City Council - Regular Meeting

I pledge allegiance to the flag 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 to order. This is Morgantown City Council, Tuesday, June 2nd. It is 7.16 p.m. We are in City Council Chambers. Clerk Wade, would you please begin by calling the roll?

Yes.

Joe Bugan.

Jody Hollingshead. Here. Weezy Michael. Here. Jenny Saline. Here. Mark Downs.

Here.

Deputy Mayor Butcher.

Here.

Mayor Trumbull. Here. First item on the agenda is approval of minutes. We have the May 19th, 2026 regular meeting minutes, May 19th, 2026 special meeting minutes, May 26th workshop minutes. Are there any additions or corrections?

Approved by consensus?

Great. We will move on to correspondence. We have a proclamation this evening recognizing universal voting rights and Deputy Mayor Butcher will be reading that for me. I am not feeling well.

All right.

Whereas the right to vote is a foundational principle of American democracy and an essential means through which citizens participate in civic life and representative government, and whereas May celebrates Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, June honors Juneteenth, commemorating emancipation and the continuing pursuit of civil rights for African Americans. And August marks the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote, and the inaction of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Voting Rights Act of 1975, which outlawed many longstanding discriminatory election practices And whereas in 1870, the 15th Amendment gave African American men the right to vote, but Jim Crow laws in many states negated those rights. And whereas in 1920, the 19th Amendment guaranteed 26 million more U.S. citizens the right to vote, marking the largest expansion in U.S. history. It banned gender-based voting discrimination, but many women of color still lacked ballot access and full electoral equality. And whereas Native Americans born within the United States gained citizenship in 1924 via the Indian Citizenship Act, but many states used discriminatory laws to block their access until the Voting Rights Act of 1965. And whereas in 1898, the Supreme Court recognized birthright citizenship for native-born Asian Americans under the 14th Amendment, but the Chinese Exclusion Acts of 1882 and 1892 remained in effect, barring Chinese immigrants from citizenship and voting. In 1952, Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act, granting Chinese Americans naturalization and voting rights, and whereas in 1942, the World War II internment of Japanese Americans effectively denied them the right to vote, the Supreme Court upheld the internment's legality, a decision not formally repudiated by the court until 2018. And whereas the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which enfranchised a great upsurge of new black voters by 1968, with many states seeing double or more of the percentage of black voters registered, it banned discriminatory practices such as literacy tests and poll taxes that targeted minority voters. and mandated federal oversight of certain areas with histories of discrimination requiring Preclearance, that's the word. Preclearance before changes to voting laws. The Voting Rights Act of 1975 specifically addressed discrimination against language minorities and required bilingual ballots in areas with significant Spanish-speaking populations, thereby enfranchising over one million Latino voters And whereas in 2013, the US Supreme Court struck down the formula used to determine the need for oversight and pre-clearance of election law changes and has resulted in several stricter voting laws to be passed in several states. and whereas the city of Morgantown recognize all people as equal regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity, and strives to protect the hard won voting rights of all qualified US citizens. Now, therefore, I, Danielle Trumbull, Mayor of the City of Morgantown, on behalf of the City Council and the Human Rights Commission, hereby recognize the right of all qualified Americans to vote for the candidate who best represents them and urge all residents to exercise that right vigorously to preserve our precious democracy with liberty and justice for all.

We next have report of proclamations. Two weeks ago, we attended Clinical Trials Day at WVU and presented Dr. Clay Marsh with a proclamation recognizing Clinical Trials Day. And yesterday, I attended the West Virginia Geocon 2026 at the Erickson Alumni Center and welcomed that group to Morgantown via proclamation. So those were included in the packet if anyone wishes to see those proclamations. We have no public hearings this evening. We have one item of unfinished business, boards and commissions. I believe we have one.

I move to appoint Stacia Harper to the Morgantown Parking Authority.

Second. By acclamation, yes. Great. We will move into our public portion, subject to rules established by council, adopted by resolution. That is generally you approach the podium, state your name and address. You have four minutes to speak. We will not tolerate any personal attacks. There is a sign up sheet. You do not have to be signed up in order to speak, but we will go through the sign up sheet first. First on the sheet is page rearing.

Hello, council. My name is Paige Wiering and I live on Spruce Street. I'm here to talk about two things. One, which I know that has been tabled, but I think it's just important for us to acknowledge being the conversion ban and the changes to that language. i've listened to the answers given by council members about the speed and willingness to pass this and i'm appreciative that there are at least some on the council who have expressed regrets about those aspects i also appreciate council members who have said that they would have gone about this ordeal differently in hindsight and i understand the legal bind that you see yourselves in and i'm glad that you've taken time to consider this with more care on the issue I hope that tonight I can provide a little bit of context to conversion therapy that officials in the public may not realize, especially if we describe this as, quote, just talk therapy. When you hear the phrase talk therapy, it doesn't sound like much. While other forms of conversion therapy can involve things like forced consumption or assault, just talking seems easy in comparison. I'd like to read to you from a CNN article published last year. Quote, most major medical bodies, including the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association, condemn the practice of conversion therapy in all of its forms as unethical, ineffective, and dangerous. And when we're discussing talk therapy, here are some quotes of things that are said to people who are going through this. They told me that it was very bad and very wrong. And they said, do not tell your friends. Do not tell anyone else at church, because once it's out, it's harder to fix. The person in question recounts other details, his eyes welling and his features straining as he does. If you live this life, you will get AIDS and die alone, he recalls being told. If you live this life, you'll be ostracized by everyone you know. If you choose this, it's because you're weak. This is just an addiction. They would talk about masculinity, about lowering my voice, about my facial expressions. Don't be too expressive because that would be a cue to other gay people, he says. I've worked on myself a lot, but to this day I have a hard time smiling in pictures because I feel like I'm too effeminate. Years later, Lopez Galloway obtained his counselor's file filled with detailed notes from his conversion therapy session and a 14-step treatment plan, which he shared with CNN. Anxiety and shame spill from the pages. Curtis is going to limit his time with friends who are gay-affirming, his treatment plan instructs. Curtis is going to do more masculine characteristic activities and adopt a more masculine persona. He will learn to frame things in a masculine frame. Male characteristic activities could be taking charge, being in control, and feeling competently powerful. Curtis will study women to figure out which types and characteristics are attractive to him. Curtis will bounce his eyes and thoughts to something else whenever he begins to have an attraction toward a male. His counselor told him that some people are predisposed to be murderers, rageaholics, rapists, and child molesters, but they are not born that way, and that homosexuality is similar, according to the counselor's own notes. This is what conversion talk therapy sounds like. As you might imagine, being subjected to this, whether willingly or not, creates intense psychological harm. From that same article, suicide is an inescapable shadow that haunts many of those involved in conversion therapy, UCLA's Williams Institute found that those subjected to the practice are almost twice as likely to consider or attempt it. I too have known people like this and I have lost people like this. So as you move forward, I encourage you to review the language of the amendment and find all of the red tape that you can. Make this impossible to implement. Do whatever you can to stop this from happening because children will die and it's not acceptable. Thank you.

Thank you. Annie Cronin York.

Annie Cronin-Yorick, Human Rights Commission. And I'm not done yet. Thank you. It's only just begun. So I've been away for 10 weeks. I've got a lot to say. I might go a little bit over. I'll try not to. In the Voting Rights Proclamation, that wasn't one that we had planned to do this year. We had six of them that we had voted on doing. This wasn't even on the list. But the Supreme Court cases keep coming out. And the changes in districts after ballots have been sent out to people for early voting. are going through. Those are being accepted. The battle is probably being tossed because they didn't have the right districts. So I chronicled the history of the struggle to get the vote. Originally it was white landowning men. They had the right amount of land and all the right people. And just little bits at a time. Birthright citizenship came along under the 14th Amendment in 1898. And it's being challenged now. Yay. The internment is Japanese. Poll taxes and all the other things that happened in the South mostly. I'm sure that happened further north as well. Women not being allowed to vote because you never know, they might get emotional and just pick the cute guy. That was the largest enfranchisement in the history of the country. 26 million people earned a right to vote with the 19th Amendment. That was in 1920. We have not improved upon that since. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 brought in one million new voters a year, and more after that, but it had to start somewhere. And it seems like somewhere around 19... Yes, 1998, 100 years after the birthright citizenship case is where we got to the high point where people could vote. Not everybody wants to vote. That's fine. But if you don't vote, you don't get to complain about who gets elected. That's my thought. Not necessarily that of the commission, just personal. For all the hard work that was done to get us the vote, each and every one of us in the room, it seems important to use that right. And along with the city council, strongly encourage everyone to use it. Harvard put out a new study a couple days ago saying that if 3% of the population protests something, action happens. And we get very small percentages, citizens of Warrington vote in some elections. And statewide, 14% here, 20% there. If everybody voted, things would probably be different. And I'm not voting for my candidate. They'll never win. Of course not, if you're not going to vote for them. There you go. So that is why we did this one. Next subject. The Morgantown Area Youth Services Programmer Project, I never remember which, which won the Human Rights Award for an organization in 2024, has been dependent upon funding from grants and participation in the city and the county to meet its budget and its payroll. The county commission withdrew half of its operating budget this year. They had $60,000 that they had pinned for their appropriate funds donations to MASAP. But they had to take it back to pay off for Doddridge or some such thing. I'm not fully aware of all the circumstances. But now they have to cut two and a half positions, and they only had four to begin with. And they do so much good work for the youth who are troubled and look all in drug problems and homelessness. And there isn't anybody else working with the population that MESAP is. I know the city gives them a generous amount each year. And if there's something in the CBGB grant for it as well, yes, I'm going to keep calling it that. But if there comes a point where you find a few extra dollars somewhere, I'd encourage supporting MACE app. Next, the city manager has appointed a new city hall LGBTQ plus liaison, Caleb, who will be speaking soon. It's very important that we have one of those, and I told him to tell you why. And then last, the conversion therapy ban. There has been much on social media, I hear. I didn't look for myself. I'm saying that it's just some dumb city attorney who just made something up and stuck it in there. Don't make me defend Ryan. Jeez. It wasn't just Ryan. Everybody on the council worked on this. I do not believe that any of you are willing to make the changes that the attorney general is asking for. especially repealing it. But I think every one of you supports having a conversion therapy ban. If I'm wrong, say so in your report. But I would hope that there'd be a little more community support and understanding that with the Attorney General's letter and the things that they plan to do to Morgantown, the evil place in the North, that we're doing the best we can. There's a lot of people working on it. And if people have something to add that's constructive, that'd be good. Thank you. Thank you.

Caleb McClung.

Hi there. My name is Caleb McClung, Human Rights Commission LGBTQIA plus city liaison. I would hope that I wouldn't need to explain or convince anybody of the importance of my position. I've lived in Morgantown for almost 10 years now. There is a reason for that. There are a few cities in West Virginia with such an active and hopeful queer community. Morgantown is one of them, I am proud to say. And while I have gratefully seen progress and growth in other cities across our state, we must face the times we live in. The LGBTQIA plus community is being targeted now more than ever under this administration, including by our own state attorney general. Especially our transgender community need our protection now more than ever. I have experienced this hate firsthand around this campus, both during and after college, both in and out of drag. Our youth is in crisis, and now more than ever, people need to know that there are resources available and somebody to turn to. I have already reached out to the owners of Babylon, our local gay club, and they're very excited to hear about this position as they felt they've needed this before for a lot of youth that have come through their doors. This position did find me more so than I found it, I should say, but I've always felt like I'm one to step up when need be, and if not me, then who? especially now. And so I hope to do that for this community in the time coming. I know we have a lot with the conversion therapy ban happening, and it's very hot, but that's just the times we live in. So I hope to do my best, and thank you guys for your time and the opportunity.

We appreciate it.

Thank you. Is there anyone else wishing to speak? That was the end of the list.

You don't have to be on the list to speak.

Usually, I try to be good and sign up. I missed it this time. I'm sorry. Leslie Wilbur. I live at Dorsey and Green Bag. So I'm just across the street from city limits. But I work downtown. I shop in Morgantown and generally participate in civic life here. I'll be brief today. I'm not feeling great. I have as great of endurance as I feel like I look right now. I think Paige was pretty thorough in talking about the conversion therapy ban and why people are really dismayed and disappointed in you all. having the first reading to amend the conversion therapy ban. I am relieved to see that the second reading is not on the agenda today. I do hope that you spend some time actively figuring out how to protect the conversion therapy ban. I will say it was really alarming to just see that kind of shoved in. At the end of you know a city council meeting I think people are angry because they were caught unawares it didn't feel like there was you know a lot of The way that you guys talked about it at the last meeting didn't really feel like there was a lot of planning or thought going into how you were handling it in fact seemed a little bit glib and And it was just alarming to see that get on the agenda so quickly, like much in the same way that the camping ban got on the agenda so quickly after that Supreme Court decision. In the last meeting, you all made a point of saying that Morgantown is still a welcoming place. And I think what was really dismaying about seeing the first reading on the changes to the conversion therapy ban is that being welcoming isn't a rhetorical move. It's not something you say. It's an action that you take, right? To be welcoming, you do things to be hospitable. You do things to stand up for people. We are living in a time where people, whether it's because they're experiencing homelessness, whether it's because they're part of the LGBTQ community, whether it's because they're part of a racialized community or other marginalized community, people are feeling especially vulnerable. And just giving lip service to, you know, you welcome them, you care about them, doesn't do jack for people, right? What you can do is actually visibly Fight for people let them know that you are fighting on their behalf Let them know that you have a plan that you're taking action um and and not Deal with it in a way that again frankly felt did feel sort of glib um Yeah, I think that that is all I really have to say I do hope that you are working on plans to do a whatever you can to viably protect the conversion therapy ban in Morgantown. Thank you. Thank you.

Others wishing to speak?

My name's Harrison York. I just wanted to talk about the conversion therapy ordinance. And I want to start off by saying I appreciate your decision to table the the child torture ordinance for the time being. Uh, I'm both shocked and disgusted by your initial complete capitulation on this issue, but I appreciate and support this step you're taking in the right direction. Um, that being said, this council has really killed my ability to feel like I can trust them, uh, both as effective lawmakers and as moral human beings. You were elected to these positions because the people in this town trusted you to represent our interests and govern for the better. You were elected because this town believed you would use your power to protect the most marginalized people living here. This city is owed real leaders who will stand up and fight the fascists trying to destroy this country. And this town is only becoming more organized by the day. I prefer to see that collective power be used to support the council in defending this town from the people trying to, or from the people who are leading these attacks. But if the council chooses to capitulate and collaborate with these sorts of fascist demands, the people of Morgantown would be left with no choice. We should be allies in this fight, but if you choose to be our enemy, we'll fight you too. That's all.

Anyone else wishing to speak?

Yeah, I think so.

Hi. Can you hear me? Yeah. Okay, my name is Dena Pride. I live on Mayfield Avenue over in Saberton. I hadn't planned on speaking today, but I think I'm going to do this. So I had submitted a proclamation back in April to the council called America's 250th Anniversary, the Proclamation of Liberty. I've called several times. I hadn't heard back, you know, which is fine. I know how busy you all are, but I had submitted it, and I had called. I talked to Christine. She's so sweet to me every time I've called her. I was a little bit bothersome, sorry, but she's been very kind, and so I asked her again about it today as I was in here, and I'm recognizing that it doesn't look like it's going to be. I'm not sure what the word is, whether it's proclaimed, adopted, whatever the case is, and So I just want to say this. As we are quickly approaching this monumental, unprecedented celebration of our 250th year anniversary of this nation, I just felt like I should get up and say a few things in hope of assisting in your decision regarding this proclamation of liberty. Our Declaration of Independence, the first paragraph, literally says, the unanimous declaration of the 13th United States of America, when in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with one another and to assume among the powers of the earth and separate the equal station to that which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitles them. entitle them a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and they are endowed by their creator and certain unalienable rights among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that to secure these rights governments are instituted by men deriving their powers from the consent of the governed. The preamble of our Constitution is, we the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America. the Constitution of West Virginia, the preamble. Since the divine providence, we enjoy the blessings of civil, political, and religious liberty, we, the people of West Virginia, that is us, I've lived here my entire life, and in and through the provisions of this Constitution, reaffirm our faith and our constant reliance upon God and seek diligently to promote preserve, and perpetuate good government in the state of West Virginia for the common welfare, freedom, and security of ourselves and our posterity. Proclamation by the President of the United States. On January 1st, 2026, the United States began our year-long commemoration of this important milestone in the history of our country, 250 years of American freedom and independence. Two and a half centuries ago, July 4, 1776, thousands of years worth of wisdom, philosophy, and culture were brought together in Philadelphia where delegates of the Second Continental Congress gathered to declare the birth of a new nation. I've already said what they said, so I'm going to skip that. Unlike other nations, America's founding was rooted in the belief that every man, woman, and child is endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. And among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This conviction enshrined in our Declaration of Independence and indelibly etched upon every American heart remains the bedrock of our government and the crown jewel of Western civilization. I'm skipping around a little bit. Guided by the example of our founding fathers who helped light a torch of liberty in 1776, let us ask our creator to bless America, free our nation and our people from all threats to our safety and happiness and to guide our actions for the security and common good of all Americans. The Bible teaches us, in all circumstances, give thanks. As such, it is fitting to mark this special year as a unique occasion to celebrate our proud history, reflect on our abundant blessings, pray for our country and our people, and rededicate ourselves as one nation under God. I will end, because I know I'm almost done, in just saying that what I hope and what I believe is that God and liberty have been a part of this nation from its inception 250 years ago. The US Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States of America, the Constitution of West Virginia, our Pledge of Allegiance, our president, our governor, all recognize the reason and purpose of this nation's founding. It is truly a miracle. I am believing that the highest government authority in this amazing city that I have lived in for my entire life, the Morgantown City Council, who is under the authority of our state and federal constitutions, is committed to the mission of the highest office in West Virginia, the highest office in our nation. We'll join in this 250th anniversary and proclaim liberty. Thank you. I know I went a few minutes over. I appreciate your time.

Anyone else wishing to speak? We will close the public portion. We have no special committee reports. We'll move on to the consent agenda. There are four items on the consent agenda. I will read through them. If there's any member of council wishing to remove any specific item from the consent agenda, they may do so. Otherwise, we would entertain a motion and vote on the consent agenda as one item. Item a consideration of approval of a resolution amending fiscal year 2025, 2026 budget revision for the Morgantown capital escrow fund revision. Number eight consideration of approval of a resolution amending fiscal year 2025, 2026 budget revision for the Morgantown general fund revision. Number six consideration of approval of a resolution designating certain individuals, authorized agents of the city of Morgantown for the purpose of transacting funds with banking and financial institutions. And consideration of approval of bid call 2026-14-MGW runway 1836 extension construction 5A. Is there any item that should be pulled from the consent agenda? Is there a motion to approve?

I move to approve.

Thank you.

Second. Thank you. Clerk Wade? Jody Hollingshead? Yes. Wheezy Michael?

Yes.

Jenny Selene. Yes. Mark downs.

Yes.

Deputy mayor butcher.

Yes.

Mayor Trumbull. Yes. Passes six zero. And as a reminder, if anyone wishes any information on those items, it is found in the packet. We will move into new business item, a consideration of approval of a resolution, approving and authorizing to submit to the U S department of housing and urban development, the fiscal year, 2026 community development block grant annual action plan.

Yes. Thank you, mayor. On May 19th, we presented the draft of the annual action plan for the CDBG program for this upcoming fiscal year. Uh, the presentation was during the open comment period for us to solicit feedback, uh, prior to bringing this forward to council for adoption tonight. Uh, we did slightly extend the comment period. We published some additional information on social media about the open comment period, and it did result in an additional comment, uh, which you all have been provided with as well. Um, we also made sure to update our website to clearly post our prior year capers, which is the consolidated annual performance evaluation reports. This is to ensure transparency in the performance related to these funds. We will continue to refine our process and our communication surrounding these programs, especially as we know we are wrapping up some projects that have been in process already. And as we look into the out years, the future years, we will be identifying new use for these funds. As presented last month, this proposed annual action plan Uh, maintains a focus on funding projects that were previously identified and in progress, such as the lower Greenmont green space, uh, reconstruction of Pennsylvania Avenue and Decker's Creek Avenue. Um, we continue to allocate portions of the annual amount to public services to put support nonprofits that are eligible and has successfully completed the application process. And there is an additional program, an additional pilot program. related to healthy home rehabilitation in partnership with the housing authority that is included in this plan. So we provided that plan to you all. We have presented this item, and today staff is recommending approval of the proposed annual action plan. Robin Hess, our grants writer, is here if there is any additional questions on this item.

Is there any questions on the action plan?

I appreciate getting that information I asked for last time. And I would encourage, like I did in our last meeting, just that we look for more public participation avenues. I understand these are historically not well attended, but we should try to change that if we can.

Great. Appreciate all the work that went into this. It's a lot of work.

Move to approve. Second.

Thank you. Any additional discussion? Clerkway?

Jody Hollingshead? Yes. Wheezy Michael?

Yes.

Jenny Saline?

Yes.

Mark Downs?

Yes.

Deputy Mayor Butcher?

Yes.

Mayor Trumbull?

Yes. Passes six zero. I didn't be on new business review and discussion of city council workshop process.

Thank you, mayor. As you all know that, um, we've gone through a couple of discussion points with the, to have a goal of increasing, uh, staff council communications related to major topics identified by council. Uh, the outcome of that was evaluating and moving to a council workshop process. Um, the first workshop was held in March, 2026, and we have discussed topics like affordable housing, fiscal sustainability, economic development, and enhanced amenities. We do have topics tentatively identified throughout the rest of the calendar year, but since we have gone through a couple of these as discussed when we were adopting them, it's always good for us to come back and say, How are things going? Is this still the process that we would like to see? Are there changes that we would like to see moving forward? So this is just opening dialogue from council to get any feedback as we move forward in this process of things we would like at this point.

Thank you. Thoughts? Feedback? I'd be happy to start. While I don't think it's perfect quite yet, I've really appreciated the workshops and the public input time. Specifically on the workshop aspect, I've appreciated as a first-termer, I've appreciated the opportunity to have dialogue with everyone at once. as well as have that dialogue in a public meeting. I think that contributes to the transparency that every one of us has advocated for and said that we want to work towards having more of. I think it gives our constituents a chance to sort of get to know us a little bit more Hearing us speak to each other and like I said have that dialogue Really lets them know where our priorities lie, and I think that's valuable I Things that maybe we could tinker with as far as the public input session aspect goes is the format of those sessions, time of day. I know, you know, 6 p.m. is not a doable time for just everyone. Do we need to move that around? to make that more accessible? Is location an issue? Those are the biggest ones. As far as format goes, I'd like to just sort of encourage a conversation about options. it could look like, what the public input sessions could look like. Just throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. But again, I just want to reiterate that I have really appreciated using the Committee of the Whole meetings to talk to each other about our priorities and ideas. And again, to have that happen in a public forum is, I think, really great. I think it's a great step forward. But like I said, I think there's some ways we could improve it and I'd love to hear everyone else's ideas about how we can do that.

I agree. There were years that I was on council and I had no idea what other people were working on or had ideas for. It was kind of segmented and having us all together speaking, um, as a group is useful and it's very easy to notice that as a public meeting and make it happen. Um, yeah. Mark, do you have that? Jenny? You know I have things to say. No one else was saying anything. I'll say something later.

Yeah, I agree with all of the reasons that Jody said. She appreciates these things, and this is why we advocated for an opportunity like this so that we could have a dialogue, a deliberate dialogue publicly. I believe in the power of debate and I think we're on a path that is giving us that. I also agree that I think the public input sessions could use some refinement. It's hard, we're not gonna do anything perfect really the first time and that's the power of continuous improvement and I think we're committed to that. I've gotten good feedback from constituents who've appreciated, expressed appreciation for the dialogue and for insight into you know, what we're thinking about and opportunities to come and express their opinions. So I think they're valuable. I'll acknowledge that I stepped in it kind of on the first one and I think it It shed light on an opportunity for improvement that I just want to put on the table is that, you know, I engaged city attorney in a meeting and kind of, you know, so we're kind of getting real-time legal advice and I think that's something that we obviously need to avoid. So I think we could use some refinement to deliberately build in an opportunity for us to have that kind of executive session where we can get legal advice about topics that come up in that committee, the whole format. But yeah, otherwise. Like I said, it's not going to be perfect the first time. And we've had decent turnout to the public forums. I think the more we deliberately ask for the public engagement, the more that we provide opportunities for public engagement, the more public engagement we're going to get. So I am wholeheartedly in favor of continuing.

I also want to add my appreciation for staff and administration for putting all of it together. The topic schedule has been supremely helpful in my planning and prioritizing and staff who've put together the public input sessions.

It's a lot of work.

It's a lot of work, yeah. And not only is it a lot of work, but you all have been super flexible and open to this sort of evolving with us. So that's invaluable. Thank you.

Councillor Selim. So I love that the first hour presentations have worked out really well. I think lots of topics lend themselves that way. If there's another for some certain topic, if there was some reason to do something else for the public input, it's nice. Anytime that we can set ourselves up that we in the public have common information or common something to react to, it has a different feeling than if you were to walk into a room and there were not boards there or information there to react to. I think then you get different, it just makes it more government based on facts and based on information versus just kind of So I appreciate having that kind of guidance and the effort that it takes to put that in. During the second part when we were discussing, sometimes we've had some information provided during that session and I think that that's helpful. And we have had that information in presentations that are of varying lengths. If we ever wanted to have information in shorter formats, like sometimes people do seven minutes, a number of people speaking to us in seven minute little segments, or like three people in a panel making a presentation of a certain time, like 15 or 20 minutes, or maybe a little bit longer, but whatever we can do to bring detailed information that's pertinent to a topic to us that kind of gives us something for our conversation to have information to bounce off. I think that really would help. And yeah, I think it's been very interesting and has possibilities. it's very tricky to get seven operating or a whole city going in a direction or it's not going to be perfect and it'll have some rough edges, but, um, but it's been very interesting.

That leads me to one of the questions that I had for you all, because I have received mixed feedback from you all in between, um, committee of the whole meetings about presentations. Should we allow for partner and stakeholder presentations? Should we allow for staff presentations? Would we rather save that time for just us? And I wanted to kind of get everyone as a group to talk about that and see where we landed on it because I get a lot of mixed feedback.

There was at least one that I

wanted to hear from and then i'd heard that they'd been nixed and then i thought oh no that was the one i wanted to hear from so what did you have yeah i think it depends on the context of the speaker and what we're talking about you know what i mean um i think uh one of the fears that i have about a speaker or a presentation is that it's too prescriptive for us and our point of view and like this is what we should do And so that's the one thing I worry about. It hasn't been that way since we've done it. So I've appreciated that framing from staff. I felt like in years prior that we've been on council, a lot of the staff communication we get even in strategic planning was kind of like, here it is. And then we go, wait, what? And where's our part? Aren't we the ones making this? And so that's where I think the line is for me is just like, if these presentations or whatever, information sessions that we're getting from staff aren't prescriptive, but more just like about here's a menu of options and what we think is workable, that's, I think, where it's useful and welcome for me.

Any thoughts this way on presentations, just kind of case-by-case basis still?

Generally, yeah, case-by-case for sure. I'm generally always happy to hear from staff, particularly when it's relating to the topic. Stakeholder presentations, I think, I would be interested in finding somewhere else to put them, even if it's a regular meeting. That seems more appropriate.

So next time when we're talking about connectivity, there was the suggestion of bringing MRTC or the Greenbelt people in. How do you?

If I could, I think there's, okay, so like, I think it would be fine to have MRTC here if there was like, here's what we, the challenges that we see that you could address, rather than MRTC coming and saying, look at all the awesome trails, which is great.

So instead of a report, you would, rather than be bringing us issues that they need assistance.

Or we're like, this is working, do more, whatever. But if we're just hearing, if it's structured a lot like council normally is, where it's like, here's the great things that the tourism board is doing, there's a place for that. And I think it's welcome at meetings, but maybe not necessarily where we're trying to craft policy at.

So maybe we could ask them to, if there's a presentation, like an annual report or something like that, and we know it's a topic that's coming up, maybe it's the council meeting before our committee of the whole they present.

Right. I think that's more of an appropriate place. Because otherwise it's just like, okay, well, we heard all that. That's very nice.

In these formats, I'm more interested in hearing from staff relative because I want staff input. They're on the front lines of administering the policy that we make. But I'm more interested in hearing about opportunities for improvement or issues that they're seeing day to day. What's coming up? How can we make the services that they deliver better? that's what i'm more interested in hearing about from staff at these and i would not please put that please let's put that together because that makes us more effective And just in terms of the public input, I want less structure. I want more chaos. Seriously, I love it. I want to hear from people and their ideas. I know what I think.

You know, I know what the... That leads into my next question that I've gotten mixed feedback on. Issues, challenges, and then next steps. A lot of next steps.

Yeah, that would be good. What's the next actionable... Yeah, sure. Yes, yes, yeah. But yeah, and I feel... I regret that this is, I feel like it's become, it's a burden on staff, you know, having to prepare all this structured material and for the public input sessions. And I don't think that wasn't ever my intent. Right.

Yeah. Some info is good. I don't, I've appreciated all of the input they put, but I think we can get by with a little less that it takes. So At one point, staff had shopped around an online public input survey that they were going to put out. And I got mixed feedback on that from members of council. So how do we feel? You're saying if people can't attend that meeting, how do you feel about an online kind of fill this out on this topic specifically? Because that was an idea. People felt different ways about it.

I raised my hand. I didn't like it. I don't like online surveys. And it wasn't because it was an online survey. It was because of the way the online survey was administered, right? You know, I've seen the city, you know, not as a counselor, but I've seen the city administer a number of these things, and I've seen a number of these things come back with, you know, results from that are clearly not from our constituency. And that's hard to deal with. It's hard to sort through. It creates a lot of noise. So I would prefer to, if we're going to have that kind of engagement, I would prefer to have at least some strategy for how are we going to deal with that before we roll it out. But I'm always in favor of more input rather than less.

I think it's worth discussing various accessibility options. Maybe that's not the answer. Maybe it looks like something a little bit different. Maybe there's some topics that it makes sense for and other topics.

Maybe there are capabilities that we can look into that can help us filter through that. I think it's possible for us to

sort the signal through the noise in those instances. But that is another area where we're saying staff do more work in that case. So it's worth considering. I think we could always receive feedback in the form of phone calls too. Maybe it could be just an encouragement to call us. about these issues and we can try to log as best as we can the feedback that we've received. So it's not another burden on staff. It's another way to participate remotely a little bit. And emails exist. So it could be email your counselors just on this topic. Here's a button and it emails us all.

I'm glad you touched on that because that's not something I mentioned, but it's very much a reason that, you know, I want people to get in touch with me. I want people to, I want to hear from, I want to hear from, I want to hear from our residents.

So maybe we want to focus those emails, like if what you're looking for or what's the next step or what are the ways that you suggest that we work on these challenges or so we are asking for the information that we'd like to

Yeah. I don't want to prescribe too much about, like, I need, we need, our feedback needs to be solutions. Because I think it's also very.

Well, scenarios are good, too. Yeah, very relevant. What someone's experiencing is good, too.

For us to hear just problems. And, you know, it's kind of our job to come up with a solution. But it is always great to hear what people imagine are solutions, too. But, yeah, just wanted to, like, call that out, though.

Yeah.

It's not like. all we want to hear is like, how are you going to fix it? Because that's not the posture I want to take.

Is that the kind of feedback you were looking for?

Yes. And we will continue to evolve this. Probably won't be the last conversation that we bring this back again and say, let's hear some more feedback. And so we will. Oh, we will continue, especially if we get better. That's how we get better.

The other thing I thought of when Jody was talking about transportation issues, if we still have bus passes available, maybe we should advertise those and have them available at the meeting so people know that they can take a bus and we'll get them back where they're going.

Or parking.

Yeah, yeah, dedicated parking, but we've talked about, yeah, let's solve that for City Hall.

I'd also, and I'll follow up with you on this, Jamie, but I would love to have a conversation with staff about how they feel about particularly the public input sessions and the workshops, if they found them productive, helpful in providing some direction, if the input sessions are a little too burdensome. I'd love to set that up.

I think change of venue for specific topics might be good, too. Things like You know, I could have thought like economic development, we could be maybe at the waterfront or something, you know. But also like social services coordination, probably be good to have that one at Hazel's, right? I mean.

We just had renovations. You all should come and see them.

Yeah.

All right. Okay. We will move past new business then and into the city manager's report.

Sure. Just one item, Mayor, and certainly recognizing as I bring these forward, there's always great opportunities to recognize staff. And if we miss some of these weeks of recognition, you know, that is not any unintended slight to anybody. But June 15th through 28th is Waste Litter Control and Recycling Workers Appreciation Week. What I'm really excited about this one upcoming is the Solid Waste Authority has done a really good job of organizing an appreciation week and intentionally included our staff, whether that's through our ambassadors or our public works department, to engage them in that recognition. So not only do we appreciate our staff who do those type of activities each week, but I always love an opportunity where we can collaborate with some of our partner organizations and agencies. I certainly thank you to the Solid Waste Authority for the efforts that they put into that recognition week. That completes my report.

Thank you. City Clerk?

Yes, Mayor. I just wanted to share with folks that the Ward Boundary Commission, they're starting to meet now to discuss Ward Boundaries. The next meeting is Monday, June 8th at 6 p.m. here at Council Chambers. The public is welcome to come and it will be offered via Microsoft Teams as well as live streamed on YouTube. The Fire Civil Service Commission will meet on June 17th to set the date for fire captain and fire lieutenant promotional exams and to certify a list of eligible candidates. The Police Civil Service Commission will meet in the coming weeks to certify a list of eligible candidates as well. And then lastly, I just want to share some civil service milestone anniversaries that I think you all would be interested in hearing about. From the Morgantown Police Department, Lieutenant Phil Scott, we celebrated with him 25 years on May 21st. And then Mark Trump, 20 years, he will celebrate on June 5th. And Joseph Bridge, 10 years on June 6th. And then, uh, with the Morgantown fire department, firefighter, Christie Berry, uh, he will celebrate 15 years on June 13th and, um, just want to celebrate with them and thank them for their, for their service. And, uh, the police civil service commission did write a letter to, um, to Lieutenant Scott. And we presented that along with, uh, the city manager the other day. And, uh, um, just wanted to say, uh, you know, we talk about. the entry level exams that are coming in police and fire. But we want to acknowledge those folks that have been here for a long, long time protecting our citizens and the people that work here. And it's a dedication. So anyway, congratulations to all of those folks. That concludes my report. Report from the city attorney.

Thank you, Mayor. When City Council created the Land Reuse and Preservation Agency, it also directed the creation of a land preservation program for the city. At its May meeting, the Land Reuse Agency asked that a draft preservation program be forwarded to City Council for adoption. So that will be forthcoming on your next agenda. That's all I have to report.

Thank you. Council members, please, would you like to?

I just have one update. Our pavilion is coming along really well. I took a walk around Wiles Hill yesterday. It should be about, I believe he said, two to three more weeks before it's completed. And then across the street, our playground got new AstroTurf, and it looks great. So they're just tidying up there. There's some ditch work, I think. And then our playground should be open. But we do have one request. We would request that we ask Beaufort for a bench by the tree.

Bench by tree.

Yeah, where the old picnic table used to be. People loved to sit by that beautiful cherry oak tree.

Oh, up in the field, not at the plate.

Yeah, in the field. You know, the real beautiful tree.

They want a bench, not a table.

Just benches would be great.

I'm sure there will be tables in the...

Unless they want, are they planning on putting back a table?

I would assume they would put tables at the pavilion.

No, we were talking about, there used to be a table right next to that tree, and we would all sit under there and have meetings.

Yeah.

Are they going to replace those? Probably not.

I would assume the tables would go to the, yeah. Yeah, that's what we thought. So we can talk about a bench, yeah.

So if it's possible, can we talk about a bench there? Because people really love sat by that tree. It's too beautiful not to.

I'll talk to Greg about that.

Yeah.

Thank you. You mentioned AstroTurf going in at that playground. The new Bow Park director has been doing some assessment of property, and we for years have been using the pour-in-place rubberized squishy stuff. And there's been some concern about how that holds up and damages and things like that. So the new director has decided in a few of the smaller playgrounds to put in AstroTurf AstroTurf that's specific for playgrounds to see how that compares. It's like a pilot project. So Lyle's Hill was one of the ones in White Park currently.

We really like it. So I think it's going to work out well. A lot of people walking around it seem to be really happy.

Great. I'm interested to see how that works out over the coming months.

And if we can get a bench, that would be spectacular. Okay. Thank you.

First of all, SPAN put on a successful end of school year event at Eaton Park last week and I just wanted to shout out my SPAN officers because they did that all on their own and tried something new and the community really responded positively to it so that was lovely to see. On a more serious note, she left the room, but I did want to address my opposition to the proclamation that was addressed during public comment. I personally opposed that proclamation due to It's language that was super reminiscent of white nationalism. I found it dangerous. And the language of the proclamation itself made it quite clear that when they say life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all, they mean that conditionally. So I just wanted to be clear about my position on that. I wanted also to address the folks who came here to talk about the conversion therapy ban. I know I've spoken with a lot of people through email and text already, but I still wanted to address it tonight and sincerely apologize. Specifically, For me personally, in one of the emails I received, we were reminded that this body has agency. in the revolution in resistance and um on a personal note um you know a couple of years ago i was at that podium exercising that agency and i forgot for a moment that i still have that agency as a city council member and um we are obviously it's tabled we are working together to find a better way and all that red tape, make it impossible, I liked that page. So I just wanted to apologize publicly for the way we treated that with an urgency we didn't need to.

The Evansdale neighborhood association is having a potluck, which we talked about a little bit last time, but since it's coming right up, I thought I would bring it up again. So, um, it's a potluck it's June 7th from five 30 to eight 30. Um, it's on Fairfax drive. So it's kind of right in the center of Evansdale neighborhood and they shut down a block and with permission of the city. and have a potluck. So anyway, it's the 890th block of Fairfax Drive. And then I would love next meeting to hear just one more time what the airport runway project is for this year. Just to, now that we've put it out for bid, just to hear a little, maybe part of the manager's report or something, just a little, maybe flip up a picture and just talk about it a little bit. And I think that's good for me. I appreciate people coming and talking about the things that they care about, and I think we care about a lot of the same things. And we may need to work on our approach, but we also are, We are in difficult times and we're gonna have to make some choices and we're gonna have to think about how we approach things. So anyway, appreciate everyone coming and making your thoughtful comments. And it's good to push back and it's also good to figure out how to thread the needle and figuring out where that is is the tricky business of governance, I guess. So we'll keep working on it.

Thank you. OK. Well, happy Pride, everyone. So we had a Greenmont meeting last night. The neighborhood association is interested in nailing down a timeline for paving. down in, well, in all of the areas of Greenmont that are scheduled. And I'd like to see that plan better, Or I'd like to see it publicized So that we can set expectations for for folks Looking for timelines on the Greenmont lights and bridge construction and we're Starting work on a mosaic grant our mosaic grant for this cycle, which I think is due on the on the 22nd of June I think applications are due so I encourage everyone listening watching or and certainly fellow counselors to remind their neighborhood associations that that mosaic Opportunity is out there and coming up and the deadlines the 22nd of June so We've got I've got some policy I'm working on and I wanted to kind of just, you know, run through that list so folks knew what I was up to in terms of a policy backlog. So working on an approach for a downtown business improvement district and that's something that Yeah, I'm putting some thought together on and have thrown some ideas against the wall with the city attorney and the city manager. Today at the Morgantown Utility Board we reviewed the draft 2027 budget. So I wanted to give council a heads up that that is now available and I'll be circulating some information about that and it will give us some insight into 2027 capital projects. that are upcoming. Still thinking about the airport authority and I picked that back up today. So that's still something that I'm pursuing and interested in working with everybody on. and reasonable accommodations and that was something I wanted to just talk about a little bit in public. We have seen through the BZA process a number of reasonable accommodation requests come forward and that are associated with fair housing or ADA. And they get kind of, they're in that kind of weird space between the law and zoning. And I appreciate the, I think it was a great recommendation to draft a reasonable accommodation policy that took that out of that kind of, yeah, that purview and put it into a more administrative legal kind of track. I think that will be much more effective. So thanks to everyone for that. I regret that folks felt disappointed about our performance and our action on Article 153. So, you know, I am a big advocate for transparency and I wish that I had done a better job of being transparent and seeking input before we had taken any action. So, lesson learned. I'll do better. To that end, I would I am kind of interested in thinking about, we've done public input sessions, I'm kind of interested in thinking about a public process on perspective changes to Article 153, so something for us to think about. And that's all I have.

I just want to start out by saying what I've said in public a couple times now, but I'll say it in public again. Which is that I think the first thing to know about our changes, the amendment that we were making to the conversion therapy van were not made without careful consideration and understanding the gravity of what we were doing. The gravity of the Supreme Court decision I think was pretty heartbreaking for especially the people that were involved in the passage of that originally. Today that would be me, Danielle, and Jenny. And it's something that we worked on for some time and we're careful to consider how we passed it. And I just don't want people to think that we spent no time uh, talking about deliberating about deciding what we were going to do with this. Um, cause we did, did we spend enough time? I don't think so. I mean, that's why it's not here today. Um, and that's a mistake that we made, um, mistake that I made at least. Uh, and I think like it's incumbent on especially, uh, us members who are leaders of council, who are mayor and deputy mayor, to make sure that we own when those things happen and to say that the process by which we went about it was not ideal or perfect. One of the things I appreciate is when people are able to recognize that and call us out and in many cases call us, that I've experienced to call us in and to say, look, this is the ways that you could be doing this better. And I think that we're doing that now and we're taking real action on it. I think some of the feedback I got was that talked a lot about like how we could have done this process better, but you can talk a lot about action. I think that's hard to do in this case for a lot of reasons, but I do hope people will see in the coming months the action that we are taking and, you know, we'll take that into account. I also like completely understand if this is a sort of deal breaker for you, that this is a sort of way that you feel like is a disappointment that you can't countenance. I understand that and I accept that. You know, I think part of being in community is accepting people's accountability when you're in that community. Sometimes that means that you're, you know, not welcome in certain spaces and that's been That is what it is. That's the accountability we have to live with. As far as, I wanted to also address the proclamation request. I've grown up, I grew up Catholic and I've even in a family that practiced a lot of faith, I was an altar boy and went to church every Sunday, all of that. The other thing that I was taught is that we were a nation founded on the value of the freedom of religion and as a secular nation. I think this turned towards... Christian nationalism and white nationalism maybe is what the founding fathers intended, maybe it is, but I don't believe that that is the path in which our country is actually strongest or is able to provide for its citizens in the best way possible. I feel it's extremely dangerous to succumb to the dogmas of religion, which I think is antithetical to a lot of religious teachings and practices and a lot of the ways in which people are that have deep understanding of faith understand their faith and how scholars of that faith understand that faith. I have a lot of people who are in the faith community that are very opposed to Christian nationalism because they see it as antithetical to the teachings of Christ. That proclamation is a Christian nationalist, white nationalist, many dog whistles within it, and is also just like kind of outright fascist in some parts. And so that's why we didn't read it, if you wanted an answer on it. you know, it doesn't, just as like we can correct the mistake of the conversion therapy ban, we cannot make a mistake in the first place by capitulating to that sort of thing. And you know, we tried to just be polite about it, not read it, but if it's gonna be out in the open, I'll be honest about my reasoning at least for not wanting to have that on there. I can't speak for anybody else on council, but I don't think you'd hear much argument. The last thing I wanted to bring up was, I guess to echo Mark, happy Pride. This will be my first year on council and also not on the Pride board. So it feels a little weird and sad not to be planning that block party. But also I just wanted to really quickly shout out and thank the Morgantown Fire Department. An email a couple days ago, I had a request from the board president to ask if the fire department could fill up their dunk tank for them. There's going to be a dunk tank, guys, by the way. And the fire department answered within, I mean, I don't even know, like three hours and said, absolutely, we can definitely do that. Just tell us where it is. We may have to go refill it a hydrant. Just very much absolutely down and willing to do it. And that is awesome to see from our city staff. I know that this is going to take time out of their day, but they're excited to do it. and there was no question about it uh so it was just fantastic to see and i wanted to shout um shout them out and and really appreciate that uh our city staff was willing to do that for our community so i'll conclude my report and you're going to be out of town and we don't get to dunk you all right i will i will also be out of town for the first time in four years for for this can you remind us all when it is Oh, yeah. It is June 13th. I believe from... What time?

It's during the day, right?

Yeah, I believe from... 12.30 to 6.30. 12.30 to 6.30. See, I'm not...

Thank you, Liaison Caleb.

Yeah. And then there's an after party at Apothecary. So if you can't make that time, just head there. Just like there is every year. And I believe Babylon's doing an after party as well.

There. They'll do a show.

Yeah. And where it is at this point? Of course, I have to look.

It's at Hazel Ruby McQueen Amphitheater. This will be a third year there. It's a great spot for it.

And they have requested a proclamation to be read at that event. So as soon as I tie down the details on that, I will let everyone know, as I always do when I'm reading proclamations off-site. And everyone is welcome to join. Proclamations. Yeah, what fun. We did receive... the request for the America 250 proclamation, and I did speak to Deputy Mayor Butcher about it, and that was something that we both agreed was not something either one of us were willing to read out loud. I did ask staff to reach out to the applicant and let them know that we would be happy to recognize, you know, America 250 July 4th in other ways, but that that proclamation would not be it So we're we're working on that. I mean Shannon Davis with The special projects coordinator with the city. Sorry, my throat is sore Is working on some America 250 things councillor downs, and I are working on the parade where I've got my working on the parade Maybe we will or will not read something during a council meeting, but it will not be that one. To echo Deputy Mayor Butcher's sentiments, just because not everything was done publicly does not mean that we took the decision with the conversion therapy ban lightly. Again, several of us were on council when that was initially passed and we did that with intention and doing this. It was debated for weeks leading up to it being on an agenda. It was debated with all of council and staff and we are certainly happy to be working with the ACLU and Fairness West Virginia on Ways that that could be improved, and we are happy to take a pause and do that. We certainly, especially during Pride Month, want to show everyone that we value their participation in our community. So we will continue having those discussions about ways, just like with the proclamation, we... don't agree with all of the decisions of the current administration. We don't always agree with the current administration and I feel that way increasingly daily with the Supreme Court. Elections definitely matter whether that's a local election or a federal election. We have heard the community feedback and we have taken steps to improve what we are working on as a council. Mark and I must be on the same page today because I emailed or texted Jamie earlier asking for an update on this year's paving. We heard a couple of months ago that we would be getting an update on that. So certainly top of mind, especially with the delays we experienced last year. Last night, the Woodburn Association of Neighbors hosted a wood burn mixer at Mario's Fish Bowl and we had Around 50 or more neighbors come out. Some members of our association, some new residents, some who had been there and just kind of lost their engagement with the association. So we were very happy with that turnout and thanks to the board of the Woodburn Association who planned that. and to Mario's for hosting us. When it was planned several weeks ago, we didn't know it would be a big baseball game night, and there was still plenty of room on the patio for everyone, despite people there to watch the game. I joined this morning the West Virginia Transportation Planning Conference, which is a bi-yearly event currently being held at the Marriott the Wharf District. I also, before council this evening, attended a public input session at the Met on the walk and ride statewide bicycle and pedestrian plan. They are taking online surveys, Mark, so I have a QR code. Everyone should, you can find that on the MMMPO social media. They have shared information. If you did not attend that session and wish to give your feedback, that is a fantastic way to do so. this Friday is the first of our summer concert series. No one mentioned that. I thought for sure I'd be crossing that one off my list by the time it got to me. Well, it's my birthday also. And Jodi's birthday. We're not celebrating that at the concert, though, but this week is almost queen. We could. This week is Philadelphia Freedom and Almost Queen, a couple of high-quality cover bands from those artists, and it'll be a great way to kick off the season. It also happens to be first Friday for the arts in downtown Morgantown. That is throughout town, a lot of artists and musicians set up at various establishments all the way from, well, I guess the art lab is not, open this week. They're going to be at the co-op with a Greenmont artist show. And it goes all the way down to Andrew White's got, I think, Spark Imagination and Science Center. So there's a wide variety. It's great. Stop by some of those events on your way to the amphitheater and finally just saying morgantown forward has work days planned under the pleasant street bridge this saturday and sunday both at 10 a.m we'll be doing um maybe not so much invasive species removal as the area has been treated by all-star ecology recently but we will be working on some painting and things like that so anyone wishing to join Come on down at 10 o'clock either day this weekend. I have a question for you then.

Okay. So in light of this interest in our 250th year, I'd like to have, I'd like to make a suggestion that we develop a big tent version, an inclusive version of some sort of a proclamation for our 250th year. I think it's very important and I think that Patriotism is something that can be experienced by people of all faiths, no faiths, all persons. So if we could come up with something over the next bit, that would be much appreciated.

Yeah, happy to help work on that. I do think it's important to recognize that despite issues that we may currently have some of the happenings. Every time I say with the state of things or the state of the country, I get yelled at. But despite some of the difficulties we are all living in, I think it's still appropriate to come together and recognize that it's a big milestone for the country. And People love a parade and people love a proclamation and let's do it. Looking forward to the parade. I'm looking forward to getting my permit approved. Because I have a lot of people signed up to participate in a parade. Good. That is all that I had. Is there someone willing to move us into executive session?

I can. So I move we go into Executive Session pursuant to West Virginia State Code 6-9A-4B-2A to discuss potential or pretending litigation for boards and commissions and personnel matters.

Yes. All right. We will take a brief recess.