I think that's something that we need to improve on as a community. You have 19 beds. What would your turn away rate look like? Like per day? Yeah. Five plus? Five plus a day, yeah. Where are your referrals coming from? Where are you seeing folks come to the shelter?

I try to prioritize those that are unhoused on the streets. That is one of the things that as they make contact with us, that as I'm able to make a bed space available for them, those are the most immediate need. We also get a significant number of our clients from other mental health facilities. We get quite a few from Ruby. We get them out of the jail systems, out of incarceration. We have a little bit of everywhere. The majority of our need is direct-to-door. they're showing up.

Are they coming from outreach or from, when you say from the streets, are they, I mean, we've got outreach personnel from a variety of different organizations out there.

We've had a lot more uptick, especially with the outreach and I think one of the biggest contributors is now that Health Right has relocated up there, their clients have a more direct access to us and so I have quite a few that are coming. continuously checking on our bed availability and things like that. So as far as referrals, pretty much every service provider that I have been able to make contact with, I've reassured them to please send people to us that as space comes available, we will do everything we can. So outside of the phone calls that we get from social workers and things like that at other facilities, typically when they come in and we ask, they heard about to us or whatever. It's either word of mouth through just their connections on the street or Health Right or we have the Healthy Mind bus that comes up there on Tuesday and Thursday and we have a lot of unhoused that frequent that that will stop in and check and see if there's any bed space and things like that. So I can't put it all on one source. It's the community as a whole. We've gotten a lot more traction through 211.

That's something that we've really promoted is putting people in contact with that and they we've gotten a lot of referrals through there Okay, great and and then my last question is this is what how would you what's your sense of what our shelter need really is?

You know in terms of space I mean space I need I would love to be able to get to a point where I can open more permanent beds. Yeah, I consistently stay full and I In the most extreme temperatures, it's even worse. In the hottest of the hot, the coldest of the cold, we get anywhere from 10 plus people a day that are needing space. I know consciously that I will never be able to have enough beds to serve every individual. But when we initially took over the shelter in 2024, we had 28 bed spaces. And it's been progressively. pulled down as for occupancy limits. They were gracious enough to grant me an emergency exemption to that during the winter months so that we could double our bed space in there. We have the capacity to do it, it's just the regulatory side of things. So ideally I would like to see that shelter returned to 28 beds.

But 28, 28, is that, do you think that's sufficient? Do you think?

We are a 19-bed facility, but in full transparency, I have 21 people in the shelter right now. I operate two emergency bed spaces at all times. I had a veteran show up that walked here from Beckley that had no soles on the shoes that he had on when he got here. And so we took him in to get him out of the elements so that he can seek the medical care that he needs. We have a really great communication line with the veteran representatives and stuff. They actually are coming to get him tomorrow to take him to their places, but I couldn't consciously turn him away.

I understand. Good for you. Thank you.

Other questions for Mindy?

How's the funding going, the grants? I know that our last conversation with Catholic Charities, they had talked about applying for grants. How is that process going?

So we just got our notice for our DOH funding through the COC, and that came under ask. So as of right now, all of our financial requests that we have made are under for the next fiscal year. So I recently applied for a Home for Good grant. One of the things I'm working on doing is getting my staff PRSS certified. We are a 24-hour facility, so having access to those individuals immediately is something I am prioritizing. And so I wrote into, we submitted a request for the Home for Good grants. It is something that I probably, I think most people probably scroll TikTok and things like that, and I'm always looking for things that I think would be beneficial for us. It's something that I probably talk to Mark about once a week, trying to figure out what other gaps that we can fill.

How about the... First Foundation.

They are in the process of looking at that. There was some wording because we are a low barrier shelter that made that questionable.

Oh, really? Mm-hmm. Okay. I didn't know that. Yeah. Because they're pretty good. Aren't they a good source of grants?

They typically are, yes. And that's one of the discussions that we're having right now. Okay. As a possibility.

Appreciate it.

Yeah.

ESG funding is another, yeah.

Yeah, that's what I was saying. Are you looking at ESG funding?

So we have a grant writer through Catholic Charities and so anytime that something comes across her desk, that's something that she'll send to me. I have been focusing more on our local assets and things like that. So honestly, that's probably something Mark would probably speak a little bit more on. I focus on my community and things like that as much as I can. So I believe that is one of them that's on the list. I would love to be able to sit here and ramble off every one of them that we're looking at. That one doesn't stick out to me, but it is something that I feel is there that is part of the discussion.

It will open up in 10 days, just so you're aware.

Yeah, so I have one that opens up, I think, in 7 and another one that opens up in 10. So I think that will probably be the one that they're planning on.

I'd probably look at the Hazel Ruby McQuint Foundation as well. Oh, yeah, yeah. And the other local foundations.

Yeah, we do receive a donation from Milan Pushkar as well. So we have some other smaller resources, too, that we plan on having some bigger conversations with.

With respect to ESG, I understand. I think the allocation last year was $1.8 million to the state of West Virginia and about $50,000, only $50,000 comes here. With our pick count numbers, it seems like just the business case alone would demand more funding.

The pick count, I think, was probably, in my opinion, the most successful it's been this year because we hadn't significant number of boots on ground collecting data and it was I think very eye-opening to the people that don't do this every day.

Yeah, yeah, we did.

Yeah, it was great.

Hi Mindy, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. The bike accident is unfortunate, but I'm happy for the chance to meet you and hear you speak. It's incredibly heartening to hear you speak about the shelter. I just wanted to say thank you. I appreciate your perspective and your strategy of empowering your clients. I love hearing that. It's their lives. I think it's way more effective and sustainable, statistically and historically. Love that. And also how you're trying to un-silo all of our resources. I know that's a real issue in our community. We have the resources, but it's difficult to get them to the right people sometimes. I appreciate your efforts in collaboration. And I know you work closely with a lot of us, but let us know however we can help with that.

I appreciate that.

Any other questions? So I'm just sort of collecting my updates. Staffing overnight, how was that working for you? Was that one person or two people?

No, I had two people on staff at all times. There were two people in my building at all times.

I like that. Because I had talked to people. You said that we're trying to do it sometimes.

It's a change I established when I came in. Yes, there are two staff members. I mean, obviously outside of catastrophes and call-offs where I can't get somebody to come in, but typically at that point it's me or my case manager going in at 4 a.m. to get some relief on them and things like that.

Yeah, generally two is great. And then are you operating, so when it's 19, is that the two spaces, so the space that Bartlett House traditionally had and then the...

um space that used to be for the super living yeah yeah no we are solely located in the second floor which is the previous barlin house and i guess that might be a question for you then so who's in this that other space that's where our winter shelter will be potentially the shelter okay it's being used as office space right now no one is renting it but It is there and available. Yes.

Good. Well, between the changes in the numbers in the existing spaces, then it's tricky to know which spaces are being used. So if that helps. And then, let's see. I do like the idea of empowering, of asking individuals what's next, because they're the only ones who can do it. So guiding people in those directions is very helpful. And then the space near where the washers and dryers and showers and stuff, there was going to be another space developed in there. Has that been developed yet?

That I actually got an update on in our meeting. There's a pre-bid, pre-construction bid meeting on August the 10th.

So then we would have more day space potentially when it's a 90 day turn.

It would be a 60 to 90 day turnaround from construction go. So they're just now doing the pre-bid meeting, you know, then there's more time before the bids are due and then mobilization time, but they're hoping by, The end of November. They're hoping by the end of November about the time that we would need winter shelter space, then that would become available for extra daytime space. Right, yes.

And so that's part of the conversation we had today was, you know, last year we didn't have access to transportation for the winter shelter and things like that. So them actually exiting the facility was impossible. So we ran it 24 hours a day. I'm not opposed to doing that again. I do it already for grace, but Because we have the access to transportation so they can get out to come You know to their appointments and things like that that it would if we can coordinate to have it the day center New build I guess done established by then it would allow us to I don't want to call it a 12-hour. I don't think that, not letting them come back in until 8 p.m. and then having to be out by 8 a.m., but it would allow us a short amount of hours where that's where they could go and still be out of the elements but not have to be in the shelter.

Well, that lets you turn around and do all the things that need to happen. You know, if people are there 24 hours, it's hard to...

It's hard to do a lot of things.

Cleaned up and your staff doing whatever they need to do.

Yeah, so even if it would allow us just a five-hour window of getting it cleaned up, getting any beds that were vacant changed over, things like that, it would be tremendously helpful.

Your wish list for what else would help? your clients in this endeavoring for what's next. What would you like to see up at Hazel's House that would, so wish list, that would help your clients and some of the other clients that flow through? Could it be job help? Job resources.

I think that would be the biggest and maybe some disability services. We have kind of clients that sit on both sides of that. Ones that My case manager is fantastic at fighting the social security system and doing what she needs to do to help clients apply for disability and things like that. But it would be, you know, she's one person to our 19 plus clients. And so it would be disability services and employment would be. I work very closely with Jessica. Our offices are on opposite sides of the hallway. So her and I talk about these things quite often. And that's two of the things that we both have. I want to say dreams for, but plans for. We're very much about speaking things into existence.

Thank you.

A follow up to one of Mark's questions. Do you see a lot of people that need shelter from our county, from our city? Yeah. Do we have a high number over there now? Or is it just like localized?

I mean, we have a significant number. More than 50% of the clients that are there are residents of Montani. Montani. Yeah.

Any additional questions?

In terms of, and I hate to harp on it, especially since it seems like I'm not asking the right person, but in terms of grant funding, like was the balance of state sought after, the COC funding this year? That's the part that...

Yes, we did receive.

You received...

Yes. the DOH funding or no, the balance of state.

So the COC finding that just the letter of intent was just last month.

Yeah. So that is very heavy on transitional housing. And while one of the things I did not mention, we did take over the third floor transitional housing. I've spent a significant amount of time talking with Jessica Gregg with the coalition. And we only have five transitional housing units. That's what my background is in, is housing. I've spent a significant amount of time working in low income housing. And so pie in the sky dreams is for us to have access to additional transitional housing in the future. It was where we leaned towards Home for Good over the Balance of State funding.

OK. That's been a source of funding for a lot of our, that was a source of funding for the shelter in the past before when it was Bartlett House. It's also a source of funding for Project Rainbow. So I just encourage you to look into it, to think about it.

Yeah, it is what our grant director is, and one of the things that she is working on. A lot of that is funneled through the executive leadership team. It doesn't, I can give you stats and numbers all day long for what we do, but a lot of that requires Catholic Charities as a whole information, so that's typically done on their end.

Okay. It's probably one of the biggest topics that we have come up with. It's just that we'd love for you guys to be self-sustaining as much as possible. Absolutely. To be frank and transparent, Bartlett, when it was at its peak, I guess you could say, was operating at a pretty large budget. I dug deep into their budgets at the time and what's done is done. But the amount of resources The amount of resources that were wasted by that organization was troubling. But you guys have done a lot on a little for a long, not a long time, but enough time. And so I would just love to see an organization like yours take advantage of. I think we can all agree that we're in a much better situation with our shelter now with you guys. Being at the helm than we were before, it was a constant source of stress, I think, for us to have to have a back and forth with a shelter that was dysfunctional a lot of the time. So to have a good partner, I think, has been a source of relief and has been great. And so I appreciate all the work you guys are doing. Could we have your contact information? Of course. I'm sure a lot of people do, but I don't think I do.

I have that.

I can share it. Well, if it's okay if Danielle shares it. That would be great.

We also now have an automated system when you call. So you can call the shelter number and I'm option two.

Oh, okay, cool.

Even to my cell phone when I'm not in the office.

There you go. I can do that too. Or I can just stop up and see it.

Yeah, I welcome it. Anybody that ever wants to come and spend time, that's one of the biggest things is I want those that are kind of on the outside looking in to come and see the inside because it's very different.

Yeah.

We're working really hard to come away from the reputation that we were handed. It's something that I've spent a significant amount of time in the last eight months doing, but I'm really proud of the response that we're getting.

I mean, and I can tell you from a person who interacts with people on the street frequently is that there's a different attitude. And that took a long, I mean, again, it's not been that long, but it's taken longer than you would hope.

Two or three years already.

Yeah. to get that to where it needed to be. And so that's all your guys' work. So I appreciate that. It's made, I think, a lot of other people's jobs a lot easier when we don't have to twist people's arms to try to get them from prison to death. So yeah, appreciate it.

And I frequently am in contact with Mark Phillips if there's any specific question. He even offered to meet with a subset of us virtually or whatever as we prepare for a warming shelter and things like that if you're specifically interested in grants and funding. Sure. Happy to help facilitate that and have a brief discussion with him about that. Sounds good. Sorry you got put on the spot.

I'm just going to be honest. If there's stuff that I'm like, I don't know.

I texted Mark yesterday. You're still coming, right? And he's like, oh, about that. I think. And then Sarah checked in with us today and said, just so you know, Mindy's going to come. I was like, yeah, we're on it. We appreciate you being willing to fill in and give this. We have a meeting next week that is focused on social service coordination and a large topic there. We intend to be shelter and winter shelter. So we were just hoping for an update as we head into those conversations. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Ask her about busing. What do you want me to ask her about busing? You can ask. How have the bus, so we have bus vouchers. That ended. Individual bus vouchers and then bus passes that agencies have and that can be assigned to a person. I don't know how that's working for you right now. I'm just curious.

So our clients do not qualify for the residential passes because they are not, permanent residents. So we've been able to work with them for those that are working, especially specifically those that are working during bus hours, where they give them a waiver in order to get the residential card. The commitment that we had from the Mountain Line Transit Authority for the certain number of passes per month, that ended in June. So as of July, that financial responsibility falls on grace.

And so that's where we stand is some people have passes if they're working and otherwise that's your financial burden at this point.

H3 recently got, it's really MCR. I just refer to it as H3 because no one knows what the heck I'm talking about when I say MCR. Morgantown Community Resources, the board that owns and operates Hazel's House of Hope. H3 recently got a personal donation, a significant personal donation to help with bus passes. And I know Jessica Thompson has been working with our grant writer, to apply for additional funds to help fill that gap that was left when the county's partnership with Mountain Lion For the for the passes.

Yeah, that's what what Jessica I've been working on.

I just didn't know how official that Yeah, so we our plan is for if she's able to secure that funding for that to become a building resource a h3 resource and

I've got some really tech savvy staff that are really great at spreadsheets and so we're gonna create a Google live document so that we were able to track what grace versus the day room versus Lauren's wish each individual structure is utilizing so that way in the event that we have to continue to ask for additional funding, we know what those numbers are going to look like.

You know how much you did, yeah.

OK. Thank you. Thanks. And Councilor Salina, if I may, the city still does have a program where we fund approximately 2,000 passives per month that are handed out either through the library, our ambassadors, or through our social worker in the police department. So that program, from the city's standpoint, is still operational. I know it doesn't meet the full need,

Thank you. All right. And again, Laura Jones with Health Right will be here next week for an update before our discussion. We will now move into public hearings. We have one public hearing this evening. This is time for anyone wishing to speak on this item and this item alone. The public portion with general comments will come later. So tonight's public hearing is an ordinance authorizing institution of eminent domain proceedings as needed for acquisition of property in the Greenmont neighborhood. We will open this public hearing. Is there anyone wishing to speak on this item? Seeing none, we will close that public hearing. Move into unfinished business. Item A, consideration of approval of second reading of an ordinance authorizing institution of eminent domain proceedings as needed for acquisition of property in the Greenmont neighborhood. First reading was July 7th, 2026.

Thank you, Mayor. This ordinance authorizes the acquisition of two remaining parcels that are under joint ownership in order to complete the city's CDBG plan for open space in Lower Greenmont. The city and its land reuse agency at various points have been engaged in negotiations with the property owner to acquire that property by agreement. Those discussions are continuing, but due to some issues with the title to the property and liens against the property, the voluntary sale has not been able to be closed yet. This ordinance is in part a proactive measure to allow acquisition of that property by eminent domain in the event that it is just not possible to acquire voluntarily due to those title issues, but also authorizes continued negotiations and voluntary acquisition preferably.

Questions for Attorney Simonton? All right.

Move to approve.

Thank you. Second. Thank you. Additional discussion? Clerk Wake? Yes.

Joe Bugannam?

Yes.

Jody Hollingshead?

Yes.

Wheezy Michael?

Yes.

Ginny Saleen? Yes. Brian Butcher?

Yes.

Deputy Mayor Downs?

Yes.

Mayor Trumbull?

Yes. Passes 7-0. We also have item B, boards and commissions. I do not believe we have any action on this item this evening.

No?

OK. Public portion. We'll move into the public portion. Subject rules established by council, adopted by resolution. Generally, you would come to the podium, state your name and address for the record. You have four minutes to speak. Please no comments of a personal nature. You should address council as a whole. There's a sign up sheet, but no one's on it. So is there anyone wishing to speak this evening? Seeing none, we will move on. There are no special committee reports. We will move into the consent agenda. There's a number of items on the consent agenda. I will read through each item. If any member of council wishes to pull an item off of the consent agenda, they may do so. Otherwise, all items will be considered at once with no deliberation. Item A, consideration of approval of a resolution amending fiscal year 26-27 budget for the capital escrow fund, revision number one. Item B, consideration of approval of a resolution amending fiscal year 2026-2027 budget for the general budget, revision number one. Item C, consideration of approval of a resolution authorizing the city manager to execute agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration, AIP, grant number 3-54-0015-059-2026. Item D, consideration of approval of a resolution authorizing the submittal of an application for a Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing grant, PRO grant. Item E, consideration of approval of a request for a proposal award fire station source capture exhaust system. Is there any item that should be pulled off of the consent agenda?

Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Motion to approve.

Thank you. Second. Thank you. Clerk Wade?

Yes. Joe Bugannam?

Yes.

Jody Hollingshead? Yes. Wheezy Michael? Yes. Jenny Saleen?

Yes.

Brian butcher.

Yes.

Deputy mayor downs.

Yes.

Mayor Trumbull? Yes. Passes 7-0. Move into new business. Item A, consideration of approval of bid call 2027-04-2026 Street Improvement Project. Just kept on reading numbers there, but it's the 2026 Street Improvement Project.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. We have Damian Davis here, our Director of Public Works and Engineering. He will present our bid call for our Street Improvement Project for this fiscal year.

Good evening.

I was so hoping I was going to be on the consent agenda.

No such luck, Damian. Thank you.

Thank you. So 2026 paving project was lit here last week. We had three bids.

Pretty decent bids, kind of around what we anticipated. Anderson excavating being the low bid at $758,000 and change. We've worked with Anderson in the past. Prada Paving, who is currently doing the 2025 paving, which we'll talk about a little bit later, came in second and then Bear a distant third. This is well within what we have budgeted for the project for this year. And I'll go through the map here of what streets we're looking at paving. We've kind of recently, last year and this year, we're kind of breaking it into little areas. One, to help bring the cost down. The contractor makes it easier for them to do a little area of the moves and do a little area instead of jumping all over the place. So we've been trying to concentrate paving in certain areas. Look at the map, the next few pages. A couple of these streets, actually, we are going to probably... Don't forget your clicker.

Oh, yeah.

Sorry. There we go.

A couple of these streets, we are going to probably pull off of there. MUB has asked us to reconsider two or three of them. They asked for more, but two or three of them they have scheduled in the near future to do. So we're looking at pulling those ones. One that was on here too as well, Mansfield, right there. It's kind of right on the border of city, Morgantown and Star City. It kind of crosses there, and I think Star City paid that actually for it. We're going to pull that one off as well. And thanks to our city for paving that for us.

So if you're pulling some of these off, will they be replaced? They'll be replaced with other streets, yes.

What's the dotted line?

It's just the material of them, whether it's concrete anticipated for an overlay, asphalt, mill and fill, or it just is the material. So it's an internal tracking that we use.

Yeah, we have some streets that are, you know, it's a concrete sub-basin. It's overlaid with asphalt over the years because concrete gets expensive to redo itself. And then the other ones are just asphalt all through and through. So we're looking at doing about 5.6 miles of roadway this time. That's kind of what we're doing in 2025 as well, about the same amount. With this pace, if we keep this pace up, that's about 5% of our streets. And so over the next five years, we're looking at doing a quarter of our streets, which puts us on about a 20-year rotation, give or take. We are looking at next year some of the neighborhoods that we're looking at doing. Well, okay. Currently right now, the 2025 that's in progress, we're about 60%, 70% of the way through. They have done everything in green on there is done, and then pink is what's left to do currently. They're up in the North High Street area, Belmar Mansion is where they're working at right now. Once they're done up there, they'll move down to... the Greenmont area in South Park neighborhood area.

Remind us which company?

So this right here is Parada Paving is doing this work right now.

Is what?

Parada Paving is doing this work. And like I said, they're about a little over 60% done.

But the recommendation for next year for the award that you're considering is for Anderson. Yes.

And again, we've worked for the past 10 years. It's been back and forth between Anderson and Prada. Yeah. Have been doing most of the paving.

We have heard those names. Yes. Yeah.

Yeah. Recently it's been Prada, but now Anderson has moved back in, I guess. Yeah. So looking ahead the next five years, we're planning the next five-year program. We worked with Kimley Horn a few years back to evaluate all the conditions of the streets. And so they put together a plan for us. We're taking that plan, modifying it a little bit to make things more efficient. Instructable they looked at every road segment and so you'd have one road segment here was in This in year one the next one would be year three and so we're looking at trying to balance this out Maybe do those in all of them in year two as an example So you're grouping them? Yeah So 2026 is what we're currently It's up for approval today. 2027, we're looking at over there approximately the same amount of roadways as this, about five to six miles of roadway. 28, 29, same thing. We're looking at keeping around five, six miles of roadway and still trying to keep it grouped. So it makes it easier on the contractor where they can work in an area, stay in an area, and get a lot more done instead of jumping all around. We're still working on 2030, looking at massaging that, chimney horns. We have some time on that. This is what it looks like those five years look like together represents about So with that in the previous years we are In the 75% range of paving all the city streets from 2016 to this

And about, well, by the time this goes, it'll be a 15-year span, right? Yes.

And we'll look at it, potentially end up having, there's several streets that have deteriorated faster than anticipated, so they'll loop back in. But next year we're looking at trying to start up a preservation program where we're looking at trying to look at these streets we've done in the past five years and start doing some preservation treatments to them, crack sealing, fog sealing microsurfaces, things like that to try to keep them in better shape for longer. It's a lot cheaper to maintain than it is to redo. Our only issue with that is there's not a whole lot of contractors in the area that do that. Contractors we've talked to that do a lot of this are Ohio or Pennsylvania. Not too many local contractors do a lot of the pavement preservation techniques.

Damien, that 25% that's going to be left after this five-year plan that would approximately be left after this five-year plan I assume is some of our more challenging.

yeah i mean our lower volume the you know the that aren't is in bad shape you know that have don't get uh the the traffic that other streets do that make them deteriorate faster so is university avenue up through sunny side that's what we're going to be looking at redoing that's one we've done and we did that one in 2016, I think. 2016, 2017, I think we did that one. The bus traffic. Yeah, when COVID happened, W switched the heavy buses on that, and it took a beating.

We had some water and drainage issues. The stress fractures are evident. And then I'm obviously, I'm hoping this is Karen Lane up here.

in 2028 don't bet on that and to you know uh their counselor what you'll see a shift in right there not only will what you will see as we head into the budget year we'll be looking at some pavement preservation but we will on those larger roads that you're spending a big chunk calling them out as a separate project in our cip and

making sure that they are on this radar but also separate so we can look for additional funding sources. Yeah, this is really kind of business as usual maintenance, right, preservation type work and then we've got some more complicated

we have a few. North High Street was one of those complicated ones that we're taking care of right now. Karen Lane is going to be one of those complicated ones.

Yes. We've done that with a couple of our more difficult streets that require design, ones recently in addition to North High that didn't really have as heavy of a design, though. We did that with North Street. We did that with the Beechhurst and First Avenue relocation. So those were all projects that were funded through the MSF. purposely pulled them out as a separate project, I imagine Karen Lane would be the same thing where that would be required to be pulled out from a separate project.

Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks.

Pavement preservation. Another thing we're looking at... of the issues we have you know with limited funds and utilities cutting into the roads and you know these are just listed with the challenges that we have that looking forward and so we're going to try to address a lot of these issues and in different ways one of the ways is you know with our utilities we've been working with them to do a lot better job this is some of the Some of the issues that we see out there with the gas company was pretty bad. They typically would come in with their own crews, go out there, do it, and then throw gravel on it and wait six months. So they got a bunch of them. come back and do a terrible job. But lately, my staff's been working with them, making them do more significant repairs, whether it's the whole width of the roadway for 20 feet on either side of the cut or half a lane, same thing, just to make them do a better job. One of the instances, if you've been on Folling Run and Prossman, that was in bad shape because of the utility companies

recently we just were able to repair that and it's really they did a really good job on that one we just had an instance of one of the 2025 roads that we just paved within like three days that was kind of

Yeah, there's a gas leak, and we're trying to get them to do it beforehand. They're like, nah, it's not that bad. We'll address it in the near future. It's not that bad. It's only leaking a little bit of gas.

They really don't live there.

Yeah, in three days, they came in, and they found money all of a sudden to fix it, or maybe it could have been worse, and three days after we paid, they were digging it up. So we're going to make them do a significant repair on that one as well.

I would think we'd be a little concerned paving over something that was not to be leaking.

Yeah. I mean, they're repaired. It's leaking. They've repaired it. It's not like a line replacement where it's got patches along that pipe, many patches along the pipe. So they came in and fixed that three days after we paved. This is some of the, we're tracking, and with that we're tracking all these locations with the gas company and MOB to make sure that things don't get lost. So right now we're tracking 42 locations. 13 have been completed with that. And that's everything. Questions?

Before we head into questions, if I may ask you just to talk a little bit about, because this is coming in within our budget for the next fiscal year, can you talk a little bit about the curb ramp, which is not something that you all are seeing tonight or considering tonight, but why there are some funds that we're keeping in this fiscal year in order to do some curb ramp projects this year?

So with curb ramps in the past when we did paving, we did a small amount of streets and it was easy for the contractor to stay ahead of themselves doing the ramps and paving. Over the past few years with us doing more and more streets, it's got to the point where the concrete crews are bumping, or the asphalt crews are bumping up against concrete. It's been delaying things. So now we're looking at, as we are with pavement preservation, doing those as a separate project, pulling those out, getting ahead of the construction asphalt people, maybe doing them a year ahead of time and then them paving the next year. So we're looking at trying to pull those out separately just to keep that separation of space in between those two contractors and we'll see if it does better. And it'll allow, a lot of times we're hoping it'll allow things to settle a little bit and we won't have so much settlement issues at the curb ramps and then we'll be able to pave to those ramps and do a better job paving to those ramps and meeting any of the guidelines that we need to meet with those.

MS. Louise, you had a question?

MR.

Yes. North High Street. what an estimated completion date is, and are we going all the way down to Willie Street?

Yes and yes. So, yes, it's going to go all the way down to Willie Street. Before school is our goal.

Okay.

Before student move-in to the dorms is our goal.

So I think our first date is Thursday the 10th. Am I correct on that? I'm not sure yet. Okay.

First day of classes, I believe, is the... The 18th was the first day of class.

So they would move in three days before that?

Yeah, because I think I got assigned to Dadsman. So like the 15th or the?

The college apartments is August 1st. I have to look.

Yeah, those ones are a little different than the dorm move-in. But yeah, that's our goal is to be before the students move into like Borman, Dadsman, and Soniker to have that completed. Right now, we've got some curb work that they're going to be out there doing, patching some of the curbs, and then they'll be back in to finish up the paving. We're looking at doing a raised intersection there, but we're still working on that to see how that's going to work out.

13th, 14th, 15th. 13th's the first day of move-in for Dadsman and Stonaker.

Is that a Wednesday, Thursday?

Yeah, it looks like a Thursday. It is on the calendar. All right. Borman, looks like the 12th, they'll have some move-in for Borman.

Well, the 11th is our goal then.

What's that?

I said the 11th is our goal.

All right.

No, but yeah, they should be done before that. Okay. Yeah, today's the 21st. Yeah, they should be done before that.

Can I ask you a question? Yeah.

Are you good, Louise? Yeah, I'm good. That was my question.

I know that we had done a walk. I'd be remiss if I didn't ask in regards to my neighborhood about Callan Avenue and the sinkhole.

So Bob is working on several sinkholes in that neighborhood right now. They're working on one on West Virginia, the dead end side of West Virginia. I think they're evaluating that as well.

Okay. I just wanted to make sure so I could share my neighborhood meeting. Thank you.

Other questions for Director Davis? So similar to elevated crosswalk or other kinds of, I'm wondering how often over the next couple of years when we're implementing the paving program, will be simultaneously, I love it that we're doing the curb ramps through your head. Are we doing some of like the network sidewalks or curbs or other improvements in the right of way? Yeah.

Where we can. If we are doing ramps and there's sidewalk tabs, near that that are in bad shape, we do go back and try to do some panels. Same with Kerr. We do try to patch some areas where we can, but not big, long stretches, no. We are looking at planning some larger projects for sidewalk if funding becomes available. But we do have the assessment of those conditions of the sidewalks, where our priorities lay, what projects we want to get done, when funding comes available for those. And we have those based on where there's gaps in the network, where there's actual sidewalks that just spot improvements need made. So we have our priorities laid out based on three different buckets. Depending on how the funding comes in?

For non-network sidewalks where neighborhoods are, like some neighborhoods were interested in people getting together and hiring for their sidewalks that they're obligated to repair because they're not part of the They're not part of the network. It would be neat to encourage like maybe through the neighborhood coordinating council or some other neighborhood oriented group the idea that people might like to get together and have the concrete done together.

It's definitely cheaper when neighbors work together on that. We have had that up in the Willie Street area. We had several property owners that cut together.

There's one in Evansdale that they're working. They've got someone and they're working. And then are we working with the gas company now as much as we... working with mob on letting them know ahead of time where we're going to be working and encouraging them to make repairs and it sounded like it yes we're sending out our list to them so they can evaluate this as well we haven't had a request for them to from them to delay a street or anything like that yet though perfect It used to be that we did paving, we started paving earlier in the season so that then we avoided when school came back in session, be it the... That's still the goal. Right, right. And so, and I understand how it got skewed because we were working on a lot of very important particular projects that took up time and planning time. So... kind of as we move forward, maybe over the next couple of years, we could try to shift a little bit earlier. And I know maybe the budget funds wouldn't be available yet or something, but it just would be great if we could make use of the spring.

That is the goal that's going forward. Now that we've got 28 planned, that's how it will go out. As you know, like you said, last year we got delayed. I was doing four jobs last year.

Doing special, doing good projects.

We had a lot of big projects, and we were short-staffed. So things got delayed. We're catching up, and that's the goal.

Yeah, that's fine. I think... I really appreciate you working on this and I think it's really important to do the grouping of projects so we can get more projects done. And I'm just saying that as somebody whose neighborhood didn't get favored this year and I'm good, I think we need to make sure that we're make sure that we're working on that. And also, I've noticed some of the good patching and poor patching. So if you can help train up all those who are patching and ask people to redo what hasn't been done well, then maybe we'll keep getting better patching. Thank you.

Hey, Damian, I've got one more question. So $135,000 a mile is about what we're coming in at, right? So how does that compare regionally from a competitive range?

I think the reason it's comparable to Fairmont and Clarksburg is You know, our projects are very similar in nature. It's Fairmont. They have a user fee that they use mostly for paving as well. A lot of the same contractors bid on our projects as they bid on their projects. And so I think, you know, the only difference, I think, would be that different asphalt suppliers down there versus up here. Yeah.

So that's a big driver, right? And that's kind of where I was getting at. I mean, it's in... range of kind of industry standards, right, for paving nationally, but... A little more than DOH pays. Yeah, yeah, right. I think DOH gets better pricing on the asphalt, and obviously if we could, you know, if there's a way to realize more savings on our asphalt, that's going to show up in the bottom line, so...

Yeah, they do a higher volume than us, DOH, and that's when they get the better. But there is potentially ways we can work with them.

Yeah, so collaborate. Maybe there's something to be said for collaboration or could be realized through collaboration. I don't know. But I know you're thinking about it and you're working on it. I appreciate that. Thanks.

Yeah, we always compare. We try to, as we're going through, we've looked at potentially trying to piggyback off the state contract, and we look at the DOH prices in this region and try to see if we think that's going to be a better price than we will get being competitively bid out. It's always similar, depending on, like I said, the asphalt plant, the DOH gets their...

asphalt from. They get to work with lots of different asphalt suppliers.

I'm on their website. I don't see it. You can look at, if you go to BIDX, a lot of what projects they're bidding out.

But it's a pain to go through because you've got to go through each letting and see where Mon County falls in there.

Do we have any scheduled for the city of Morgantown?

So we just met with the DOH this morning. They got a high street planned for next year. They have Spruce Street planned for next year. They're looking at doing Mon Boulevard, bidding out Mon Boulevard. Bidding it out this year, we're likely constructing it next year. They said that two years ago. Yeah. They just moved it up, I think.

Spruce Street was supposed to be two years ago.

What was the other one?

They received some additional funding, so they were able to, projects they thought were going to be longer would be able to be.

So they're bringing Maughan Boulevard a little forward. Spruce Street might get bid out a little sooner, but it likely will be next year for construction. Yeah, they have several roads in the city that are going to be paved next year, as well as they have the Walnut Street bridge replacement that's scheduled for next year, hopefully. So they have a number of good projects in this area.

Yeah. That's good to hear.

Yeah.

Any additional questions for Director Davis?

Thank you. We are approving the 2026 paving. Kind of got off everywhere. Thanks.

Move to approve.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Any additional discussion?

Clerkway? Yes. Joe Bugan?

Yes.

Jody Hellingstad? Yes. Weezy Michael? Yes. Jenny Salee?

Yes.

Brian Butcher? Yes.

Deputy Mayor Downs?

Yes.

Mayor Trumbull?

Yes. Passes 7-0. Item B, consideration of approval of a first reading of an ordinance of the City of Morgantown amending the city charter to require elections be held on the May primary election date.

Thank you, Mayor. This is an ordinance designed to comply with state law updates that require municipalities to move their elections to either the May primary or the November general election and coordinate those with the county administration of the election. 2025 Senate Bill 50 required that change and required that it become effective and then legislation passed this year provided, in part, a specific method for making that change so that city councils can adopt the change by ordinance, even if, like Morgantown, they need to amend their charter to do so. What this ordinance does in particular for Morgantown is create a transition period where each of the seven council seats will be elected to a three-year term and then resume four-year terms immediately after, but moving from odd-year elections, which we have now, to even-year elections that will be held on the May primary each year. Under this ordinance in 2027, the odd-numbered seats would be up for election for a three-year term in June 30, 2030. In 2029, the even-numbered seats would be up for a three-year term ending in June 2032, and that would be the last local city election in April beginning in 2030. the election would move to the May primary, and the election would be for four-year terms for those seats, and the next set of seats would be in 2032 for a set of four-year terms, and then the cycle would continue thereafter. When this ordinance was brought back before council after the 2026 process changes, there was public comment about the timing of the change and the ability to coordinate the change with the upcoming census and following redistricting as well as options kind of address the precinct boundaries or potential precinct boundary changes in how we do this. And so council has to table the ordinance, investigate that, and have that brought back. We've had a chance to talk to the person making the public comment as well as the county clerk about those items. So one aspect was the upcoming census and redistricting and the potential to wait until after the effects of that are known to make the change in election dates. But the census will be conducted in 2030 with precinct boundary changes potentially coming the year after. This change needs to occur beginning in 2032, that latest. Morgantown will need to hold elections on the May primary or November general at that time. And because of how your terms are set up, there needs to be a transitional term before that so that we can move from an odd-numbered-year election to an even-year election. So we can't to start making that change after the redistricting is done. However, also, the precinct boundaries do not significantly impact how Morgantown's elections will be held now or when they're administered by the county. There are nine precinct boundaries within Morgantown, but Morgantown holds an at-large election where every voter votes for every seat that is up for election each time. And so there's no... there's not an issue where somebody who is voting in one ward might think they would go to the wrong polling place. In fact, once the change is made, everybody will just have one polling place they go to for every election. I think that covers it. I did talk through those issues with the county clerk and recirculate the ordinance draft. And I don't think we had any others to follow up on, but I'm happy to address any questions council has.

Are there any specific questions for Attorney Symington?

Move to approve. Second.

Thank you.

Additional discussion. Clerk Wade. I don't like it, but I'm going to vote for it.

I love it. I'm going to vote for it.

I worked really hard to help the state get this through and then make the changes, so I'm excited.

Joe Buchanan?

Yes.

Jody Hollingshead? Yes. Wheezy Michael?

Yes.

Jenny Saline? Yes. Brian Butcher?

Yes.

Deputy Mayor Downs?

Yes.

Mayor Trumbull? Yes. That's a 7-0.

Item C, consideration of approval of first reading of an ordinance amending Article 953, private outdoor designated areas.

Yes, thank you. Mayor, Assistant City Manager Emily Mazzarelli will be presenting this item.

Thank you, Mayor and City Manager. So we are in our third summer of POTA. And when we originally adopted the ordinance, Council set a committee to review all new applications. A number of other things as related to POTA. What is in front of you today makes it an administrative process. There are a number of other cities that handle their POTA administratively. We recently had a POTA committee meeting where this was an item brought up and they all felt comfortable that the background investigation that was done kind of leading up to each of any issuing of licenses was kind of done and they felt that at this point could be a process that moved to administrative. So that would be handled completely by city staff. The goal of this is really to speed the process up to if a business does apply for a license, there could be a quicker turnaround time as opposed to gathering a committee at a time that works for everyone. We're only meeting usually once or twice a year. But being able to move that process instead of trying to find the time, get an official agenda posted, keep minutes and kind of for that full process. So it's intended to be an efficiency measure. I know the Mayor has sat on that committee and was actively involved in, I don't know, anything else to add from your standpoint?

I think when we were getting public input leading up to the creation of our POTA district, we put the committee in as a out of an abundance of caution, just extra eyes from different stakeholders around the community. We have had no significant issues, police, fire, ABCA, there's been nothing reported. So at this point, I'm comfortable allowing this to move through administration. I just last week had to locate and type minutes from a meeting that happened in June of 2025. um because that's the last time prior to last week that was the last time this committee met um and yeah we we are down a couple of members right now the main street member has moved on off of that board so they're in a position where they would have to replace and um one of the stakeholders from an alcohol-based business has closed that business, so now seemed like a good time instead of appointing new folks to consider making that an administrative process. Any questions for Assistant City Manager? Or me? Sounds good.

Yeah, sounds like a good thing.

Okay, is there a motion?

Move to approve.

Thank you. Second. Thank you. Further discussion? Clerk Wake?

Yes. Joe Buchanan? Yes. Jody Hollingshead? Yes. Weezy Michael?

Yes.

Jenny Saline?

Yes.

Brian Butcher? Yes. Deputy Mayor Downs?

Yes.

Mayor Trimble?

Yes. Passes 7-0. City Manager's Report.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Just a couple of brief things. As a reminder, we do have our National Night Out activity August 5th at 6 p.m. at Crafts Park. Thank you for all of the partnerships and the staff that's put work into that program. I do want to highlight I think I believe that we were very fortunate. We were headed into some potential severe weather today. I wanted to highlight all of the preparation and the thoughtfulness that staff put into making sure that they were prepared even if we did not get as severe of weather as we intended to, but staff continues to remain vigilant as we head into the evening hours and in case that that takes a turn for the worse but certainly appreciated the preparedness from the staff and the due diligence that took place throughout today and then one last thing as a reminder i will be out of the office starting the end of this week into next week and emily will be the acting city manager in my office that completes my report Yeah. Portland city clerk. Yes. Thank you, mayor.

Um, just want to remind everyone about municipal league conference. You all have some things to sign tonight, so we'll get everything ready for you. Um, the clerk's office will be closed on August 4th through the sixth. Um, so, but of course you can email if you need anything or if anyone in the community needs anything, we're here for them. Um, If you are going, stop by the clerk's silent auction because all of the money that comes from that silent auction, those are all brought from the city clerks from their cities or village or town. They're all donated, and you can support the City Clerks Foundation. This Saturday we'll have entry-level police officer exams. We have 20 applicants as of today, but we're still taking them. If folks are late getting the application, we'll be glad to help them move that along and get them all the information they need for the exam on Saturday. We've been working on the municipal government week, and I just want to throw some dates at you. I will send some emails. I've put a few things on your calendar already. We will be having the Mock City Council meeting again. I'm working with Councillor Bugattam on that date. It will be the week before, either before or after municipal government before. Thank you. So I'll get that date for you all. We'll have it here in council chambers, and we would love to have you come. We will be doing a touch of truck at Suncrest Elementary on Tuesday, October 13th. So the principal, Lee, is pretty excited for all of us to come, and I would love for you all to be there as well if you can to meet the kids. They would enjoy that. I think I remember you saying how fun it was when you went and the kids got to talk to you at Eastwood.

Yeah.

Oh, okay. Um, we will be, uh, doing a trivia this year, something different. And, uh, also on Thursday, October 15th, we will be having a weenie dog race. Um, and so we will have a, I wish I was a weenie dog race too. So folks can bring their other types of dogs. to be in that race. We envision having some of our departments there and the families can come, whoever is there, to see what our departments do and have a little bit of fun too. So I'll send that information out to you as the plans. We're working with Beau Park, with Greg, the director, to use the Bopark Field across from the rink. So we'll be on city property. lots of space and we'll have lots of fun there. Um, and then, uh, lastly, I just want to share, uh, for whoever may be listening, um, we would like to encourage folks to still apply for our boards and commissions. Um, you know, volunteer positions are important part of our local government and w and we couldn't do it without our residents and those folks who take the time out of their day to, uh, be a part of, um, the things that we do here in the city. And so I thought maybe if I could, each time we meet, I'll just give you a little bit of overview of maybe one or two boards that we might be missing or may have some vacancies. And so tonight I just want to share that the personnel board, we have no members. And a little bit about that. The personnel board, what they do, they serve an important advisory role by hearing employee grievances and providing recommendations to the city manager. Also offers advice and guidance to city officials, department heads and supervisors. While we don't need them very often, we still need to have a group of folks there to assist if we do need them. So anyway, I just wanted to share that a little bit.

And people usually have expertise in that area.

Yes, it helps.

Yes, it does definitely help. HR background. Just while we're recruiting, we're looking for people that have some expertise in that area from one direction or another.

Right. And so if anyone who may be listening still, if you know someone, just having them reach out to the clerk's office, we'll be glad to point them in the right direction and point them to the website. And it's not just the personnel board. We have vacancies on many of the others. And honestly, we do appreciate the volunteers. When Bill Austin spoke a couple weeks ago, he served for a very long time, and we appreciate that. So that concludes my report.

Thank you. Report from the city attorney.

Thank you, Mayor. A few quick status updates on ordinance progress. A draft accessory dwelling unit ordinance has been circulated to council and to city staff. And I've received some comments back from staff already. Council, you're welcome to ask any questions or send any comments you have. This has... both the required state law provisions that will need to go into effect by the end of the year as well as being integrated with our existing zoning code and having some local options for your consideration. Ideally, we'll target introduction of that ordinance beginning of September to make sure we can get that adopted and be ready to implement by January. We're continuing to work on an ordinance updating Article 1705, generally providing for building permits. Councillor Downs has been working on that for some time, working with staff. We have some additional recent revisions and should be coming to a conclusion on that. forthcoming update on abandoned non-conforming uses, which council has taken up in a couple of different forms and is now going to be proposed to be addressed through conditional use permit. So I should have that out to you soon. And that is all I have for you.

Thank you. Report from council members. Councillor Butcher, would you like to start today?

I can. I can start. I just wanted to discuss a couple of topics tonight. One being a communication related to a lot of communication that I'm sure a lot of us are receiving regarding flat cameras. It's a huge issue in the state and a big issue in the county right now. I just want people to know that I hear what they're saying and take it seriously and we are looking at options. I think Alex Panger has been advocating at the Monk County Commission and he resides in my ward and he's come here to talk to us before and very knowledgeable on this issue. And I really appreciate all the things, all the recommendations he's had because they're actionable and great. So appreciate that. And like I said, we'll continue to look into what our options are for that. And just so people know we're not ignoring you. on that issue, I understand, and I am concerned about it as well. The other thing, next workshop, our June 30th meeting, or our next July meeting.

28th.

Yeah, 28th. Um, we'll be discussing enhanced connectivity. Um, so people want to come and participate in that. Uh, we would appreciate that. Um, and finally, I just wanted to, um, highlight that. I think that when we appoint folks to various boards and commissions, um, Some have more serious tasks at hand than others. And I would hope that when you apply for these boards and commissions that you take that responsibility seriously, especially when the subject matter is serious and one that has judicial implications. And the way that I've seen the conduct of our Board of Zoning Appeals over quite some time conduct themselves has been disappointing. And I wanted to state that publicly because I think the situation is getting out of hand as far as that board goes. And I think it puts our city at risk and I would hope that, I know our city staff has been engaged. I've watched the meetings and I've seen how city staff is engaged and I appreciate all that work that they're doing and I would encourage just more professional and better behavior on that board. I don't know how else to put it. It's, like I said, not something that, it's something I've been, disappointed by it for some time. It's the first time I've spoken about it publicly because I figured we'll give them a chance, but it is out of hand. And that will conclude my comments for today.

Just to quickly follow up on that, you and I have had that conversation many times over the last six or eight months. Councillor Downs and I happened to watch the meeting where Councillor Selene was in attendance last week and we had a conversation with the city attorney and it's my understanding that another training session with that board is going to be forthcoming imminently.

That's good. Thank you.

Let's see. I had the opportunity to to work with Councilor Michael this weekend and Mo Don Knotts Boulevard again and Greenback Road. I just want to again thank Public Works for the coordination, Director Davis, thank you for, again, for the coordination and making personnel and equipment available for us to do that. And thank you to DOH and Councilor Michael specifically. Thank you for, you know, building that relationship, rebuilding that relationship. It's such a strong place and appreciate their trust and partnership in allowing us to do that. The gateways to our community are critical for their reflection on what we think about our city. And so it's critical that they look as best as they can. And then the last thing I'll mention is I had the opportunity to work in the Oak Grove Cemetery last week on one of the Morgantown mosaic projects and go out and actually volunteer and reset a headstone that had been either vandalized or fallen over because the settlement issues but It was my first time out this year. I got a chance to work out there a couple times last year, but in the course of that activity, some folks from First Ward mentioned that there had been a sign commissioned by the state to recognize Oak Grove Cemetery as a historic landmark. So in the course of lots of conversations and engagement from former Councilor Kuecki, who really deserves a lot of credit for the outcome here, Councilor Michael, again, was able to, through her DOH contacts, find this sign that had been squirreled away in some DOH warehouse for six years. And she and I picked it up and threw it in the back of my pickup truck this afternoon. And it's sitting with Public Works now. I think it just got lost in the gears of government during COVID and it felt like that Nicholas Cage, National Tiger movie. Uh, but, but anyway, uh, so just, uh, appreciate the historic landmarks commission folks that, that engaged to, to help appreciate, um, uh, councilor Bilkweki and, uh, and, and we thank you. So, uh, I'm looking forward to, to seeing that thing, uh, that thing installed. That that's all I have.

Um, I'm wanting to read a letter to the Dominion Post from Matthew Johnson and this is sort of another look at the Board of Zoning Appeals in part from a content of the people who were speaking at the meeting. So this is from Matthew Johnson. On July 15th, I participated in a meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals for the city of Morgantown. I was there to represent and advocate for an organization for which I serve as board president, Abundant Life Recovery Housing Network. Our organization provides safe, structured recovery housing for individuals pursuing long-term recovery from substance use disorder. We provide a much needed service in our community in many ways. During the meeting, many of our residents shared their stories of transformation and hope. If you would like to hear inspiring stories from individuals who have done the difficult work of recovery, I encourage you to watch the recording of the meeting on the City of Morgantown's YouTube channel. Our residents spoke with vulnerability, courage, and honesty, and I could not be more proud of their integrity or their willingness to tell their stories. I should warn you, however, that if you watch the recording, you will also witness stigma and shame at work in our community. The property we hoped to purchase would have allowed us to house 33 individuals in recovery, bringing both economic and community benefits to downtown Morgantown. Yet some of the neighboring institutions, including St. John's Catholic Church and West Virginia University, expressed concerns that reflected longstanding stereotypes about people in recovery. Despite decades of research demonstrating that professionally operated recovery housing does not increase crime or threaten neighborhood safety, much of the discussion centered on fear rather than facts. Members of the community spoke, I mean, pardon me, members of the public spoke passionately, but too often those comments were marked by stigma and the familiar refrain of NIMBY not in my backyard. Listening to those remarks was painful. I can only imagine how much more painful they were than the men and women in recovery who sat in that room and heard themselves described as threats rather than neighbors. I've lived in Morgantown for nearly 13 years. I love this city. I have invested my life in helping make it a stronger, healthier community. That is why I left the meeting deeply saddened. The words spoken that evening did real harm. Stigma surrounding substance use disorder is not merely offensive, it has consequences. It discourages people from seeking treatment, isolates those working to rebuild their lives, and too often contributes to preventable tragedy. Stigma is not just hurtful, it can be deadly. I was particularly saddened by the resistance that came from a community of faith. Abundant Life is a faith-based recovery housing organization, and I, this is Matt Johnson, am a proud United Methodist pastor. To hear fellow followers of Jesus speak in ways that reinforce fear and stigma rather than hope and restoration was deeply disappointing. The faith community in Morgantown can and must do better in the way we speak about and welcome people and recovery. While we knew that West Virginia University had concerns about the proposed location, I continue to be troubled by the university's response. WVU rightly prides itself in serving the people of West Virginia, yet it references to generalized safety concerns seemed inconsistent with that mission. Our state has been devastated by the opioid epidemic. I had hoped our land grant university would choose to partner with organizations working to address that crisis rather than oppose one of the solutions. Many of our residents are already part of the WVU community. They attend classes, they prepare food and dining facilities, they work in maintenance, they do laundry for the hospital. They prefer countless jobs that keep our university running every day. Apparently, they are trusted enough to serve the university, but not welcomed enough to live nearby. In his first State of the University Address, President Michael Taft Benson said, the state university is the people's university. It belongs to the people of the state of West Virginia. It belongs to all of us. I continue to believe those words. My hope is that going forward, All of us will truly include people who are courageously rebuilding their lives in recovery. The Board of Zoning Appeals ultimately denied our request to use a vacant building to provide recovery housing. While I disagree with that decision, it is not my greatest concern. What concerns me most is the conversation our community had along the way. The next time Morgantown discusses people in recovery, I hope we will choose compassion over fear, facts over stigma, and hope over shame. Our neighbors in recovery deserve nothing less. Anyway, I appreciated his treatment at his disappointment and the people who were brave enough to come and talk about their recovery. I was very impressed. That's it for me.

Thank you. mention that I unfortunately will be out of town taking my five-year-old to her first concert next Tuesday. So I won't be here for the social services conversation, which I'm incredibly disappointed about. But I wanted to jump back to something that Mindy shared with us. that only five of the 70 residents of the emergency winter shelter returned back to the streets to homelessness. Only five of 70, 65 people were able to find stability, were able to get to appointments, were able to, some were able to find employment. I just wanted to highlight that because that stability is why strengthening our shelter systems here in the city is so important. That's why we're working so hard to get more beds, to get more resources. Because even just a couple of months of stability changed the lives of 65 people. Again, I'm really bummed that I won't be here for the social services discussion. It's the number one reason I ran for office. But I'm a mom too, so we're gonna go see Hilary Duff in Cincinnati. It'll come up again.

This is only the first of three conversations.

And you could always send some comments for someone else to Thank you.

I don't have a whole lot today. We did the cleanup this weekend on Don Knotts and Green Bag Road. And again, Mark took on the mowing duties, which I'm going to volunteer to do the mowing next week or the next month, hopefully feeling better by then. I wanted to announce a West Virginia statewide cleanup day, and today I was out at the DOH warehouse talking to the guys. And I was under the impression that it was the 26th of this month. But I'm getting conflicting dates now, and I'm seeing September. So I don't want to say that for sure until I verify it. Actually, if you want to clean up any day, that's fine. We really don't need a day. Just pick a day. And that's pretty much it. I did go today and get that sign out of the DOH. And what a really, really nice historical sign. So I look forward to seeing it be put up. Anything about history, I'm in love with history. That's a good thing. I don't have anything else. Thank you, guys.

Thanks. I was looking for the neighborhood meeting we have coming up. I believe it is August 24th. I've got to double check on that. It'll be posted on social media. That's the one where we discuss Halloween. It'll be at Jack Roberts Park. Weather pending. Last time it was raining pretty hard, so if it is going to be ugly weather, it'll be at MTEC. Additionally, speaking of weather, I wanted to say thank you to city staff. I know this past Friday with the wildfires in Canada, hopefully they were all okay, but I know you all were very active in working with WVU to try to find an alternative location. Disappointed I couldn't see Switchfoot since... Speaking of concerts, that's what I've been waiting for since 2003. I don't believe your daughter wants to go to Hillary Duff so much as it's you, but that's okay.

She can sing every word to come clean.

That's fine. My kid's first concert was Imagine Dragons.

Love it.

And was real excited. I don't think as excited as I was, but... Ultimately, I just wanted to say thank you all for trying to make that happen and doing what it is you could. Sorry circumstances prevented the public from being able to experience that. I know we have several more great concerts coming up. Speaking of youthful concerts, Hanson being one of them. And I will... Oh, so you had mentioned school starting the 15th. I guess I should mention that teachers go back the 12th, students go back the 18th to school. Summer Avalanche is finishing up this week. which has been great, having the kids come in every day, have something to do activity-wise, not electronic, and get free, get provided with food. And I would also lastly add to, I was unfortunate enough to have to go to MedExpress because of poison in my yard. And I was talking to them, and they said it's been a high quantity of poison ivy this year and people being impacted. And the tick count has been very high this year. So I would encourage everyone, if you are doing art work, to check for ticks. I had one fall out of my hair randomly, which has never happened before. So I don't know.

I had a ice cup thing over there. I didn't even know you had the word.

I blame the running that I've started doing. You encouraged me to run, so ultimately I blame you. Stay on the roads.

Watch your wrist.

And I will leave that as my report.

Uh, just a couple of upcoming items. Thursday is the open house at Hazel's house of hope that will be happening from 10 to three. There will be a ribbon cutting and lunch served at noon. Um, last I heard, which was just yesterday. So it probably hasn't changed that much since then there were 52, um, community organizations who are set to attend. So it's an open house slash resource fair. They're focusing on, oh Lord, lots of stuff. housing, wellness, recovery, children's services, and food and security. So if you have a need for any services in any of those areas, this would be a great time to come. I'm also told that the bus line between downtown and H3 will be free that day. Free to riders, not free to MCR. Um, the award and boundary commission is, I wanted to make sure this was on everyone's radar. They have been doing their work and they are having public input sessions. The first of which is tomorrow from six to seven at Wiles Hill community center in the gymnasium. And then on Monday, the 27th, six to 7 PM at the library. So they have. I haven't been attending those meetings. I think they're down to like three or four different maps and looking for public input on those. The only other thing There was a downtown event this past Saturday that also got canceled due to the weather. I hooten house flea market that was supposed to happen on Walnut street will be happening this Saturday, the 25th instead of last weekend. So I was traveling last weekend and couldn't make any of those events that ended up getting canceled. So I guess I have a second chance.

The farmer's market went on.

I did all of the sightseeing that I needed to do in Philadelphia. Over the last two weeks, I've been doing a lot of traveling. I was in Louisville for a conference. And then this past week, I was in Philadelphia for a family event and visited some outdoor spaces that Director Yeager recommended I stop and take a look at to get some inspiration. So happy to share more about that. with you all sometime.

Mayor, if I may, there's also a night market on Saturday, the 25th, this coming Saturday in downtown Morgantown. There'll be a lot of vendors that are on the street as well as a number of retailers that are staying open for that night market. So it's a Main Street affiliate event. I believe Main Street's been promoting it.

Is that the sip, chop, stroll thing? Yes. OK. Sorry, didn't have that one on my radar. Thank you. That's fine. We have a number of executive session items this evening. Is there anyone willing to move this?

Would you like me to read? That would be great. Don't forget the other one. There's an additional. He's got the other one over here. So we're moving that we go into executive session for discussion of matters related to the development of property and or investment of public funds in the area of Spruce Street, Willie Street, and Richwood Street. It is anticipated that this item will be discussed in executive session pursuant to West Virginia Code 6-9A41. Discussion also, a discussion of matters related to the development of property and or investment of public funds in the area of Vine Street and Grant Street is anticipated that this item will be discussed in executive session pursuant to West Virginia Code 6-9A4B9. Also, discussion of matters related to the development of property and or investment of public funds in the Sunnyside area. It is anticipated that this item will be discussed in executive session pursuant to West Virginia Code 6-984 . As well as discussion of matters protected by attorney-client privilege. It is anticipated that this item will be discussed in executive session as permitted by West Virginia Code 6-9A-4B-12, as well as item E, pursuance to West Virginia state code section 6-9A-4B-2A to discuss personnel matters for boards and commissions. We're moving that we go into executive session for these purposes. Thank you.

Thank you. All in favor? Yes. All right. We will take a short break.