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 regular meeting for Tuesday, June 16th. It is 7 p.m., and we are in City Hall at 389 Spruce Street. Clerk Wade, would you please call the roll? Yes. Joe Buganam?

Present.

Jody Hollingshead? Here. Weezy Michael? Here. Jenny Selene? Here. Mark Downs?

Here.

Deputy Mayor Butcher?

Mayor Trumbull? Here. Okay. First item of business is approval of minutes. We have the June 2nd, 2026 regular meeting minutes and June 2nd, 2026 special meeting minutes. Were there any additions or corrections? Seeing none, approved by consensus. Yes, great. We'll move into correspondence. We have a number of proclamations this evening. The first proclamation is Migraine and Headache Awareness Month. I believe Dr. Christina Lopez and Heather Hickman, a nurse, are here to accept. Hello, thank you. Right. Whereas migraine disease is a complex, disabling neurological disease affecting more than 39 million people in the United States and over 1 million people worldwide, including residents of the city of Morgantown, and whereas migraine disease and other headache disorders are among the leading causes of disability, significantly impacting individuals' ability to work, attend school, care for their families, and participate in community life, and whereas migraine attacks can involve symptoms such as sensitivity to light, sound, odors, movement, nausea, vomiting, visual disturbances, and intense pain, which lasts between four and 72 hours. And whereas less common than migraine disease, cluster headaches are characterized by severe pain centered on one side of the head with attacks lasting from 15 minutes to three hours, up to eight times a day. And whereas the West Virginia University Department of Neurology has demonstrated steadfast commitment to improving the health and well-being of the Morgantown community through exceptional care, education, and research playing a vital role in diagnosing and treating individuals suffering from migraine disease and other headache disorders. And whereas increased awareness and education about migraine disease and headache disorders can foster understanding, reduce stigma, and promote compassion and appropriate accommodations within our community. Therefore, be it proclaimed that I, Danielle Trumbull, Mayor of the City of Morgantown, West Virginia, do hereby proclaim June as Migraine and Headache Awareness Month and June 26, 2026 as Migraine Awareness Day in the City of Morgantown and encourage residents to support those living with migraine headache disorders through awareness and advocacy.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

Our second proclamation this evening is recognition of the Morgantown High School girls softball team. So if you all would like to join. Yay. You want to come, please?

Yeah, I'd like to.

Let's go. Go for it. Are we doing right now? Sure. All right.

Welcome.

Thank you for coming in. All right. Whereas the Morgantown High School girls softball team completed a remarkable and historic 2026 season, establishing a new program record with 27 victories and a final record of 2710. And whereas the team captured its first regional championship in program history, earning its first ever birth in the West Virginia Class Quad A State Softball Championship Tournament. And whereas throughout the state tournament, the Mohegans demonstrated extraordinary determination, teamwork, discipline, and competitive excellence, completing a perfect 4-0 championship run while defeating the number one, number two, number three, and number five seeded teams and not allowing a single run during tournament play, And whereas the team achieved numerous historic milestones, including its first appearance in the state tournament, its victory over the highest-seeded opponent in program history, and ultimately securing the first state championship in the history of Morgantown High School softball. And whereas under the outstanding leadership of head coach Lori Lipscomb, whose dedication to the development of student athletes and commitment to excellence helped elevate the program to new heights, the Morgantown High School girls softball team achieved historic milestones, including its first regional championship, first state tournament appearance, and first state championship, bringing lasting pride to Morgantown High School and the city of Morgantown. And whereas the accomplishments of the team were highlighted by the outstanding performances of senior student athletes Beth Robinson and Grace Robinson, whereas the accomplishments of the team were highlighted by the outstanding performance of student senior athletes Beth Robinson and Grace Robinson, and who were named to the state tournament all-tournament team, and senior Maddie Wissman, who earned the distinction of state tournament most valuable player. And whereas this championship season builds upon a tradition of excellence established by the program, which also captured back-to-back Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Championships in 2024 and 2025, and whereas the dedication of the student athletes, coaches, support staff, families, and the broader Morgantown community has brought tremendous pride and recognition to Morgantown High School and the city of Morgantown, and whereas the achievements of the Morgantown High School girls softball team serve as an inspiration to young athletes throughout our community and exemplify the values of perseverance, leadership, sportsmanship, and teamwork, Now, therefore, I, Danielle Trumbull, Mayor of the City of Morgantown, on behalf of City Council, do hereby proclaim our recognition and congratulations to the Morgantown High School girls softball team for the historic 2026 State Championship season and extend our sincere appreciation for the pride, excellence, and positive representation the team has brought to the City of Morgantown.

we'll take a look like to receive. Yeah, yeah. Are we not going to be able to get it with this?

Hey, guys. There we go. Okay, we can't get the picture.

Come on up, guys.

Come on up.

Oh, can we go to the stairwell?

Is the stairwell an option?

She's smart. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

Appreciate it.

All right.

Next, we have a proclamation for America 250. There is no one to receive this proclamation. This is just a statement of counsel, so I will read from here. Whereas on July 4th, 2026, the United States of America will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, marking two and a half centuries since the founding of a nation dedicated to the enduring principles of liberty, self-government, and equal opportunity, And whereas the semi-quincentennial provides an opportunity to reflect upon the people, events, and ideals that have shaped our nation, and to celebrate the generations of Americans who have contributed to the advancement of our democracy and communities. And whereas throughout our nation's history, countless individuals have answered the call to serve our country and communities through professions and public service, demonstrating selflessness, dedication, and civic responsibility, and leaving a legacy that continues to inspire future generations. And whereas the City of Morgantown and Monongalia County are proud to be home to veterans, active duty service members, reservists, National Guard members, military families, and others whose lives, sacrifices, and contributions have strengthened our community and exemplified the values of duty, leadership, and service, And whereas the 250th anniversary of American independence coincides with the 250th anniversary of Monongalia County, providing a unique opportunity to recognize the rich history, resilience, and shared spirit that have shaped both our nation and our local community since the 18th century, And whereas this historic milestone invites all residents to honor the sacrifices and achievements of those who came before us to celebrate the rich diversity of cultures, people, experiences, and stories that together define our nation, and to recognize that the preservation of our freedoms is a constant endeavor sustained through our unity, strengthened by our shared resolve, and advanced by our enduring perseverance as we renew our collective commitment to building a stronger, more secure future for generations to come. Therefore, I, Danielle Trumbull, Mayor of the City of Morgantown, on behalf of City Council, hereby recognize the year 2026 as a celebration of the 250th anniversary of American independence and join communities across the nation in commemorating this historic milestone. Be it further proclaimed that the city of Morgantown encourages residents to reflect upon our shared history, honor those who have served and sacrificed, and participate in activities that celebrate the enduring ideals of freedom, civic responsibility, and community that continue to unite Americans and strengthen Morgantown and Monongalia County. A fourth item of correspondence this evening is a partner update. We have a presentation from the Mon River Trips Conservancy. Ella Belling, director.

Hi, everyone. I'm hoping the mic is working OK for me. Can everybody hear me? Yeah. Thank you for, well, such an inspiring beginning to the meetings. And so it's nice to follow up in such a positive meeting. I'm Ella Belling, Executive Director for the Mon River Trails Conservancy, and I'm here to talk to you tonight about rail trail projects, big visions for the rail trail, and our organization, Mon River Trails Conservancy, as well as connectivity vision for Morgantown. And I have given out two handouts, and I will try to keep this somewhat brief. This is a lot of information, and I just want to make sure everybody For all those people who are using the rail trail and think that they know a lot about what's going on, I just want to hope that I might touch on something that you might not know about. And so you can kind of go through and see the list, but I wanted to start by talking a little bit about the map that I handed out, which is the Parkersburg to Pittsburgh corridor called the P2P. And this vision for a long-distance trail system has been in the works for a couple of decades, I believe. When you get trail people together, they always like to look at maps and envision big things. So this is part of a much larger Industrial Heartland Trails Coalition 1,500-mile rail trail network in four states. But we all are a part of this corridor called the P2P, which connects Parkersburg all the way to Pittsburgh and it's made up of six trail systems that connect into the Great Allegheny Passage that then will connect into Pittsburgh and and that long-distance vision is part of more studies that show that the longer your trail networks, if you can hit about a hundred miles is ideal or more, you start to bring in a higher level of destination, tourism, and just recognizing the trail communities along it and how much economic development and community development can be spotlighted from those long-distance corridors. But, and so I had a lot to, you know, we are in the middle of an Appalachian Regional Commission grant to do master planning on kind of raising the, community and economic input and development on the towns on that corridor. And I hope that you guys got to see that survey and that presentation that was given recently at the planning conference about that. But tonight I kind of wanted to focus more on what's happening in Morgantown, right? And what we would like to see for Morgantown. And I will say that in 2020, we hit a mega milestone when we were when we were recognized, the Mon River Rail Trails were recognized in the National Rail Trail Hall of Fame. We were actually inducted into that after a nationwide vote and going up against some major trail systems. And so once you hit that moment, you automatically hit a new level of marketing and Morgantown immediately at that point became a trail town destination. But To keep that high standard, I think we continue to try to be better. And I wanted to talk about some of the projects that we're working on now. Some of them are not so glamorous. Maintenance tends to not be very glamorous. So I wanted to just touch upon the first few things about drainage improvements, dealing with intense storms. Every time we have intense storms in the stormwater management that hits our trails, We have grants to try to improve drainage in the Arboretum. We're also looking at grants right now, federal grants, to re-deck bridges. All of the city bridges will be shifted to concrete surface and help make those a much safer and less slippery surface for trail users. And then also we're looking at trail lighting in the Wharf District to help make that a full, you know, full component of being able to use the trails during the day and in the evening. And then also we're doing locally, we're working on digital mapping of all of our infrastructure, which is a lot of culverts and drainage and things that you don't normally think about, but also benches and lighting and other structures that need to have recognition on some sort of maintenance schedule. So that's a few of the things that we have grants for, we're working with, and none of this happens without collaboration and partnerships and strong ones from the city of Morgantown. I want to thank you for continuing to support our organization on plans for all of these projects, as well as working on repaving sections each year. if they need that, or resurfacing the bridges which are in need of that. And so that's just a few of the things that are underway in Morgantown. With regards to connectivity, which I think you guys have been talking about a little more lately about how to see that ourselves with green belts and greenways and better sidewalks and safer roads. I just wanted to spotlight a few of the things that Mon River Trails Conservancy has also been supporting and thinking about, and that includes Part of our infrastructure, which is making the road crossings much safer through Saberton on the Deckers Creek Trail. Right now, we have windy roads and blind curves, and it's important to have ways to get across the trail. i also wanted to spotlight kind of a personal connection meadow lane which i'm not sure if everybody is familiar with the name but i know some of you are because you live in my neighborhood meadow lane is in first ward and it's an old road right of way that the city owns that would connect down across Dawn Knot Boulevard and connect into the rail trail in the Wharf District. And that is my route right now. I use it to go to the outdoor amphitheater concerts or go get on the rail trail. But making that crossing across Meadow Lane and then also doing some improvements. It also has been damaged by stormwater and storms. And so just basic improvements to that section would be a great opportunity. a great improvement even though we're waiting or trying to raise money for the bike pad vision, bridge vision of the connectivity there. That all is tied into connecting to White Park and other amenities in Morgantown, but it certainly would be a big asset for the neighborhood. And then I wanted to spotlight just a few of the success stories. We have a lot of collaboration and partnerships with Morgantown, with Bopark, with our MPO, with non-profit and other organizations like Morgantown. morgantown area mountain bike association and also morgantown forward which has been doing a lot of work on the duckers creek trail um those enhancements are are recognized i get praises from community members a lot and i have to recognize that it's always a community that's engaged and making our rail trails look better and more fun and more connected that that one organization can't take full credit for, or that it takes a lot of collaboration between agencies and the city to make those things happen. So I greatly appreciate that. And then I just wanted to touch on, you can see a few of the things that are happening to possibly make the trails even more engaging outside of city limits. We'd like to see connections to the Cheat Lake Trail, which would connect across state lines twice then. It would connect from West Virginia into Pennsylvania and then back across the state line at the Mon River Trail border. And we've taken an active role in trying to see that connection happen. We're working with the MPO and Mon Valley Green Space Coalition on the feasibility study for our green belts. And we're participants in the West Run Complete Straits Feasibility Study that was just recently held. And then we'd also like to see some kind of recognition and art at the state line as you go across West Virginia. We're only 10 miles from the border, and it kind of is an uneventful moment when you go through the woods into another state. But we are wanting to recognize that collaboration of a long distance trail network. Lastly, I'd just like to kind of add that as you're thinking about different policies or different ways to improve connectivity, I think that some of those Good standards have been structured by the main street programs and trail towns follow a lot of that main street framework. It's a lot of creating celebratory moments on trails of kind of elevating the experience of a rail trail and of making better access and connections happen. Whether that's the Now a new kids pump track happening at Valley Crossing, which I'm really thrilled to see that begin construction to all of our access. It's our community parks and dog parks. city parks. And so I think that those things are what kind of elevate us. But I also think that I've had people reach out that are business owners that would like to see ways to connect their businesses easier, especially some of those that I think it's called South University Plaza, which is right next to Mountaineer Heritage Park or South University Park. And part of their challenges are just knowing where the property lines are and how to go through a process of making their businesses have an outdoor, backdoor component to the rail trail. So I'm happy to talk to anybody about any of these projects. And I encourage walk and talks, ideally, on the rail trail. So I'm happy to have those meetings. I wanted to see if there was any questions about so much of what I went through today.

Questions for Ella?

I agree with you about the metal lane and wanting to fix that. I also use it, and the older I get, the more I twist my ankle, and the longer it takes to heal.

Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Well, now we have an, it was hard to go by the soft opening, you know, have an ice cream store. So I think that First Ward might become a destination in itself with that. And yeah, it would be great to be able to walk off the rail trail and up to the ice cream shop. But, yeah, I appreciate that. And, yeah, and I'm excited that Bill is here to talk. Our MPO partner has been, and Bill especially, has been a wonderful director for our MPOs. And he will be missed as a partner. And we hope our MPO will continue to think about bike and ped safety as much as he has.

Thank you. Hey, Ella, before you run off, I just want to thank you for being such a committed steward of our rail trail. It really is an asset. And in terms of connectivity, we're blessed to have such an amenity running through our town, our city, to build upon. So I'd love to take you up on a walk. We spend a lot of time talking about potential, but I'd love to take you up on that offer. In terms of the timing for the trail lighting in the Wharf District, I know it's been talked about for a long time. It has. I'm certainly glad to see it committed to on paper, and I know the funding's there, but what is the timeline for that?

Yeah, so I was telling a lot of folks that it was going to happen this year, and I'm still kind of hopeful for that, but we just had a meeting with the Division of Highways recently last week and there was question about how like they're going to go ahead and bid it out this year and have a contractor hired I think before the end of the year but the delivery time on light poles and wiring and all of the you know the infrastructure part of it they're not sure how fast the turnaround will be as far as construction so it may bleed into spring of next year before But, yes, I'm hoping before our next handmade market, which is on Celebrate Trails Day, we'll have lighting in the wharf.

Thank you.

That was basically everything I was going to say. But I would also like to take you up on the walk and talk. And I'm very excited to hear more about the trail lighting. Thanks for moving that along. And also congratulations on being inducted into the trail. That's really cool.

It is. It was. I'm still, you know, all these years later, I'm still, you know, pretty happy about it.

Yeah, that's neat. I didn't know that. So that's cool. Yeah, it is really cool. Maybe we could coordinate one, two, or three walk and talks where you had a couple council people together because I think there's a lot of interest and I would be interested. We also went to the ice garden and used, what's the name of the little connector? Meadow Lane.

Meadow Lane. Used Meadow Lane.

I hadn't used Meadow Lane in a long time. I had followed Drew on one of his bicycle rides, and we used Meadow Lane another time. So I was definitely going through the neighborhood. I did not go knock on Joe's door and ask him where Meadow Lane was. But we almost got to that point. It wasn't that hard to find. But I think people are, due to ice cream, people are going to be utilizing that area more. Yeah. connectivity becomes more important I think we all don't realize how helpful it is to have those connectors plus some businesses including I assume Ice Garden will have some bike racks at some point when their grass is grown But a lot of other, pardon? They're being ordered. Good. I figured. My husband picked them out two days ago. I didn't even ask because I knew with all the bicycles that I saw pulling in the first day, I thought, yep, they will take care of that. But I think bike racks in town would be a nice complement to a lot of what's going on on the trail because you get to in front of a business and you don't really want to hook up to something that's not a bike rack But then you end up doing that because there just isn't anything else. So more bike racks, more places. And I think some of the bike racks or the little circles maybe came down when the streetscape happened. I'm not sure. But regardless, we just need bike racks because then we don't have bicycles in inappropriate places. The resurfacing and the helping with the resurfacing of the bridges. resurfacing, i.e. paving. At one point we were talking about and I believe we effectuated that the rail trail was going to be part of our paving plan. And I don't know if that's in writing. I don't know if we need to make that in writing. That doesn't mean necessarily that every year the trail gets repaved somewhere, but It meant that it was sort of included in the planning and then because it was awkward through the state to repave, getting the money to the state, the grants to the state to repave. But anyway, that seems like it merits kind of re-looking at. right after we get the bridges done or concurrently with getting the bridges done just making sure that we have, that we're looking at our paving and making sure that the trail gets paved along with. We have a policy like a memorial policy or a policy when somebody wants to donate money for benches and such in the city limits and I don't think it gets used very often and I'd like to see how it could get used more often what is stopping people from using it because that could be very valuable for the furniture along the trail and having those amenities as people are using the trail, especially shade. Certain parts, there isn't very much shade. And I also really appreciate the lighting. Thank you for coming and talking about connectivity and everything else.

Thank you. I look forward to our walks. Thank you so much.

As Ella mentioned, our next partner update is with the Morgantown-Monongalia Metropolitan Planning Organization on the statewide bicycle and pedestrian plan project. And Bill Austin, the director of the MMMPO, is here.

Thank you all very much. I really appreciate the opportunity to speak in front of council again. I don't think I've been in the room with policy board, but I haven't spoken to council in a long time. So thank you for the opportunity. Really, I'm I understand brevity. You all have a large agenda. What we really want to do is thank you all for the use of the MET for a public meeting we had on June the 2nd. It was a combined meeting with the statewide bicycle and pedestrian plan development process. And it was the first of the meetings that they are holding for the initial public involvement. They've held a meeting in Wheeling, and they will be holding meetings in Charleston and Huntington And further, another location, I forget, down south this coming week. And that is getting the goals and objectives and the priorities of the public for input into the meeting. So the other meeting we had was a study. It's a complete street study related to the proposed greenbelt. And we've been working, the MPO has been working with the Greenbelt Committee, with WVU, the city, and everybody to pull together some consensus on how to make the Greenbelt work. And what the MPO funded is a study of how would you access the Greenbelt from the street and roadway network. You can't go through somebody's yard to get that kind of access. We worked diligently with the committee to determine that essentially the Suncrest area around Rest Run would be the first place that we would take a look at, basically trying to get people to the Baker's Ridge trailhead. And we've had Kimley Horne and Associates working on developing preliminary designs and recommendations for that corridor to improve pedestrian safety as well as to provide access to the corridors that are currently proposed for the greenbelt in that area. It's kind of a fusion of roadway planning and trail planning. It's great to have a trail, but if you can't get to it, it doesn't do you a whole lot of good. So this is a fairly in-depth study. It's a $150,000 study funded 100% by the Federal Highway Administration. So we really appreciate their support on that. Also, I do have an update. There's a vulnerable road users project, which is part of the state highway safety plan. And we just got a notification today, I think Jamie's been invited to it, that the steering committee for the Morgantown Vulnerable Road User segments within the state system will be meeting next week. And those quarters include a portion of West Virginia 7 in the vicinity of the Deckers Creek Trail and Mineral Avenue. That's one of the quarters they're looking at. They're also looking at Chestnut Ridge. around WVU Medicine, and that's a quarter they're looking at. They're also looking at Pattison Drive in the vicinity of the CAC, more in-depth, where we have been fortunate enough to have the RRFB put in place. But they will be doing, I believe, additional analysis on that. So we're very excited and happy that that study is kicking off. It's been a long time coming. This originated with the state's 2022, I believe it was. Yeah, 2022 state highway safety plan. And they're only kicking off the study this year. So the wheels of government grind slowly sometimes. But we're very pleased to see that going on. And I think it will be a great benefit to the city of Morgantown and the entire community. And that's my update.

Questions for Bill? I have more of a statement. I just wanted to say thank you as you have, what, two weeks? Literally two weeks. Literally, okay. Two weeks until retirement in the last 15 years, is that? 17. 17. Almost a high school graduate.

Almost.

So the last 17 years of commitment you've had to our community, the city, the county, and the whole area, and all the effort and work you put in in creating our MPO to what it is. And I just have appreciated you and my time on the MPO and all the information you've given me and all that I got to learn from you. So I appreciate that. Thank you. I appreciate it.

I am pretty dedicated to the community, so I appreciate it. And our son lives here, so as long as he's here, we're probably not going anywhere.

Well, we're happy to sneak you in for one more presentation to counsel on your way out the door.

Thanks for your leadership, Bill. Appreciate you.

Thank you. Also, thank you very much. It's been a lot of small studies that make up the body of work that you've created. They weren't small studies, each of them, but they've added up to something. It's really... really been interesting to watch you work and navigate all the different expectations of the different communities and the different constituencies and come out winning well I work for every community yes I have a couple of details here I'm sorry I have a couple of details here so so what I'm wondering is when they're looking by the CAC by where the blinking lights are looking at the effectiveness of

Are they also looking at all near the Coliseum and that intersection or they're They have identified a quarter with metadata basically looking at crash and pedestrian volumes and really this is the scoping meeting to bring that down to decide what kind of full length that they're going to look at. So I really can't answer that question.

Well, if there's a way to get them information that the area around, I don't know what the data shows, but the area around the Coliseum gets crossed quite a bit. It only has three crossings, which is kind of nutty during basketball season when people don't have, there's not a crosswalk between the corner of Kreps Park where people walk up from the neighborhoods and And the Coliseum, so they have to have someone there. It's kind of a nutty scenario when it should probably be four-way.

Well, the logic of that is they want a free flow right turn there at the signal. Yeah. to let traffic make the right turn because it's a very dominant movement. And so that's why that segment doesn't have a crosswalk. It may be justified to have one, but that's the logic of why it's not there.

There's something about free flow vehicles and pedestrians just kind of hoping that they can get across at some point. But anyway, just one person making a comment. And then the crossing of 7, is that near the Dominion Post? Yeah. To get over, because with the pool?

Yeah, it's Mineral Avenue and I forget the other name of the side street. Come down.

Yes.

And then you can cross the street to get to the... side of the road and then you have to walk down and get on the rail track. That's been a number one priority intersection for pedestrian traffic policy board for quite a while. I remember being horrified when I first moved here and we worked in the airport and I lived in South Park and I would drive by there every day and see ladies with baby carriages trying to cross the intersection. All the time. It's overdue that they have looked at that.

That's an ongoing constant concern of the Jerome Park Neighborhood Association there that they talk about at their meetings quite frequently.

They deserve a crossing. They'd love to have a crossing.

They've asked and at some point maybe it'll be granted.

We even have a preliminary design for that that some WVU students did.

Okay, well anyway, thank you, thank you.

Sure, thank you all very much for having me.

Thank you, Bill. That brings us to the end of our correspondence. Report of proclamations. Councilor Downs and I were invited to attend, well, everyone was invited to attend the Morgantown Pride block party at the amphitheater over the weekend. Councilor Downs and I presented the LGBTQ plus pride month proclamation, recognizing that in the city of Morgantown, I know that after we presented that proclamation, I saw most other council people at the event enjoying. So congratulations to Morgantown pride on a successful block party. We have no public hearings this evening. Unfinished business, boards and commissions, I don't believe we have any Seeing none, we'll move into the public portion. Subject to rules established by council, adopted by resolution. I already grabbed it when we were presenting proclamations. There is a sign-up sheet. We will go through the sign-up sheet first. You have four minutes to speak. Please approach the podium, state your name and address. No personal comments are tolerated. First up, we have Mark Rosades.

Hi, everyone. Pleasure to be here, as always. Thank you for your work. I, having sat in one of your seats, I know how difficult it is. I'm here, Mark Presada, 734 Courtney Avenue, and I'm here on behalf of the Green Team, and we'll stick around as you discuss the resolution. But briefly, I'm here to speak in favor of the of the resolution opposing, opposing Mon Power's proposed 1,200 megawatt gas-fired power plant at Fort Martin in Mon County. The proposed project will cost $2.48 billion, which I think could buy you a green belt or two, maybe, or 100. The projected completion date is 2031. Projected adverse consequences to our community, I think, are many. Here are three reasons among many others that we should not be supporting, that we should be opposing this proposed power plant. Number one, it'll cost rate payers big time. 0.9% increase even before the project gets started, 2.3% increase as the plant is being built, and here's the most devastating part of it, a full recovery of all costs, which means we're responsible for covering that $2.48 billion no matter what happens. If this plant is built and doesn't function, we're still on the hook for that. which is kind of like being asked to be an insurance company without being paid anything for that service. Or another way of looking at it is that Manpower wants to go to the casino with our credit card. Another reason, number two, another fossil fuel powered plant will contribute to worse health outcomes in our community. We know about respiratory illnesses, how many of our fellow citizens suffer from them. There are other adverse health effects. What we don't need is worse health outcomes. This is guaranteed to give us those. We don't need to be any sicker than we are. Finally, the designated recipient, potentially, there isn't a firm deal yet, is a data center or data centers whose benefit to our world is still to be determined. We can talk about some of the negative effects of data centers locally. For example, data centers produce artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence has allowed WVU students to not write their papers but turn it over to artificial intelligence to write or to solve their math problems and physics problems. It's creating another kind of brain drain, really. It's a real problem. It's also... stealing jobs from recent WVU graduates. Companies are employing AI instead of employing graduates in our community. So three reasons the Green Team sees this proposed plant as a very bad idea, thus the resolution. Thank you for having me tonight.

Thank you. Annie Cronin York.

Annie Cronin, New York Human Rights Commission, and Seventh Ward, just in case. Thank you for doing the ordinance establishing the reasonable accommodations process. I think that's great. It's kind of parallel to what the Human Rights Commission does, except we get the complaints after the discrimination has occurred. So this sounds preemptive, which is fantastic. I've been requesting that there be a recessed curb in front of 430 for a couple of years because we would not go up that easily, but nothing yet. So that could be your first applicant. I was taken aback by a few of the definitions that were written in the ordinance. For instance, dwelling includes land that houses be built on. I looked it up in different dictionaries.

And then I read the federal code.

Yeah, the land, too. So I'm not making fun of anybody this time. The other thing I want to talk about is when you begin the public portion of a meeting, we should say no personal attacks. Today we said no personal comments. At last week's last meeting on July 2nd, June 2nd, June 2nd, yes, somebody got up and spoke at length about a proclamation she wanted to have done. And she read the proclamation herself because the council was not inclined to do so. Everybody was cringing as she read it, which is fine. And then somebody yelled from the peanut gallery, fascist. And nobody said anything about that. Nobody stopped it. Nobody said that's a personal attack, knock it off. I'm just confused as to what the rule is. It doesn't mean no personal attacks on counsel or no personal attacks at all. Because that person, as much as perhaps everyone in the room disagreed with her, was exercising her first amendment right to free speech. It was political speech and protected. to say it quietly and let it pass. And then they would begin to make their comments afterward and that's great too. But I was surprised that the fascist comment was allowed to fly out there as such. And the third thing I want to mention is that studies have been done, I cannot find the site for it, that since the decimation of DEI initiatives in the US under the Trump administration, that there's been an upswing in DEI programs and corporations that do not have government contracts. So Costco, Cisco, Disney brought back their LGBTQ program, and several other large corporations, as long as they don't have any defense contracts or other government contracts, are really amping up their DEI initiatives. This makes me happy. I hope it does you, too. Thanks. Thank you. Torley Bush.

Torley Bush. I'm over on Ohio Avenue in Westover, and I suppose I was just wanting to talk to council about perception with regards to remarks and the proclamation that Annie had just mentioned that were made at the last meeting. It strikes me as odd that I suppose one woman was able to advocate for her own cause and then council has this proclamation for America 250, albeit much more balanced and I think much more rightly stated to reflect Morgantown at the very next council meeting. Meanwhile, many people from the community, myself included, have advocated at multiple meetings at length for the most disadvantaged in this community and what they're facing. They have been facing the potential of what they face in terms of the camping ban and nothing being done. And something about that just did not sit right with me, and that's why I wanted to speak this evening. I don't think that it's council's intent to... act maliciously or anything like that towards these people, but what I saw at the moral transmission line meeting about everybody, whether or not they were Republican, Democrat, whatever, coming out to speak against the development that would hurt people in this county, and then the disconnect that is here locally and not seeing how both of those things are connected and a part of the same spectrum, whether it's technology trying to run over everybody's land or vulnerable people being displaced for gentrification in some cases, public safety in others, and there's a whole separate discussion there, but how there's a disconnect there, but council is, to me, I think so close to being able to see that they're both really a part of the same thing. And I would ask, and I think as other people have wanted at some point to see a further consideration when it comes to the criminalization and citation parts of the ordinance regarding the camping ban. Thank you for your time.

Anyone else wishing to speak this evening? Seeing none, we will close the public portion. We have no special committee reports nor a consent agenda. So we will move into our new business item, a approval of a resolution opposing Mon power gas fired power plant.

Yes. Thank you, mayor. And I think Mr. is here on behalf of our green team today, who has provided the resolution attached for your consideration. Uh, we also had Jim cotton from the green team. present at a previous council meeting who also discussed this proposed resolution. So I won't go in and repeat what is proposed, but this is a resolution opposing the construction of the gas powered power plant by MonPower for council's consideration.

Any questions for the city manager or a motion?

I have a question. So the MonPower, is that the AI data center?

So Mom Power is the one who has submitted the project to build the transmission line, not necessarily.

Oh, the transmission line. It's not the data center.

Or the power plant, sorry, not the transmission line, the power plant, not the actual data center itself. Yeah, the power plant itself.

This is the power plant, not transmission.

Okay, so this is for the power plant.

The plant.

The towers, basically. Okay.

I believe this is separate from the Marl project. Like an actual building that's creating the power. This is separate from Marl.

And it's a gas-fired one. This is going to go where in Maidsville?

It's near the Fort Marion power station.

Okay, that's what I was reading here. Okay.

And I think it also includes some solar. Some solar in there also is included just sort of by the way. But the main thing is that there's no contract with anyone for that additional power. And we're on the line to pay for it whether it happens or not. So usually if a person or an entity wanted to build a power plant and they say there's more need, the person who is in need or the entity that's in need would be helping to pay for it. But that's not the case here. And yet, even if it doesn't get built, the customers, with all the rising costs that we're dealing with, customers would have to pay for it, whether it gets built or not. It's a very strange contract. It is.

This seems like discussion.

Move to approve the resolution as presented. Second.

Thank you. OK, further discussion.

No, that's the only question I had.

I do. The other thing is that was noted in the presentation, the original presentation, was that there's not many if not most entities that create power have some kind of a conservation plan where they help people to conserve energy so that they don't have to build additional power unless it's necessary. My understanding is that doesn't exist here. And I would think that we would want to see more conservation before we bother to build expensive power plants.

Sorry. I just needed it to be fixed. My suspicion is that this doesn't feel like a very popular thing for them to be building, so that's probably why they have it worded that we ought to pay no matter what. And that makes me even more nervous.

Clerk Wade? Yes. Joe Bugana?

Yes.

Jenny Hollingshead? Yes. Wheezy Michael?

Yes.

Jenny Saline? Yes. Mark Downs?

Yes.

Mayor Trumbull?

Yes. Passes 6-0. Item B, consideration of approval of a resolution approving the fiscal year 2026-2027 budget for the City of Morgantown Airport Improvement Fund.

Yes, Assistant City Manager Emily Mazzarelli will be presenting on this item.

Thank you, Manager Miller. The Airport Improvement Fund is structured to capture external revenues and required match funding tied directly to capital aviation projects. Primary revenue sources include federal and state airport improvement program grant funds, passenger facility charges collected on each of the airline tickets, and the city's local match, which is typically funded through the capital escrow fund. On the expense side, the fund is dedicated almost entirely to project-specific costs, with the largest share going towards the runway extension project, along with smaller flexible allocations typically for airport equipment funded through the PFC or passenger facility charges and the revenues we get from that and the accrued interest. As for the runway extension, it continues to be the cornerstone of our airport improvement fund. At last meeting, Council recently awarded Phase 5 in bringing total investment over, federal investment to over $40 million. At the same time, the project is gaining some strong support at the federal level with both Senators Capito and Justice submitting congressional appropriations in the amounts of 25 million and 15 million respectively to further advance critical infrastructure investment.

Questions for Assistant City Manager Mazzarelli slash Interim Airport Director Mazzarelli? Is there a motion? Move to approve.

Second.

Thank you. Additional discussion?

Clerk White? Yes. Joe Bugannam?

Yes.

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

Yes.

Mark Downs?

Yes.

Mayor Trimple? Yes. Passes 6-0. Item C, consideration of approval of first reading of an ordinance repealing Article 160, the Housing Advisory Committee.

Yes. Thank you, Mayor. So the Housing Advisory Committee was established in 2014 and consists for ordinance up to 13 advisory members. When initially composed, while not exclusively, a large focus of their work was on student-related housing. So the city, as you all are aware, have been looking at all of our boards and commissions and asking ourselves critical questions of how are they functioning? Is there a better way that people want to engage with each type of topic or process? And are we really moving the needle forward on each advisory board? So this one is one that has not met since 2024. We would consider it is a defunct board not serving its original intended purpose. So tonight we are proposing that this advisory committee be sunsetted or repealed with the idea that housing remains a very important topic for the city overall. So we anticipate at some point we can see this being reconstituted in a different format with a different version, whether that's through a different advisory committee or focused subcommittees on specific projects that we're looking at. But at this point, this commission has not been active for some time and we are recommending to sunset and repeal this ordinance.

Questions for the city manager?

I guess I have one comment, which is that this group in its heyday had housing fairs, helped when we needed more housing in the area and different types of housing or different needs, and so it served a great function in its time.

Absolutely.

And it truly is not mad, as you say, and I think that this group is committed to housing and improving housing in our area, but it will probably have a little bit of a different focus. And so creating a new committee with new membership with more specific focus in the areas that need focus now seems really important. And if at some point we need to focus on student housing again, we certainly could. constitute yet a different iteration, but for right now, I think this is very wise.

Move to approve.

Thank you.

Second.

Thank you.

Additional discussion?

I just want to express my appreciation for this process, looking at all the different commissions and assessing their functionality. And just for those listening and maybe seeing a headline, Housing Advisory Commission, I do want to highlight that this council is incredibly committed to housing, affordable housing. And I'm proud of staff and council for being willing to sort of take a step back look at things and you know deconstruct to be able to reconstruct something that is more functional and effective that's how positive change occurs and so I just wanted to express my appreciation to staff and my fellow council members for for being willing to do that

I attended this particular meeting where we were exploring the housing advisory committee and it became clear that there were no current members. I think all but maybe one had expired. And looking at the makeup of the committee it was also clear that it was, as they stated, very student housing focused, which we know is only a portion of the housing issues that we are dealing with. So I think we are all very clearly committed to working through some affordable housing things and in working to improve the housing stock in Morgantown, whether that's through the land reuse agency or some changes coming to zoning or various things, but I don't believe this committee was serving the purpose that we need served right now.

And to really highlight the importance of the housing issue. It was the first update that we asked for from development services, from staff. We asked for delivery of housing study results and we've already taken action on those things as we said. But I do think it's important for that context to be added that this really was the case where we had a committee whose configuration really wasn't serving the purpose any longer and I think it was time for us to maybe sunset that and reconsider how we're moving this forward, this issue forward better for the community.

And we are certainly grateful to all committee members who dedicated their time and service.

Yeah, no doubt. And just to Jody's point, I mean, you know, take stock of the cases where we're willing and able to say, okay, the way that we have been doing something for a long time isn't working for us any longer, so let's, you know, take a beat and have a look at it and do something different. So thank you.

I have one more to sneak in here. When we're looking at the next iteration, there are several directions that I want to make sure that we at least consider as we're doing this. And one of them is workforce housing through all income levels and making sure that there are housing units for people at the low end of the spectrum, at the just before low end of the spectrum, just before that, and quite a bit up into income levels, we have some gaps, and I'd like to make sure that we're looking at filling the gaps that we have. And then accessible housing, I think that we, because of our topography in particular, We have a lot of houses that are not good. People find out when they're partway through their lifespan and they have to have a knee replacement or something happens and they've twisted an ankle and their house is like my house where you have to go upstairs to go to the bathroom, you have to go downstairs to go to laundry. It's tough. And so looking at universal or all ages housing, housing that will age with the people who purchase it and having... some of the main living areas all on one floor would be huge in Morgantown for keeping people here throughout their lifespan. So that's my little spiel as we move forward.

Yes, Mayor and Council, if I may just make one more comment. And thank you for all of your guys' comments tonight. I think they are very reflective of how staff feels about this process as well. I do think it's important as well to highlight not only the commitment to the housing piece, but as we look at these ordinances and these boards and commissions, you know, this is not a retreat from engagement with the public that I believe in fact, you can see illustrations of us leaning forward into more public engagement. This is just us looking strategically of how we do that public engagement and how we are reaching out to people and trying to provide valuable ways to get that feedback and certainly There are times where boards and commissions, that's the answer, but I think we have to really look strategically at each topic to decide what is right for that engagement.

Thank you. Clerk White? Yes. Joe Buganem?

Yes.

Jody Hollingshead? Yes. Wheezy Michael?

Yes.

Jenny Saline? Yes. Mark Downs?

Yes.

Mayor Trumbull?

Yes. Passes 6-0. Item D, consideration of approval of first reading of an ordinance establishing a reasonable accommodations process. Yes, Attorney Simonton will be briefing this item.

Thank you, Mayor. This ordinance will establish a standard process for the city and its boards and commissions to consider requests for reasonable accommodations in the city's services and programs as well as in access to housing for those with disabilities. The city is required to establish a process for this and make those accommodations when reasonable under the Federal Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act. the process that's established by this ordinance involves an application to the city clerk who will route that request to the appropriate staff person responsible for the program or service involved so for instance the city engineer would consider requests for an accessible parking space or the director of bow park might consider a request for accommodation in a summer camp program The ordinance also includes an appeal process. Those decisions initially by the affected staff member can be appealed to the city manager. There are timelines on those decision processes, so there's a quick resolution, 30 days to each decision point. And the ordinance also includes appropriate standards based on the current case law under both the ADA and the FHA to guide staff in making proper decisions about what is reasonable accommodations in those process, a reasonable accommodation in those instances, as well as offering an opportunity for an interactive process with the person making the request so that both the city and the person involved can discuss what their needs are and what the city's capabilities are in providing those public services. And if you have any questions, I'd be happy to address those as well.

Questions for Attorney Simonson?

Move to approve. Second.

Second.

Thank you. Additional discussion?

I really appreciate that this is, that we've moved this forward and the Mayor, Mayor Trumbull and I, you know, kind of saw firsthand recently this playing out. That kind of the gap where we didn't have a great process for this to play itself out through the BZA. You know, and I appreciate the folks on the BZA and taking their time volunteering to benefit the city. But, you know, where we have cases where federal law supersedes local law to protect certain classes. I don't think it was fair for that decision-making process to be levied on a group of volunteers. So I'm very, very happy and very, very supportive of this moving forward. So thank you to everyone who contributed.

Any additional discussion? Clerk Wake? Yes. Joe Bugon?

Yes.

Jody Hollingshead? Yes. Wheezy Michael?

Yes.

Jenny Saline? Yes. Mark Downs?

Yes.

Mayor Trumbull?

Yes. Passes 6-0. Item E, adoption of land preservation program.

Yes. Thank you, mayor. Uh, in 2018 under resolution 2018 dash 11, uh, city council had, uh, directed or requested the land preservation, uh, agency, the land reuse and preservation agency, pardon me, to create a land preservation program as part of one of their goals and initiatives. We've seen a lot of great work coming out of that board and commission recently and they're really kicking up and getting some major things across the finish line for them. And so one of those things is they have provided a land preservation program which is attached in your packet for your consideration that they are seeking council to vote on and support for approval. at tonight's meeting. So this program does provide a fairly broad framework for them, and I anticipate we will continue to dive in and make proposed revisions to this, but this gets a good start. It goes into the goals of some of the goals of the agencies, which is to protect the environmentally sensitive areas and natural resources. to promote sustainable development practices to enhance quality of life for residents through improved access to green space and preserve the city's unique characteristics and scenic landscapes. So it goes on and provides them some guidance about processes and priorities when they're considering acquiring, using, or transferring property and provides a brief overview. So this is a document that is in accordance with council's direction and the land Reuse and Preservation Agency would recommend approval from Council.

Questions for the City Manager?

Move to approve.

Second. Thank you. Additional discussion?

Quiet group tonight. Clerk Whitton? Yes. Joe Buchanan?

Yes.

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

Yes.

Mark Towns?

Yes.

Mayor Trumbull? Yes. Passes 6-0. City Manager's report.

Yes, thank you, Mayor. Just a couple of quick items. As a reminder, offices are closed this Thursday in observance of West Virginia Day. I want to encourage everybody to continue to come out to the Ruby Amphitheater every Friday for our summer concert series. We've had two so far this year, and they've been really spectacular. So I think we have a really great lineup. and encourage everybody to attend. Along those lines, July 4th has some great events and activities shaping up. I certainly don't want to take any great notices of them, and we couldn't possibly name them all, but want to specifically highlight that we do have an opening event of the Easton Roller Mill early in the morning at 11. We know the parade, which I assume there will be some additional discussions on. and then followed by fireworks at the park or the amphitheater. So music starts at seven. fireworks will be at dark. So lots of great things for people to go out and get engaged and celebrate in Morgantown on July 4th. Last item to briefly mention, the Citizens Academy process is going along very well. It's a fantastic group of participants this year, very engaged. We're receiving a lot of positive feedback from them and engagement as well. I know that we've received a couple of applications of being on boards and commissions through uh, that citizen Academy group this year. So a great group of folks, uh, we do have on July 1st at 6 PM. Uh, each part, each year we do the kind of mock city council piece of that, and it would encourage you all to attend at 6 PM that night. That concludes my report.

Yeah.

Report from the city clerk.

Yes, mayor.

Um, the police civil service commission met yesterday and they certified a list of candidates for police officers. This certification ensures that the qualified candidates are available for future hiring. Additionally, the police civil service Commission will be conducting entry-level police officer exams on July 25th. That's a Saturday at 9 a.m. If folks are interested, they could apply online at our city's website on the Morgantown Police Department page, or they could reach out to the clerk's office for assistance. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age, and if hired, must reside within a one-hour drive time from the public safety building. For individuals who are unsure whether they reside within a one hour drive time, the Morgantown Police Department's page includes a drive time map where prospective applicants can enter their address and determine whether they are within the required distance. Pretty handy tool. As a reminder, all Civil Service Commission meetings and our public meetings are open to the public. Community members are encouraged to attend if they're interested in learning more about the important work that our commissions and our boards that you all have been talking about today. what they do. In fact, yesterday I received a call from an individual who has a son that is a Boy Scout and he needed to attend a government meeting. So he was going, they were going to attend a police civil service commission meeting. So I thought what a great idea for our youth to learn about what's going on in our city, what our police department might be doing, what they're up to and what our commissioners might be doing. Also, just a little bit more information about our boards and commissions. We have 30, and folks are encouraged to get on our website and look under boards and commissions. Find something that they might be interested in and apply. Look and see what the residency requirements might be. But we're looking for folks who want to continue, want to serve our city like Bill tonight. What an honor it has been to have him for that many years and his dedication to our city. And then lastly, just want to remind folks about Notify Me, the function Notify Me on our website. It's such a handy tool to be reminded about the activities and events and things that might be going on in our city. Just go onto the search bar on our website and type in Notify Me, and it's pretty self-explanatory. Folks can be notified about our agendas. All of our agendas are on our website for every border commission meeting, our council meetings. Folks can learn about what's going on, when the meetings are, where they're located, if we're having them via Zoom or Teams or where they are. And we just want to make sure that folks know what's going on, and they are certainly invited to come. And that concludes my report.

Thank you. Report from City Attorney.

Thank you, Mayor. As Council moves forward with the ordinance establishing or updating the city reasonable accommodations processes, I'll work with the city clerk and the city manager to integrate those into our published administrative processes for accessibility as well as develop the forms that will be used once the process is adopted so that an application is readily available as well as an appeal and a hearing process. Nice to see the MRTC presentation tonight. I noted that Ella mentioned there is interest in property owners in the South University Avenue area accessing the rail trail property. The city has access agreements onto the rail trail property with various adjoining owners that sometimes permit decks or ramps or other landscaping. And so long as those are consistent with the purpose of a non-motorized recreational trail and the rail banking program, They are permissible, so I'll reach out to Ella tomorrow and follow up on any contacts with those to see if we can support more trail connections. And that is all I have.

Great. Thank you. Report from council members. Councillor Abugano, would you like to go first?

Sure. First, I would say thank you to everybody that came out to the neighborhood this past Saturday for a successful yard sale. We had 30 different yards with things for people to find, and the weather was cooperative for the first time in three years, so that was really nice. It was too warm though, I was giving out complimentary coffee and nobody wanted that, but they wanted the complimentary grape Kool-Aid. The First Ward neighborhood is having a meeting on Monday at Jack Roberts Park and they're going to be offering free food at 530 and I believe the menu is tacos. And the meeting itself will start at 6 and Vince already left. I was going to tell him how excited I was to see Everclear on Friday because I hear they're going to be wonderful now.

I just wanted to mention that Mayor Trump, when I went to the Merle opposing it, and we handed over our opposition letter from the whole city council to them. In my ward, the playground is finished and it's getting a lot of people there. I haven't heard anything negative. I think everybody really likes it. And the pavilion is done, I believe, except I don't believe the picnic tables are in. But everything else is looking good. So that's all I have for tonight. Thank you.

I wanted to note that also this Friday, I believe, yes, it's Juneteenth, and hold on, I had it pulled up and it disappeared. The Morgantown-Kingwood NAACP is holding their celebration tomorrow at Cavill's Restaurant, 5.30 to 7.30, as I understand it's sort of a drop-in situation, but I did also want to acknowledge the holiday of Juneteenth. As we are a predominantly white community, I encourage all of us to take a little bit of time and educate ourselves on the holiday and maybe check out some anti-racism content. I want to just briefly Torley is gone, but I just want to note that The camping van is on our list Just sort of taking stock just like we were talking about boards and commissions. We're just about a year out and a little over a year out and I as with anything, it's good to take stock and think about how effective it is at its original purpose. So I just wanted to mention that it is on our list. I also wanted to encourage, I don't mean for this to be a pep talk or I don't know, but I want to note that with the America 250 celebration, there is much to celebrate, absolutely. And I would encourage us to think about what we would like the next 250 years to look like and think about what we've gotten right and think about what we've gotten wrong. And when we reflect on the last 250 years again, let's also think about the next 250 and what that could look like. The last thing I'll mention is that Pride was just incredible, and the weather, again, was awesome for the first time in a few years, like Joe said. And thank you to everyone who had a part in producing that event. It's a huge event. There's a lot of staff involved. There are a lot of volunteers involved, Morgantown Pride. And I just feel so lucky to live in a community that puts on such an event that I get to take my daughters to. It was sort of an emotional day for me. My five-year-old, this was the first year she was really old enough to understand what we were celebrating. And how lucky are we that we live in such a beautiful and diverse community. It was a great party. That's all I have. Thank you.

kind of right along there, but maybe slightly different take on it, but right along there. As we're considering our 250 years and as we're considering all the different milestones that have happened recently with different entities in our community and different parts of our government, When we're considering being against things like MARL or like a new gas-fired power plant in our area that's kind of overbuilding, it's interesting to see who the partners are who are against some of these things. They include people who use power for industrial reasons, who don't want to pay the greater cost for power that isn't needed, and it includes people who are environmentalists that would like to see Something not being overbuilt also so as we all figure out how to live and work together as We try to support our small businesses as we try to create a livable area as we look at our reasonable energy needs So we look at our water needs as we look at our new sheds We would like to grow and we would like to have Increases in use of our area but we would like to do it in a reasonable way and i think that if we can all work on partnering together and i appreciate the two of you going to the uh the moral uh hearings as we all work together it can really make a big impact in our area that we are known for our positive attributes and our um attempts at rejection of negative attributes so that we can become a stronger and better community and not just Morgantown, but our whole area. So on Saturday, um, my husband and I got on our bicycles, which we had not been on very often this year yet. So we, uh, um, live kind of by the Coliseum and we biked, um, We can bike to the trail maybe three different ways. All of them are steep and one of them is along the boulevard, which we did the boulevard because that's where we were trying to get to the farmer's market before it closed. So we attended the farmer's market and we had a few pannier bags so we could actually bring home some things. And then we headed down High Street um, all the way down high street to the cemetery and up and around the cemetery and over to the ice garden. Uh, America's America's first spaghetti ice vendor. Perhaps we don't know that, but, uh, it's very fun and, uh, inventive and there's playground and there's, what are they? Gnomes? Gnomes. There's lots of gnomes. When you go there, you will see gnomes for sure. And, uh, and lots of different kinds of ice cream configurations that are German in origin and fulfilling lifelong dream of the developer of this ice garden. And it was very fun, very neighborhood oriented, very nice. And then as I said, we took this kind of semi-opened right of way to get down to the trail again and it really does spur people having a Saturday like that when we have our connections and we have our connections as developed as possible. We have ways to get across our main intersections because it really does take people giving each other a little bit of space for safety and just figuring out how we can all best enjoy our topographically enhanced and challenged area. So enough about that but I just think I really appreciate where we live and the beauty of it and then sometimes the challenge of it and a lot of enjoyment can be had. On the seventh we had the Evansdale picnic and it was really, really nice weather and very friendly neighbors. I went to go see a few yards to see people's plants and things that they had and their outdoor architecture. I think people in Morgantown just don't kind of understand how accessible it is to be able to be in these neighborhoods that are right adjacent to the university, that are right adjacent to some of these neighborhood businesses. grocery stores, being able to walk there, bike there, drive there easily. I just really am feeling good about living in Morgantown. Thank you.

I want to talk about the ice garden for a minute too. Because I just want to remind everyone that this is an amenity that Mayor Trumbull and I had to show up to the BZA, to the Board of Zoning Appeals, and fight to have approved for our neighborhood. And we've sat here and we've listened to all night everyone talk over and over again about how great this is. Why can't we put policy in place that allows this to happen by right, without having to go to an appeal process? We deserve it. Our city deserves it. Our neighborhoods deserve it. And I'd ask the city manager to please arrange with the MCDA for an update on East End Village and the Richwood TIF. Thank you.

I wasn't going to speak about the ice garden, but I guess since everyone else did, I'll remind everyone that they are having a ribbon cutting and grand opening this Saturday at noon. They're currently open noon to nine every day. Little plug. I'm a longtime supporter of not only small business, but specifically neighborhood-based businesses. That's something, I mean, I talked a couple of weeks ago at one of our meetings that neighborhood-based businesses were always something that was very important to me as I'm looking, as I was running for office, as I was look over our zoning code. As I said, we know what we want. We have to make it easier to get there. And unfortunately, we put folks in a situation where when it takes six or more months to get something approved, a lot of people don't have that kind of time and the resources to wait that long. So they just give up. So we need to figure out how to streamline that process and make it because again i haven't heard a single person say a bad word about having an ice cream shop in their neighborhood everyone i was there volunteering my time working last night organizing shelving and the one day this week that they're closed probably in the two hours i was there 20 people knocked on the door trying to get in they walked by saw the lights on one at ice cream so we know what we want as a community and it's council's job to make sure we make it so that we can get there um yeah lots of good neighborhood-based businesses everyone go to Quantum, and Madeline's, and Jean's, and Mario's, all of these. That got me off of my list here. Mondays. Oh, I've been spending a lot of time at Mondays too. When the ice cream shop closes, Mondays is open. We watch baseball there on Sunday. Yeah, baseball's been fun, right? We won today, so we play again tomorrow. In addition to the moral event that Councillor Michael and I attended on behalf of Council, Councillor Downs and I attended the Story Fest for the Morgantown Public Library and participated in the cake cutting there for the 100th anniversary of library services within the city of Morgantown, which is a huge milestone, a great accomplishment. Sarah Cranston is doing a great job over there with all of the programming. If you are not engaged with the library, why not? Get engaged. So much is going on. Councilor Downs and I, I spend a lot of time with you. Councilor Downs and I also attended a 40th anniversary celebration for Cool Ridge today, a longtime downtown staple. They have moved into a new location and have new owners, but that business has been in operation for 40 years. So certainly another huge milestone.

I'm glad it's back on High Street.

Where it should be. Um. Oh, speaking of the library, I meant to mention, we do have an opening upcoming on the library board as well as on the MUB board. That one's a little further off. That one won't be until October. But at the end of this month, we will have an opening on the library board. The library administration has specifically requested someone who may be an attorney or who may have... Fundraising experience, HR experience, or building maintenance experience. So you must also be willing to put your name on their bank account, I'm told. But we are currently accepting applications for the position on the library board. Morgantown Forward has work days coming up this weekend, Saturday and Sunday. We will be meeting at Stanley Spot Dog Park at 10 a.m. If trail building is your thing, if it's not, and float building is more your thing, report under South High Station Saturday at 10 a.m. and you can help build parade floats. Um, the jeans runs are coming up, um, in coordination with the Greenmont block party. So Friday, June 26th and Saturday, June 27th are the mile runs in the five K. So if you're interested in that, um, I believe there's still a little bit of time to sign up, but you might not get a t-shirt. July 23rd from 10 to 3, Hazel's House of Hope will be having an open house and resource fair. There's a couple of raffles going on, a lot of activities for families, and... A LOT OF CONNECTIONS TO MANY OF THE RESOURCES AVAILABLE IN OUR COMMUNITY. AT NOON THERE WILL BE A CATERED LUNCH AND RIBBON CUTTING FOR SOME OF THE NEW IMPROVEMENTS THAT HAVE HAPPENED THERE. AND WE WILL SOON BE WORKING ON EXPANSION OF THE DAY ROOM ALSO. SO LOTS OF THINGS HAPPENING THERE. WHAT'S THE DATE ON THAT? JULY 23. IT'S A THURSDAY. 10 TO 3. BUT LUNCH IS AT NOON. And yes, I am happy to report that the parade permit was approved this morning. So we are officially a go, even though I've been officially a go for four weeks now. We are still accepting registration for those who wish to participate. We're hoping to get a couple more community groups. We have many and a good variety of groups participating. But you can email me at dtrumble at morgantownwv.gov for the registration form. We will also be doing bike decorating sponsored by Bopark on the WVU Mountain Layer Green starting at 3 p.m. before the 4 o'clock parade. Parking there is free that day. First come, first serve. Yeah, we already talked about Everclear. We talked about the 4th of July fireworks. That looks good.

Do kids need to register ahead of time to participate in the bike parade?

No, ma'am. If you wish to participate in the bike parade, you can show up with a decorated bike, or again, Beaupark has sponsored decorations. So from 3 to 4, they will be on the mountain layer green doing the decorating. If you show up already decorated, just be there by 4 because you are leading the parade. followed by a group of teenagers with the Civil Air Patrol providing the color guard services for the parade. So again, we have a wide variety. There's some historic vehicles, some Civil War reenactors, a couple of floats, some dancers, courtesy of Mark Downs, lots of different groups participating. And I'm tired. Jenny tried to tell me planning a parade was a lot of work. Here we are. It's so easy. Almost there, though. Almost there.

Anyone can do it, Danielle. Just do it.

Anyone can do it. Just do it, Danielle.

Even you, Danielle. Anyone can do it. No.

Particularly you. Particularly you. No problem.

Just joking.

Okay. Seems like we're done. Is there someone willing to read us into executive session?

All right. We move to go into executive session pursuant to West Virginia State Code section 6-9A4B2A to discuss personnel matters for boards and commissions. We're also moving toward discussion of matters related to acquisition or development of property in the Greenmont neighborhood. It is anticipated that this will be discussed in executive session pursuant to West Virginia Code 6-9A4B9. and discussion of pending or potential litigation. It's anticipated that we may discuss this matter pursuant to West Virginia Code 6-9A4B12, as well as discussion of matters protected by attorney-client privilege, as permitted by West Virginia Code 6-9A4B12. Sounds like vitamins.

So moved. Second.

Thank you. Yes? All right, we will take a brief recess and enter executive session.