City Council - Regular Meeting

we will proceed. The first item that we have tonight is our public forum. We have one individual signed up, Daniel Miller.

Thank you. Again, Daniel Miller. I just wanted to provide a thank you for the Vienna City Volunteer Fire Department for all of their efforts in containing what is a very devastating event that occurred within our community. And it is with profound thanks that I appreciate not only what the volunteer fire department of Vienna has done, but all the surrounding fire departments that had participated in the event. And it has not been unnoticed. And, you know, this is, it's wonderful to have such a supportive community. And all I want to say is thank you. Yes, teamwork makes the dream work.

Absolutely. The minutes from the regular council meeting on June 11th, 2026 have been written and posted and circulated. Are there other additions or corrections at this time? If not, the minutes will stand as submitted. Next, we have a treasurer's report.

A couple of things. One is last week's budget and finance meeting is canceled. So the next budget and finance meeting that's on the books is August 4th and the one for September The first is not optional, looking at September 8th, but Rodney will be out soon. We'll have to resolve that one. Next thing is I review the reconciliations with funds dated July 6th, 2026 in a short budget report at a high level. Comparing them to the previous months, the accounts are in order and the city of the unit can pay for those.

Are there any questions on the treasurer's report? If not, let the report so stand as submitted. We have no unfinished business, uh, at this time, but before we get into new business, um, I have a Don agenda item, uh, that we're going to, um, just quickly address. I've invited chief Scholl, uh, to council, and I would just like him to give us a, uh, straight from the horse's mouth and update and all the information regarding the, uh, fire and response, uh, that happened over the weekend. And as he gets there, I want to say I have gotten numerous calls and have even had people come and tell me what an incredible job the Vienna Volunteer Fire Department did. Although it's a team effort and we are grateful for everyone from all of the agencies because it was a team effort. We appreciate you and we thank you for the job that you did and your firefighters did and all the first responders. in representing Vienna. You made us proud and we're thankful for you.

Thank you. Like you said, no one fire department did this. There was a multitude of fire departments. I don't even have the exact numbers of them that were there. But our aerial device, Parkersburg's aerial device, and Mineral Wells' aerial device was flowing the constant time, the whole three days of it. And then all the other departments were manpower, shutting water and everything. The building was a total loss, but there's multiple buildings on that land. We just lost one. We wrote one half of the building off to save the rest of them. So a lot of people were saying, you know, why'd you let that burn like that? We intended to do it to save everything else. Like I said, it was a team effort with multiple people. We had people rotate and cruise in and out. all kinds of supplies drinking water food and everything over there lubeck got a bunch of it parksburg received some of it and we're going to disperse that amongst the departments everything there was so much food over there every time you turn around somebody shoving food at you or drink at you it was just wonderful is there any specific questions you want to answer at this time if you have any questions for chief scholl i'll give you an opportunity to do that a couple comments

didn't know what was in the warehouse. As a county, I believe the emergency response rule in the function is supposed to have a listing of all of the materials that typically, for chemicals, if there were any in there, that are stored at a site. So I know in Tyler County, there's a listing with all the SDS data sheets that show The fire department on what chemicals are present that they're going to be dealing with possibly. We have our own internal fire department, but there are instances of St. Mary's would need to come. Sisters will need to come. They would know what's there. It caught me by surprise. in place?

Yes, they do. Every county is mandated to have that type of situation in place there. We have an LEPC in the county. There's all sorts of organizations that take care of that. And the facilities, my understanding, I did not see them. I was down in the ground zero of it. So the incident commander's taken to that. I'm assuming they saw it, because they were coming back and telling us, all it is is plastic pellets, same as what's been the last multiple times that these places anything in your glasses, and you can hold it in your hand and it's harmless. Once you catch it on fire, that's when you have a problem. So I did not see those sheets, but yes, there are those things in place to handle that.

Okay, that was number one. Number two is when we had the fire several years back, you know, from the other facility that was on that one. IEI? Yeah. There was a punch list that the Wood County Commissioners had Are we sure that everything that was identified from warehouses or whatever in Wood County, that those punch lists have been addressed and completed?

I can't 100% answer that. I know the facilities are required to turn those in. The county and the state is the one that does it. Mainly the state, I think it's the fire marshal's office that handles most of that. I don't know what's turned into them. I can't honestly tell you that.

Okay, if I'm not mistaken, the only one in Brewery that had a warrior concern is up by Greenmont.

the 66th street what what we have done is request from the state the copy of the latest safety reports from that in the completion or compliance of the requirements that they have asked them to do i'm still pending that when i do get that i will make that available to all council and you can from private citizens, residents throughout the Wood County area that have requested information. So I am sure they're getting it from every direction right at the present time, but as soon as I get that information, I will share with you what I get. We want to ensure that although that area is located outside of this city limits, that would directly affect us just like this facility affected Although, again, that facility was outside of city limits. We want to do everything that we can to ensure that our residents are safe. Chief, do you have anything else?

Thank you. I understood there was a fire suppression system, sprinkler system, in that building? Yes. I heard that it was operational, but then they took it down because they used it the day before.

That would be part of the ongoing investigation.

Take Facebook and throw it away. Don't leave anything on there until you actually get the facts. I mean, there's all kinds of rumors and stuff floating around. Facebook is the devil. Just wait until the facts come out.

And Ron, I always say that because we've been advised by legal not to make any statements that would direct in either direction. Any of those questions that pertain to what was in it, was the suppression system working, was a fire out, did it rekindle, those are all part of the state investigation, which

My last comment, once again, I really want to appreciate all the support that was given to all the responding agencies. It wasn't just the fire department. Law enforcement was there. The ambulance, medical people were there. The dispatchers were there. It's one big team. And this area is so blessed to have such a great mutual aid agreement between everybody, not just this state. We had Ohio. We had counties from the rest of the state coming in. It's just a big team, and it works great. That's all I have.

Thank you Chief Schultz for taking your time and coming in. Now you can go clean the fire truck. He said we're going to clean the fire truck this evening, but I can come over and give you guys an update. So I appreciate him doing that. Now moving on to the new business. We have items one and two are ordinances pertaining to zoning. City Council lawyer is not here, Russ, and I talked to him earlier. What I'm going to do is read this in title. I'm going to have Kevin come to the podium, and he's going to give you the explanation of what this is. Then I'll ask for a motion to accept, a second, then open for discussion. So there's an ordinance amending the zoning map of the city of Vienna to rezone the southerly portion of the WV UP IT Center from E1 to R2, single-family and two-family residential. Kevin, would you like to go to the podium and offer what that entails before I ask for a motion?

This is probably, it's going to be hard to see, but you can see the color is pretty good. This was broken up into two legal notices because there's basically two tracks of land, two different zoning districts that's going to be established. The C1 district is going to be the red, the one with the white cutout in it. That white cutout is going to be where the new school goes, the elementary school. It's white because schools, churches, and governmental buildings are all exempt from any kind of zoning ordinance. But the red is going to be the commercial zone. The blue is going to be the residential. And that's basically how it's going to be split up there. And this is a lot of writing, a lot of words. All the legalese just meets the state requirements that we have to put forth in the legal modus. Describes in particular the tracts of land mostly is what that describes.

So having heard the ordinance by title in the description by Mr. Parrish, do I have a motion to accept on first reading the ordinance as amended? I have a couple of motions. I've got a second. Everybody seems to be strongly in favor. Okay. Open for discussion. And this is on ordinance number one. No discussion? Having a motion and a second, I have no further discussion. All those in favor of passing the ordinance amending the zoning map of the City of Vienna from E1 to R2, the WVP IT Center, signified by raising your right hand. Motion passes unanimously. The second item is an ordinance on first reading amending the zoning map of the City of Vienna to rezone the certain real estate property of WVP Center from E1 to C1.

It's basically everything I just described again. This is going to be the pink portion of your map. That's the commercial zone. That's where the college is going to be and the businesses that are going in, as well as the school.

Having heard the amended ordinance on reading and the explanation by Mr. Parrish, do I have a motion to accept? Second. I have a motion and a second. Any other discussion? Mr. Sasson?

This is where the President of the WVP was talking about having a small coffee shop and some of the other stuff as supplementing or supporting the school right, so I can do that. Correct.

Any other discussion? having a motion and a second no further discussion all those in favor of uh passing the ordinance on first reading amending the zoning map signify by raising your right hand well i could have given you a second to oppose it you might have been opposing it All right. Moving on, the third item on the agenda is an ordinance amending Article 953, the mandatory curbside recycling. The basics of that are some changes in the ordinance itself that deal with the mandatory times. And if you've seen that, it explains what the state minimums are, then we have the ability to work out the rest in contractual agreements. Do I have a motion to accept the amended, the first reading of the amended ordinance pertaining to mandatory curbside recycling? I have a motion to accept. Do I have a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Open for discussion. i didn't get a chance to attend this meeting i missed it would you mind just kind of going over the highlights and i know this has already been i've read through it but i mean just kind of how all this kind of came about you're meaning the town hall so a few weeks ago we held a town hall that addressed the main purpose of it was the recycling program within vienna and what we offer We went over what the state requirements are and that's basically what our ordinance now aligns with. The state requirement says that we have to offer, because we're a municipality of over 10,000 residents, that we have to offer curbside recycling once a month. Now we can alter and change that and add to that in the way of our contract. but that we must offer it once a month to our residents, which we currently do. Because of manpower shortages and changes in how recycling used to go to Parkersburg, but now it goes to Marietta, the current contractor, needed to make a change to a bi-weekly schedule that is actually in line with what the new contract for parkersburg is doing on a bi-weekly and that's what we're seeing throughout the state that municipalities are offering So because of that, because of those changes, one, we needed to be able to update our ordinance. Then we'll be able to update the contract. Our contract is actually a three by then extendable by two. We're at the end of that three year mark and we can extend on. We did have members of the current contractor and Rumpke that were both there. to answer questions and to give an explanation on those things. Myself and Councilman Sassen were there to be able to ask questions as well as talk with the residents themselves. The residents, the meeting actually went very, very well and we got very good responses. Out of that meeting, and that's what we've addressed in this with our new, for the amended portion of the ordinance, is that They're now taking more recyclable items, excluding glass right at the present time, but everything is now commingled. So they don't have to separate various plastics and papers and cardboard. It all goes together. It's commingled. It gets compacted, which is one of the reasons they're not doing glass. And it goes to Marietta. They have to pay to actually drop our recycling off. Whereas before, how Parkersburg was set up, We took it, dropped it off, and Parkersburg was able to make money off recycling, but the recycling business has completely changed over recent years, and there was not any money in it to be made, and they were offsetting that through their budget and had to close that portion down. So the changes that you see in the ordinance before you tonight are, one, that we're recognizing that the state only requires a monthly service. In two, that more items are being accepted in the recycling program without separation. In three, in the way of containers. There will be an option that residents can maintain their current green containers and use them. You can utilize your own container if it's properly marked in a usable container for recycling. Or two, you will be able to get a 45-gallon tote or a larger container through the city for a one-time nominal fee. And right now that fee looks like it will be $20, which would give the resident a 45-gallon wheelable tote with a lid to be able to use. They don't have to use that. They can use their own, or they can use the free green tote that they have, but now they have options in the way of that. The fee is there to offset the cost of the city actually buying the totes themselves and providing them. It doesn't cover the entire cost, but it's a cost share between the city and the resident. Once they pay the fee, they own the container and it's theirs. If they come back and need another one or they want another one or a replacement one, we'll simply pay them the current $20 fee and they'll get a new 45-gallon tote.

They have three different totes.

It goes on the far right. So you have the 45 gallon, you have the 50 gallon, and you have the 95 gallon. Currently, our totes are about 10 gallon. So with a 45 gallon tote, in theory, that's equal to three of those.

So is it going to be, because it wasn't defined yet, is the bidding out and all that? Is it going to be monthly, bimonthly? What are we doing?

So the bid, so the contract has ended, but we have the availability to extend the contract if we put the contract out for bid I can almost certainly guarantee that the price is going to go through the roof. So most likely what we will see after the passing of the amendments to this ordinance is that we will maintain our current contract, which won't raise any rates for Vienna residents. It will, however, be a biweekly pickup with the option of a larger container, no separation anymore and commingling in a lot more recyclable items. So there's kind of a balance between, yes, we're going to be able to do a weekly. However, we're going to be able to get more recyclables in and we're providing some options in the way of containers.

And then the other thing that came out of that is the communication of the schedule. Because once it's established and it's done, we can put something on the city.

which they did right after that meeting. They gave us an update. Now whether or not that'll change, I don't know as of yet, but it's been posted and sent out and they actually handed out flyers as well. I think once residents get used to the slight change, it'll function.

If I'm not mistaken, was that originally when we just started A contract with five one-year options to renew? Was it a five-year? It was a five-year.

No, I'm sorry. It's a three-year with two. It was a three-year contract with two renewable years.

Okay.

So it was a five-year contract, three solid, two renewable.

So we've got two years left. Correct. And we can renew after each year. Correct. And then it goes out to Betty right now.

Yes.

We've had the same contractor for 20 plus years.

I think it's changed a dollar. In 20 years it's changed a dollar, which is exceptional considering what other municipalities are now paying.

The town hall was, yeah, there was a lot of people there. It was very well attended, and the interaction and the information shared was definitely well worth the event. Are there any other discussion points? Having a motion and a second, and no other discussion, all those in favor of approving the ordinance amending Article 953, the mandatory curbside recycling, on first reading, please signify by raising your right hand. Motion passes unanimously.

Miss Betty does not have to bring those to my office and leave those at my desk anymore.

Well, and they said they take anything in plastic one to five. does that make you happy benny yes this is this is awesome i already got my 45 gallon container at the we cannot say which store we will get those through no i'm not saying that i just didn't want to wait yes what you can do which is perfectly fine all right moving on to item number four is a resolution uh the city of vienna participated in the wood county parksburg wood county home I always say this wrong. Am I wrong? I'm sorry. Yeah, I said I always say this wrong. Would you like to correct me again on how we say this? Consortium. Uh-huh, yeah. Consortium, see? For the FY2026 year approving and authorizing such funds with HUD, do I have a motion to accept on the reading of the, the title reading of the resolution? So moved. Second? Second. Is there any discussion? Same program we've always had in placement? Yep, nothing changed. Having a motion and a second, no further discussion. All those in favor of accepting the resolution as submitted, signify by raising your right hand. I'm tired. He's getting confused. He's been working on the house too long. Motion passes unanimously. All right, moving on to standing. Boards, reports, and committees. Does anybody have anything?

Yes. Yeah. So we had our parks meeting yesterday, and a couple things came up, which I had a chance to talk with you about. But one of the things that the park board feels like we're at a place where we can actually monitor the caboose a little bit down in the park, and Now that we have a camera system and everything, I know you said that there's going to be some upgrades done, but it was voted on and approved to try and get the fence removed from around the caboose. Which I know you and I talked about that just before, and you said that was something that was in the works, so I'm glad to hear it. And the other thing... Free the caboose, Jack. Free the caboose. And the other thing, and this is something I think we'll try and pull Russ in on and maybe someone else along the way, but we would like to look at, and I know Mr. Ditzler had mentioned this a few months back, but potentially trying to seek out an intern to try and do a revamp of our website. I believe if we could come up with some kind of a job description and talk with WVU PITC about maybe finding someone who's majoring in website design or something along those lines and maybe get that included into the budget for the next budget year and try and work on, like I said, a job description together and then coming up with a good plan for next year, but getting that posted beginning of the year I think it would be good for a good opportunity for an intern to have the opportunity to revamp a municipality's website and also be positive for our city to have a revamped website so I think it would be a good benefit and I believe I'm not mistaken I do remember hearing Mr. Ditzer say he'd be willing his foundation would be willing to put forth money towards that so that's all I got yeah absolutely

Commission meeting is July 27th at 530 here. I'm not aware of anything specific on the agenda at this time, so that may be what's coming, but it's a mandatory meeting, so even if there's nothing on the agenda, it'll be helpful.

The Freedom Festival went exceptional well. There were bajillions of people, and I think a lot of Vienna residents could have rented out their driveways for parking. We're thankful for Public Works for all the work they did on the Banville side. to provide additional parking. The Vienna PD did a phenomenal job directing and keeping all the traffic flowing. And we also want to thank Friends of Vienna for all the work they did in conjunction with working together with the city to provide such a wonderful event and activity for not just Vienna, but for people literally from across the nation that showed up to do that. Jack was in the smash pit.

out there you know he's having a great time but I just wanted to personally thank and say job well done on that are there any council comments a couple announcements so coming up July 17th we're having the Wood County Prevention Coalition in a partnership with the interreg sports is having a World Cup Soccer Fest over at the soccer fields in Vienna. The city of Vienna is going to be helping out a little bit with that too. But the idea is we're going to have free food, soccer activities, There's going to be an opportunity to sign up for the fall soccer. But mainly it's just going to be about getting families together and letting the kids kind of play soccer and really relish in the fact that the World Cup's going on. It's in the United States. You know, get a little hype for the soccer community. And also kind of a little hype for the big things that are going to be happening down at the soccer fields over the next couple of years, kind of the revamp that we're doing to the soccer fields. Um, the, uh, wood, uh, sorry, the Vienna, Vienna, but, uh, the Vienna rec board is going to be, uh, or sorry, the Vienna rec, uh, yeah. Uh, VRI is going to be decorating, um, the soccer fields and, uh, kind of, uh, uh, with the flags and everything, uh, banners, just like, uh, as if it's a world cup, you know, arena and, uh, you know, make it exciting for the kids. So. Really looking forward to that event. That's happening July 17th, which is a Friday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. There's a registration and a sign-up. Like I said, it's all free. If you've got kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, sign them up, bring them out, have a good time. And also, the following day, literally the next day, at the Jackson Pool, the Wood County Prevention Coalition is also having a free pool day. Thank you to the City of Vienna and Mayor for giving us the pool for the day. But it's going to be completely free admission. Again, get registered online. That's Saturday, July 18th. Again, it's for all families and school-age children to just come out, have a good time free at the pool. There will be a snack stand available to get food. At a cost, I believe there is going to be a few snacks provided. But yeah, other than that, it should be a good time. So again, if you've got kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, whatever, bring them out and enjoy the free events that are happening here in Vienna.

Anyone else? If there's no other comments, this meeting stands adjourned.