City Council - Regular Meeting

I mean, does anybody wish to speak?

Enter and sign me, please. Thank you. A public meeting. We need your name and some kind of address. You can just say ITC.

Is there anyone in attendance that has anything to say in regards to the public hearing? Council said we had to give it five minutes. So for those of you that are watching via Facebook, this is going to be a very interesting next four minutes.

Did the screen freeze now?

Party in the room. Party there.

Jim, while we have three minutes left, do you want to say anything about the pickleball tournament coming up?

So, yeah, it turns out that all of our upper echelon players are going to a tournament in Pennsylvania. So I think we're going to ratchet down, because Amy had already suggested 2.5 and 3.0. So I think we're going to do 2.5, 3.0, and then 3.5 and above. And also the... We've got 20-some people now, and I'm going to be bugging you for another couple videos. And, yeah, Gene got his insurance, so we're all set for the Polo Club to do that.

It'll be a great time in our first Indiana, and it'll be something that will continue to go on, and we'll get better and better every year.

So I take it from your saying that the Because I'm not schooled in Pennsylvania.

You are not considered an upper echelon player, my friend.

I'll expect your registration to follow.

You can expect it all you want. We do have plenty of counties, huh? I'll be in Park Street Valley.

Park Street Valley. Have you seen the insurance commercial where the guy's trying to play tennis and he says, I've heard that playing tennis gets you better rates on your insurance. And he's getting that. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

We already have some here, so no one would know.

Oh, and Amy's going to do a clinic. What is it? If it doesn't rain. That's lovely.

You're proud of yourself. 30 seconds.

Alright, 6.05. Do I have a motion to close? So moved. Second. All in favor signify by saying aye. Aye.

Mr. Saxon, if you would.

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. Is Rob still on with us? Rob, are you there? Still overboard. He was on there. Did he mute and forget to unmute? There he is.

All right.

He's alive and well and kicking. Call to order this regular session of the Vienna City Council, having taken roll and having recorded, we will proceed. Let the record note that all members of council are present with recorder Smith calling in. The first item that we have tonight is our public forum. Jim, you said there was nobody that signed up for that this evening. So moving on to the report of the minutes, the minutes from the 7-23-26 meeting have been printed, posted, and circulated. Are there any corrections to the minutes? If not, let the minutes stand as submitted. Mr. Sassen, would you like to give the charge of the report?

Yes, sir. I reviewed the reconciliation of funds dated August 6th, 2026 in a short budget report at a high level. Compared with the previous month, the accounts are in order and the NIC can pay its bills.

Do we have any questions in regards to the financial report?

There is one item, not about the financial report, but Amy said that hopefully by the next meeting she'll get a breakdown of the funds for OT and stuff. Both? Yes.

Let the report stand as submitted. Moving on, we have two items under unfinished business. Mr. Skogshead, do you want to deal with those two?

Do you want to do them together or do you want to do them separately?

I would prefer to do them together.

Yeah, I think it's perfectly reasonable to do them together.

So items one and two are both ordinances on second reading. Item one is, of course, mending the zoning map of the city of Vienna to rezone the southern portion of the WVUP IT center from E1 to R2, single-family, two-family residential. And the second is mending the same zoning map, rezoning the property of WVUP IT center from E1 to C1, linear business and shopping center district. I'm sure you've all taken the opportunity to read the exceptionally long ordinances that I've attached that describes the who's what's, where's when's, why's and how's of doing this. But really, if you just look at the plaque that was provided by Mr. Ryan and it's my understanding that all the public notices have been made, the advertisers have read the paper, the parties that, the affected parties have all been notified by certified mail, and the requisite time period has passed, so this is ready to vote to reason there's that giant parcel of two separate parties.

I'm okay to do both of these together?

Yes, as long as everybody understands they're voting on what they're voting on, yes, you're fine.

Do I have a motion to accept the second ordinance number one and two on origin? I have a motion. Do I have a second? I have a second and a third and a fourth. Any discussion? I'm sorry. Our good friend at the end. then you can decide between camera or hearing. I have a motion and a second.

Is there any discussion? Just one question, and I don't know if y'all might be able to answer this or not. I know the elementary schools are up there, and we're zoning it commercial. Is that going? That's not going.

You could post school in any zone.

Okay.

Any other discussion? I have a motion and a second. No other discussion. With Recorder Smith on the line, I'm going to ask Ms. Amy if she will poll the council.

Councilman Tetzler? Yes. Councilman Leach? Yes.

All right, congratulations. Now we just need to work on the road, right?

Yeah. So Friday, we're meeting at state one.

Do you want to take two minutes and provide any updates while you're here?

Absolutely. I know, but do you want from her or me? From either of you that would like to share with us. Or both. You can do it.

Tag team effort. Right there.

So the 12th Street extension road drawings are complete. We are currently working through legal. We're going permitting. We'll be working and contacting Russ soon to talk about we have to convey that property since it's going to be a state road. The state road needs to own it. And so Dr. Jackson will be giving up a sliver of her property to Department of Highways and you guys will be doing the same. So we have legal counsel. The state has agreed to let us do it to expedite timing. So I'm hoping, oh and I guess this is news Chad, I haven't told you this, we got approval from the Department of Interiors for the issues with the athletic fields, or I guess courts, and the appraisal came back and so I think we're past that hurdle as well. So 9-7 is a very hopeful bid date for the road. Cross your fingers.

And the school's coming along. I can see that.

Yeah, it's not my thing.

So they kicked it into high gear. It has to be open in, I think, May of 27. So... Well, no, per the contract, May of 27. So they kicked it in the high gear. I think there was 28 brick masons there the other day when I was counting them. So hopefully we can have less biblical rain lately. I have nothing to do with that. It's challenging doing construction and coming up on the ground, but yes. The manufacturing site is also doing very well. It's taking shape up there, so it's pretty exciting.

Dr. Jackson.

Thank you all. I appreciate your votes of support in this effort today, and know that what we're trying to do will truly enhance Vienna, and we're so excited to have a Vienna campus of WVU, Parkersburg, so thank you for allowing us that opportunity. We will be starting our second year of classes there Monday. And so when you think about the amount of time that has gone by, I remember the stress that I had last year at this time. As we were waiting for students, it was pretty high. And this year, it's not that there isn't stress, but we know what our students are walking into, and we know it's a wonderful facility. We also have been able to hire someone to do cloud computing, which is a new degree. for our area, and that's in partnership with Amazon Web Services. So we will officially be offering that degree opportunity for students in January. And that's definitely a new technology in our area, and we're excited for that. We also have placed all of our workforce programs in that location where you get professional credit instead of academic credit. And we have a new drone program that will be beginning soon as well to help people get their licensing for drone and other things. So another new technology that's going to continue to grow. And we are excited about what comes next and the growth and, again, our ability to just educate the community and prepare a workforce, which is what a community college is supposed to do. So thank you for your support.

Anything else for us?

That's all I need from you.

To my knowledge, the road is the last piece of the puzzle. I just want to make sure I'm not missing something. I would say that I believe we've had some partnerships with some of the water and sewer expansion that we are going to also partner with your neighboring city on that. And that's all something we've talked about. So if Mr. Taylor says that's all he knows about, that's all that I know about as well.

Good. And just so council knows, the advance to the road is going to take two, it's going to take two reads, five words, because it is an advance, real property. And I know it's a right of way, but it's still property. And that's what the state statute says. So as soon as you folks are ready, we can get it with the mayor's approval to put on, and council's sponsorship, we can get it put on the agenda and get that moving.

That's good enough.

Thank you. Anytime you want any updates, just let us know. We are happy to provide those.

Thank you guys very much. We're very excited about the things that are coming to the WVP IT Center. At Vienna. Yeah, at Vienna. Indiana.

Vienna campus.

The center of the world, as we know it, right? Thank you guys very much.

You're welcome.

Thank you for the support. Moving on to new business. The first item on the agenda is a big recommendation for two police interceptor utility cruisers.

Sale bids for the purchase of two 2027 Anymake Pursuit rated police interceptor utility AWD vehicles were opened on July 28, 2026 at 10 a.m. with the following results. Stevens Auto for two Dodge Durangos at $90,506. Cornhill Automotive, two Dodge Durangos, $90,746,000. After careful review of the bid proposals, the recommendation for council approval from the Budget and Finance Committee for the two 2027 utility vehicles is Stevens Auto for $90,506. Funding for the project is pending financing. Funding is budgeted. And it counts 01-455-59 following the bid, the outfitting of the vehicles with all the lights and everything else separate.

Correct. Do I have a motion to accept the bid recommendation for the two police cruisers? Mr. Gisler? We'll see. May the 1st. Do I have a second?

Second.

And a second. Is there any discussion? These were budgeted. Correct. Rod, you got anything? No, I'm good.

Thank you.

I have a motion and a second. If there's no other discussion, anyone want to report to council?

I will. Councilman Deeksler? Yes. Councilman Leach? Yes. Councilman Morrison? Yes. Mayor Emmerich? Yes. Councilwoman Rhodes? Yes. Councilman Sasson? Yes. Recorder Smith?

Yes. The recommendation is approved. Moving on, the next item is the 2026-2027 general budget revision number one. Mr. Sasson.

It's for the Department of Police, account number 455-59, capital outlay of equipment. It's for the purchase of a UTV to be shared between the fire department and the police department. If I'm not mistaken, we don't for $21,389.

Do I have a motion to accept the budget revision? You're pulling the ball right there tonight, aren't you, sir? Second. And we have a second. Just in the way of discussion, this item is to service both the fire department and the police department. The current utility vehicle that we have now is in excess of 20 years old. It shows its wear and tear. This is the primary piece of equipment that is used more specifically to the McDonough Wildlife Refuge, and this is what they rely on should they have need to get a hiker or a runner or anybody that's out there, which is a common event. This is a much needed piece of equipment for ready response from the city, and I look forward to getting this and being able to have this in the way of the support that we provide. Is there any other discussion?

Yeah. This does not include any type of extra accessories that would be required. For example, if you want to make it, you know, where you're driving around in the middle of wintertime to get out to summer where you have the size or zippers or whatever on the ground framing, all that, or a cargo hatch carrier. So that's all extra.

Any other discussion? Does this require a vote? It's in our department. Is that? It's not in our department. Oh, it's not? Okay. Sorry.

Yes. Having a motion and a second. Any other discussion? All those in favor of accepting the budget revision number one?

Councilman Deesler? Yes. Councilman Leach? Yes. Councilman Morrison? Yes. Mayor Emmerich? Yes. Councilwoman Rhodes? Yes.

reporter smith yeah and you're not breaking up i can hardly hear you i think we're fine yeah yeah we're good um item number three is the report in the city police pension and relief fund

So this is a requirement by the West Virginia Municipal Pension Oversight Board. This is the condition of the policeman's pension fund at 630-2026. We have to provide this to the oversight board in order to receive our insurance premium surtax for the year. This is just information purposes only. The fund's balance is at $16,462,331.99. And it is one of the best funded plans in the state. I believe we're at about 88% right now.

Does anyone have any questions for Amy about that? Then moving on, the item number four is a resolution authorizing the purchase of road salt for the use of de-icer for the City of Vienna Street Department.

I'm not going to read the whole thing, but as the MES code 105.02J points out, Whenever the city goes out to bid on an item two times and doesn't receive bids or receive non-conformant bids, we have the option of returning to council. Council has the option of authorizing the finance director of the street departments in this case. So that's what we're doing here. And now, therefore, be it resolved by the County Council of the City of Vienna that finance director, public works director, or either his designee is authorized to purchase road salt in the open market by the time and as needed for use by the Vienna Street Department. Whenever practicable, finance director, public works director, or either his designee shall obtain quotations from at least three responsible vendors before making any purchase. Purchases shall ordinarily be made from the lowest responsible vendor. The total amount expended under this resolution shall not exceed the amount appropriated for this purpose in the city's approved budget. Notwithstanding paragraph three above, the finance director, public works director, or others designated may purchase road salt from a vendor other than the lowest price responsible vendor when early delivery is reasonably necessary to protect public health, safety, or welfare, or to ensure timely winter road maintenance provided that the additional cost is reasonable under the circumstances and the total expenditure remains within the applicable budget appropriation. the officials authorized herein may execute such purchase orders and take such other actions as are reasonably necessary to carry out the purpose of the resolution so that's where we have we're at the point where we didn't receive any bids the one person that wanted to call where they did a bid really was just a quote um we uh finance director and the in the street department director to be able to buy it on the open market.

So we have salt for the roads in the morning.

That's one of the things you're going to have to consider is we're going to go on the open market and look and see what the best deal is, whether it's delivered or if we have to go to send somebody. Right now you're just authorizing these folks to go out and find salt

And like you said, we did get a quote, but not a bid.

We actually got three letters back from different sole companies, Cargill, Morton, Compass, and they all contained letters saying they would not bid at this time. I believe they maxed out what they're bidding.

There are places, and on the open market, they're just not responsive to our bid request.

Or a lot of them are...

they're buying them from those other companies so has this ever happened before no no first time a lot of margaritas it's no fault of public works the streets finance just no one took uh to submit a bid proposal this year any other discussion Do I have a second? Second. I have a motion to second. Is there any other discussion on top of the discussion that we've already had? No other discussion? Ms. Haney?

Councilman Deesler? Yes. Councilman Leach? Yes. Councilman Morrison?

Yes. Mayor Emory?

Yes.

Councilwoman Rhodes?

Yes.

Councilman Sasson? Yes. Recorder Smith? Yeah.

Council.

Yeah. The resolution passes. That concludes what we have on the agenda as the way of business. Now do we have any reports or standing boards or committees? Are there any council comments?

Go ahead. Yes, I'd just like to thank Amy for taking minutes for me. I really appreciated where we're going. And I'll be anxiously waiting to read it.

She's only wrote down about three lines up here. So I started meeting, conducted business, closed meeting.

Well, I'll make up the rest then. That's it.

You can watch it on Facebook. No, she's doing a fine job as always.

Henry, did you have something? Yeah, we were supposed to have a budget and finance meeting on September 8th. Well, that's pending. I mean, some people can't make it, so we said we would do it on a touch-and-go basis. That's the week prior. Anyone else?

So... Last Friday, the Wood County Prevention Coalition had their annual scavenger hunt. We had over 200 children come out and participate in the event. I wanted to say a special thanks to the Parks Department and the City of Vienna for allowing us to use the McDonald Wildlife Refuge. But overall, it was a very successful event. Everyone walked away with a medal and had a good time. So I appreciate the support.

Just briefly, do we have any updates on when the soccer field is going to be under construction up there? So we are currently waiting. I've already got the price of the commitment to tear down the small building and the flagpole on the side. That is just pending them having the availability to come and do it. Public Works is going to take down the Fencing backdrop and already did that or plans to do that then the dugout with without any of the electrical or infrastructure in it will be taking down at the same time as the other building it's You know that you bring that up today. I was over at the parks department and One of our foreman said, that field that we're getting ready to improve, he said all of the other ones have just been softly wet. He said that field today was the only one that he could mow because it was already completely dry over in that, which gives us some in the next, I would say, couple of weeks. We'll see all of those structures in that area taken down and removed. Then we'll begin the process of laying out that backfield. Once that little building and flagpole are gone and there's some utility right there, we're going to have to remove as well. That opens up that area for us to be able to shoot the grade and make sure we're on where we're at, to be able

So once we take out that smaller building in the flagpole and that little bit of infrastructure that's on that side I think it's an electrical and some water that'll just be moved to the rear of that We'll be able to shoot the grade and see

along that back hill that comes off of Rosemar, if there needs to be drainage put in that. But today, when he said that and I went over to look, that field and that back was almost dry. It was really incredible. So it's got some really good drainage, and I think our drainage problems are going to come from the front field when we start to actually move on that and get that taken care of. to happen. Anyone else? If not, without no other comments, this meeting stands adjourned.