WEIRTON CITY COUNCIL

 

COUNCIL MEETING - REGULAR

 

May 08, 2006 7:00 P. M.

 

A regular meeting of the Common Council of the City of Weirton, Hancock and Brooke Counties, West Virginia was held on May 08, 2006 at 7:00 P.M. in Council Chambers of the City of Weirton Municipal Building.

 

Mayor Miller called the meeting to order.

 

Councilmembers in Attendance:

Henry DeMasis                            Councilmember Ward 4

Harold Miller                              Councilmember Ward 2

Dale Moore                                Councilmember Ward 3

Jerry Miller                                 Councilmember Ward 1

David Dalrymple                         Councilmember Ward 6

Frank Veltri                                Councilmember Ward 7

George Kondik                            Councilmember Ward 5

 

City Officials in Attendance:

John Brown                               Public Works Superintendent

Kessler Cole                               Fire Chief

Gary DuFour                               City Manager

Beth Gaughan                            CDBG Administrator

Thomas J. Maher, Jr.                   City Clerk

Valerie Means                             Finance Director

Rik Rekowski                             Mary H. Weir Public Library

John Serafini                              Code Official

Lance Scott                                Police Chief

Terry Weigel                              Parks and Recreation Director

John Yeager                               City Attorney

 

Others in Attendance:

Craig Howell                              Weirton Daily Times

Dan Greathouse                         Hancock County CVB

Citizens

 

Mayor Miller led the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

 

A motion was made by Councilmember Kondik and second by Councilmember J. Miller to approve the minutes of the:

April 10, 2006 – Regular Council Meeting

The motion carried, 7/0.

 

A motion was made by Councilmember Kondik and second by Councilmember Veltri to approve the amended minutes of the:

April 18, 2006 – Special Council Meeting

The motion carried, 7/0.

 

MAYOR’S AWARDS AND PROCLAMATIONS

 

NONE

 

COMMUNICATIONS

 

Councilman Moore commented, “I have one item.  And, I guess it’s clarification.  I resigned from the Finance Committee last Thursday based on the fact that…um…when the Finance Committee…the department had difficulty getting us certain documentation prior to the meeting on Thursday morning.  Um…since that point, I guess I’d like to see either the City Manager or the City Attorney look into the fact that, honestly, this Committee serves any useful purpose any longer.  I talked to Senator Bowman about what the Committee was when he was then Mayor, and apparently at that time the bill, the threshold for approving bills was $500.00.  So, the Finance Committee was primarily put in place to approve the bills that were greater than $500.00, that exceeded the limit.  Since that time, the threshold has been changed, I believe at $1,500.00.  So, we really haven’t approved a bill in three months.  And the last bill as I recall was…”

 

Ms. Means commented, “Well.  If I could just speak to that for just, just a moment.  Um…that is true.  Before, the threshold was a lot lower.  So, the bills that would come before Council at that time, you know, sometimes there’s a huge stack of them.  And then Council felt, at the time, that it was hard for them to just go through all the bills on Council evenings.  So, the primary, the primary focus of the Finance Committee, at that time, was to have at least three Councilmen that could sit on a different day and review all the bills, and if there was any questions at that time, they could help to answer those on the night of the meeting.  That was the original intent of the Finance Committee.  And, since that time now, we don’t have as many bills.  Sometimes we don’t have…like we don’t have any this evening.  So, unless they’re over $1,500.00 now, you know, normally you’ve already approved a lot of those already anyway.  So, not too many single bills come to you any longer.”

 

Councilman Moore commented, “And, and, and, the other, now we’ve somewhat morphed into where we review any, any type of expenditure that comes before Council on Thursday morning, and it’s an advisory board only, anything we do in there.  It still passes through the general Council.  I guess the point is, we pay to…we pay to advertise for the meetings.  We…we bring department heads to the meetings that have items on the agenda.  They have to produce the documents which are duplicate, because then they produce them again for our packets on Friday night, for all seven of us.  I just, you know, I think it’s outlived its usefulness.  I just think it’s something that we really don’t need the expense, the labor.  I’m sure that Valarie, and I’m sure the department heads that come to those meetings have other things they can be doing.  And, honestly, it’s going to come before some Friday night anyway.  So, I really think it’s just one of those things that’s outlived its usefulness, and honestly, it could be eliminated without any ill effect.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “Well, that’s your opinion Councilman.  I’ll yield to Councilman Harold Miller, and…uh…it’s your decision as Council as what you want to do in regard to the Finance Committee.  I think it’s a good venue to explore different items that do come up, and it’s advice and consent.  And, you know, the resolutions and ordinances must be presented to Council, and it’s up to you to decide whether you want to go ahead and pass on them or table them.  So, if you think in your own mind that it is of no value, that it serves of no value to Council, then I believe you, as Council, should then vote to dissolve it.”

 

Councilmember Kondik commented, “Mayor, if I could speak…uh…make a comment.  I spent…uh…eight years on the…uh…Finance Committee, Councilman Moore, and I think a lot of it was a pre-estimation of what we should be talking about on Saturday, Sunday, Monday.  Uh…there were a lot of things that, that if the Finance Committee discussed, as far as, some of the…uh…the larger expenses, and some of the smaller expenses.  And, a lot of it was done over the weekend where there was a, a problem with…uh…whatever dollar amount that we spent with whatever.  There were a lot of things.  And, the three that we had on the Finance Committee for eight years, I mean we’d have so many phone calls on Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday that, you know, if there were a question, if there were not a question, or something.  Just a precaution of what might not happen or what might happen.  Um…I think you have three great guys on the Finance Committee now, and I’d hate to see it dissolve, just for the fact that you’re there discussing City business if something should happen, um, I’m going to vote to continue to keep the Finance Committee.”

 

Councilmember Moore commented, “Can I ask, Councilman Miller?  You’ve been on the Finance Committee the entire term of this Council.  Has Councilman Kondik ever called you on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and asked you a question on anything that we reviewed in the Finance Committee in three years?”

 

Councilmember H. Miller commented, “Not that I recall.”

 

Councilmember Kondik commented, “I’ve called you many a times on a…”

 

Councilmember H. Miller commented, “Not necessarily on the Finance…uh…I think the change, the change on the amount of the…was approved before coming to the Finance Committee has taken place during this administration.  So, when I first sat on the Finance Committee, we did have quite a few bills to go through on a regular basis.  And we had proven that it did, it did save time at the Council meetings.  There are issues that we do make a recommendation, or not, if not in Finance Committee that we express to the Councilmen.  Uh…but, I…I have to agree somewhat with Councilman Moore, in the last 6 months, or so, there haven’t been that many issues.  There haven’t been a lot of bills.  Um…but it is…it is also an opportunity for members of Council to set and review financial issues that get to know what Valerie goes through or what the department heads go through when preparing these issues and…uh we…uh…that’s been an interesting side of it.  I think, maybe we should discuss it.  I mean, thing’s got to change since we…we enacted the higher limit that we approved before you know Coun…before Finance Committee.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “Councilmen, we shall leave it in your hands, and we’ll put it on the agenda for June 12th, whether Council wants to maintain the Finance Committee or dissolve it, because, it’s your choice.  I think it’s a good venue.  I think a lot of information is passed back and forth.  And, we cannot have every question answered, as Councilman Moore who wants it in the venue, that we have.  Too many issues come up at this point…”

 

Councilmember Moore commented, “I just want the paper before I get in there.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “Well you’ve had paper on a couple of issues that you said you didn’t, but that’s neither here nor there.  I’m not going to argue it.  It’s up to Council, and we’ll have it on the agenda for the next meeting.  You can decide yourself gentlemen, as to whether you want to have the Finance Committee to continue.”

 

Councilmember H. Miller commented, “Mayor, I have a general comment.  Just for the welfare of the community.  Uh…as you all know, in the UDO there was a temporary signing ordinance that went into effect, and many of the businesses were asked to move their temporary signs.  They are only allowed to be displayed 30 days out of the year.  And, of course, that has been challenged at the courts.  And…um...I just want to comment on the fact that Pennsylvania Avenue looks a lot better than it did 6 months ago.  The guys have done an excellent job in working with some of the businesses.  There are a few that apparently don’t want to cooperate.  They have their rights.  But, I just want to make note that Pennsylvania Avenue certainly looks better, and some of the downtown area looks better because some of these temporary signs have been mounted and properly displayed.  And…uh…I think more and more of the businessmen are falling in line just for pride in their community.  They shouldn’t have to be told to obey an ordinance.   Uh…it just makes the community more saleable to anyone that’s coming to town.  I, I appreciate the…uh…Inspection Department’s efforts to clean that up.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “Thank you Councilman.  That’s a good observation on your part.  I’ve seen the…uh…appearance of the City, and we’re going to try in the month of May to start beautification and…uh…get the areas cleaned up.  I think we can take pride in our City.  We want to take more pride and make sure that…uh…we look as neat and as clean as we can.  We’ve got a lot of work to do.  We understand it, but we’re going to move forward.”

 

Councilmember Kondik commented, “Yes…um…two things…uh…Saturday, the 13th, Rotary is cleaning…um…Marland Heights Road.  I’d like to invite all the Council to join us…number 1.  Uh…number 2.  The 17th, on a Wednesday, the Argentine Exchange Team will be here in the City Building for a tour of the City Building, the…uh…uh…Community Center and the Library.  I invite all Council to join us on that.  And the third thing is…I would just like to let the people of Weirton to know that there is a pooper scooper law for cats and dogs.  It’s summer now.  Cats and dogs are out, and it’s still in effect.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “You want to make sure that you bring that up…uh…to the City Attorney so he can resurrect it.  So, we can put it in the paper, so there won’t be phone calls.”

 

Councilmember Kondik commented, “I resurrect it.  I’d like to make a statement that it, it’s still available.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “Along that line Councilman, you, you mentioned May 13th, when the Rotary will be cleaning up.  May 13th through, I believe it’s going to be May 20th, inclusive of May 20th, we will have groups out throughout the community trying to address some of the areas that do need cleaned up.  And, we certainly hope that everybody within the City will help in this endeavor.  Please make sure that you do keep some of your trash in the car rather than on the street once we do get it cleaned up.

 

So, Public Works will be charged with weed control as well as the Main Street area and North Main Street, John, North Main Street.  OK?”

 

John Brown commented, “Yes, Sir.  Yes, Sir.  Working on it right now.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “Thank you.  Councilman Jerry Miller, go ahead.”

 

Councilmember J. Miller commented, “One thing I’d like to also say is…uh…for those of you that we have a youth bowling program, and we had a banquet here a couple of weeks ago and…uh…the program has grown in eight years to where we’ve now got the kids doing very well.  Uh...we had the banquet at the Victorian Hall up on Pennsylvania Avenue.  And, uh…Councilman…uh…uh…Bubba Miller stood in for the Mayor, who was celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary.  And…uh…he made some presentations for us.  We also got some presentations and some cooperation from both the Hancock and the Brooke County…uh…Commissioner.  So, we’re trying to get that involved with the kids.  Uh…and throughout the year, of course, we had the Police Department, the Fire Department.  So, you know, I just want to publicly say thank you to all of you.  I appreciate your help.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “Thank you, Councilman, and you do a wonderful job with the young kids.  I haven’t seen one of them yet that me and Bubba haven’t fallen to when we’re bowling.  And these are the five and six year olds.”

 

(Laughter)

 

Councilmember H. Miller commented, “They have some good scores.  I’ll tell you.”

 

CITIZEN COMMENTS

 

Dan Greathouse   150 Lafayette Circle, Weirton, WV 26062:

Mr. Greathouse commented, “Thank you everyone.  Um…one of the things I want to do tonight…there’s two things I want to do.  I want to talk about the hotel/motel tax.  It’s now set at 3%.  You can increase it to 6% in the cities.  One of the things I brought you as, and um…when I took over as CVB Director, I had no clue about the laws and what went on.  Here is a budget and what goes on with the money.  (Mr. Greathouse passes out documents to Council.) The budget for the CVB is about $208,000 a year.  We get $41,000 from the valley to pay that from the…uh…3% hotel/motel tax alone from Amerihost and all the…um…we get $107,000 from Mountaineer, and we get about $55,000 from the State of West Virginia, which is...we do a grant every year, and they match it 50%.  So, our total budget is $200,000.  Our salaries make up about $38,000.  The other $140,000 to $160,000 is in marketing and in keeping the place together.

 

Where do we market?  We…uh…we’re in Ohio Magazine.  We do radio stations in Youngstown.  We now do Liverpool, Weirton, Wheeling papers, Channel 9, Comcast…uh…Pittsburgh magazines…uh…we’re, we’re working on that.  We do about a…almost $200,000.  We have…uh…brochures…uh…these brochures which…uh…you can put these together Mayor and pass them out and look at them. (Mr. Greathouse passes out documents to Council.)  Brooke and Hancock County brochures.  We send out about a thousand brochures on Brooke and Hancock County every month on request for brochures from this area.  Now, as you all know, a great deal of that goes to Mountaineer, but a lot of it comes to different places.  Fiestaware is a big one also, so that’s there.  Uh…I hope I’ve brought enough magazines here.  One of the things we’ve done is I’ve talked to the City about us doing a combination of Brooke County and Hancock County.  Uh…the two hotels in Weirton do sit in…uh…Brooke County.  And, we’ve been working with them.  We do have an agreement from the…uh…County Commission down there, and we have gone together.  We had spent, on the brochures they got; we spent $4,000 on Brooke County for those.  This is West Virginia Magazine, and if you’ll turn to page 114 in here, we did these at…for about $7,000 a page.  Um…we did them from um…”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “What page Danny?”

 

Mr. Greathouse commented, “114, I believe it is.  This is Wild and Wonderful West Virginia.  You can see there’s an ad from Brooke County, an ad from Hancock County, and obviously Mountaineer does their own ad.  We paid for these two ads, the $14,000; they paid for the $7,000.  We have a commercial we do on TV.  We have a commercial on radio.  We have a website right now…um…hancockcvb.com.  You can log…you can log on and…uh…enter for a free hotel stay either at Amerihost, the Holiday Inn or Mountaineer.  Um…I’ve taken the domain name…I have to change the hancockcvb, if this works out, to make it topofwestvirginiacvb.  It won’t be Hancock or Brooke CVB.  It will be topofwestvirginia.  Uh…I know you’ve…we’ve talked about this and George, George Kondik and I have talked about it, about different, different guys over and over about different things.

 

The only reason I want the money, to raise the money, is to put on events.  I’m going to tell you right now, and this is what…uh…when I was at County Commission, one of the things we said to the CVB.  You’ve got to create events.  Mountaineer’s going gangbusters.  We’ve gotta get people in Weirton.  We’ve gotta get people in Chester.  We’ve gotta get people in New Cumberland.  We gotta get them in Wellsburg and Follansbee.   Uh…we have a tentative agreement, and Terry Weigel has probably told you about that, to bring an act here the day of the Christmas parade, after the Christmas parade…$5,000 we put up for that.  Uh…we have a (unintelligible) with you into a partnership for Septemberfest.  We’ve talked to people about putting on races in Weirton.  I think if you look at this, I would take the money and put it in Weirton, and Wellsburg and Follansbee, that money there.  If you take a look at what we’ve got, we’ve got to create events that people come to this county every weekend.  First off, it’s set up every month.  Summertime’s are pretty good.  Wintertime’s can be bad.  We gotta get people in the hotels.  We gotta get people in the restaurants…gotta get em in the gas stations…gotta get ’em in all these places.  And we gotta get 'em in town.

 

We set, uniquely, Weirton does.  Compared to Chester, New Cumberland, Follansbee, and Wellsburg, we set right off the interstate.   People are going to stop here for events.  They’re going to come here.  We’re the…we’re the ticket right here.  We don’t have a lot of venues, a lot of places to put things, but do have the Community Center, and I think we gotta use what we got.  We’ve got the Serbian Cultural Center.  We’ve got Victorian Hall.  We’ve got the Knight’s of Columbus.  We need to get those events in here.  Whether it’s the Clarks coming down form Pittsburgh, whether it’s bringing Scotty and the Legends in, we gotta create events in Weirton that bring people into our community.  And, if you look at that, I mean, you can think about these 41,000.  It could be 120,000 with two more hotels in the wings up on that Three Springs Drive.  If something goes up in there, you can have a lot more hotels and that.  So, things could happen.  What I’m asking you to do is to raise the hotel/motel tax to 6%.  I’m asking for your…to…uh…nominate a representative on my board.  We want a board member from CDB, I don’t care who it is, and that’s…that’s up to your call.  We’d like to have them there so they’re a part of the decision making. Uh…we do have several people from Weirton, Bill Dalesio, Brenda Mull.  Uh…we’re going to have Bernie.  Bernie Kazienko’s going to be on there.  I’d like to have someone from Council.

 

But, I think, you know, when we talk about reinventing ourselves, and where we’re going and what we’re doing, tourism is the process.  No matter what happens at Mountaineer, or doesn’t happen at Mountaineer, Tomlinson Run.  But, the City of Weirton has a unique, unique characteristic.  That highway goes by, right there.  All those cars are going back and forth.  We gotta figure out a way to get them to stop here, and I think we can do that.  I’m just asking for your help in this.  And…um…I’ll accept any questions at this time.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “Let me personally thank you for your efforts towards this, and…and I share your excitement and energy for the area, Dan.  And, I think it’s a great thing that you’re trying to do and we have to sell and market ourselves before anything happens.  Tourism is one of the biggest…uh…money generators in the State of West Virginia, and I feel it’s up to Council to decide to make…what they want to do on this, and I hope that they vote in favor of it, because I am in favor of it.  But, it’s their decision, and…uh…with that in mind, Council, any members want to say anything?  Go ahead Councilman Jerry Miller.”

 

Councilmember J. Miller commented, “First of all, I support…uh…6%, and, one of the reasons is that this is one the few times in the term that you can actually increase the tax, and it will benefit the local people without costing them a dime.  Uh…they’re…they’re not going to have to spend anything on this.  This is for the people staying at the hotels.  But, the money comes back to us.  And, then another question I got for you Danny is you had mentioned that you were talking about moving to Weirton.  Is that still a…?”

 

Mr. Greathouse commented, “I would like that.  To me, it makes sense, if we’re doing with this combination Brooke County, to put the office downtown Weirton.  I…I could tell you, I mean, even though I get a thousand requests a month for brochures, I’ve probably only had a dozen people ever stop at my office up there, looking for something.  Now, we send stuff out to them.  But, I can create a place in Weirton where people stop, not only to talk about the CVB and tourism, but we might be able to put some other…some other events here together…a museum…I don’t know…a Tamarak…a mini Tamarak…something where we can get people in downtown Weirton, down through there.  And, I was really looking down there at Main Street, from probably the BDC down…to looking that way…from the Chamber Building down that way.  I looked at that.  That’s where I probably could be.”

 

Councilmember J. Miller commented, “Good…sounds good.  Thank you.”

 

Councilmember Kondik commented, “Just a comment Mayor.  I sit on the…uh…Brooke County Development Corp., and I’ve set on that for two years.  And, you had something to do with their Brooke County Brochure, number one.  And, they’re very exited about this…uh…the fact that a joint venture can save a lot of money.  And…uh…they’ve got some great things planned down there, a lot of things that can filter into Weirton as far as the Renaissance Weirton thing, and…um…Bernie Kazienko sits on that board too.  And, that group of people are very excited…uh…because they’re doing some things that perhaps can tie in with your brochure, and…and do one…one brochure.  So, I…uh…I’m going to support this Commissioner.”

 

Mr. Greathouse commented, “Our brochure…you can see the Hancock County Brochure’s got to change.  We have a nice picture of Weirton Steel making steel.  I don’t…”

 

(Crosstalk)

 

Mr. Greathouse commented, “We’ll change that.  You know, and…and the thing about it, if you look at our commercial, our commercial we did, we’re going to change that too.  And, I think the kind of commercial we want to show is…is…is Millsop, Starvaggi, Tomlinson Run, Brooke Hills Park, Follansbee Pool, those type of things.  (Unintelligible).  I mean, we gotta…we gotta…we gotta do some things (intelligible).  But, I can’t tell you…I really think…and Bubba, I’d be willing to work with you.  I told Tony… (unintelligible).  I think we gotta create events here in Weirton that bring people in here.  One other stuff…getting the Clarks to come to Weirton.  I mean they come all around here.  They’re a big draw….of getting some groups like that to come in…the Community Players.  We will work with Community Players.  I think they’re a great benefit to this community, and I think we can do a lot of things with them.  They can play at several places.  So, there’s a lot of opportunities there.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “I agree wholeheartedly with you.  I do know that this administration is working specifically with the Hancock County Commissioners as well as the Brooke County Commissioners to sort of highlight this area.  We want to get ourselves known, and I think the partnership that we have with the commissioners has been paying dividends, and now we should partner with the CVB.  So, you know, we have to sell ourselves, ladies and gentlemen, and I believe this is the thing to do it…trying to make it easier.”

 

Mr. Greathouse commented, “Thank you very much.”

 

Councilmember Dalrymple commented, “I just note that the…uh…cities of Follansbee and Wellsburg, Beech Bottom…all the cities that are in Brooke County that aren’t going out on the limb by raising this tax…I understand that this money is coming that way, for them, to help.  That’s, I support it…”

 

Mr. Greathouse commented, “One thing I told…I could work with them Dave…is they want their brochures badly.  But I’ll tell you what, of all of the communities down here, Wellsburg probably has the best opportunity for tourists…Bethany College and downtown.  We’re putting together some tours.  We’re going to take…start taking the seniors down there…see if we can put a brochure together and get…like when Rotary’s at Mountaineer…set those tours up for downtown Wellsburg.  You know, I mean, if…if they could put on events…I mean, Brooke High School is probably the nicest…nicest facility in here, and I always thought about having a big band extravaganza here…high school band on...that’s a perfect place to do it.  So, we want to work on…because they’re going to stay at our hotels right here in Weirton.  People are going to stay here, whatever we do.  If you have a basketball tournament…a wrestling tournament…they don’t have anything in Wellsburg.  They’re going to come up here and stay.  And, that’s the key for us, to get people in this town and stay at these hotels…eat at our restaurants…get their gas up here.”

 

Councilmember Dalrymple commented, “Well I understand that, but I just want it to be clear that…”

 

Mr. Greathouse commented, “They are clear.”

 

Councilmember Dalrymple commented, “…that we are the ones that are going to be putting our names out there to raise a tax to benefit, not just the City of Weirton, but also these other cities within the counties.”

 

Mr. Greathouse commented, “Right.  And, I’d also like to have somebody on that board.  Yes.”

 

Councilmember Veltri commented, “I got a question here Danny.  Now, myself, I always believe in the free enterprise, rather than government control tax.  So, why didn’t we done anything in the past to try to bring people in here?   You know, we haven’t done nothing at all to attract any…anyone from outside to come in to stop in Weirton.  What’s going to give us this advantage for more…even to raise this to 6%.  I mean, I know we have few more dollars to spend in advertising…OK…but, I think this is it, and it’s a little more than what we have to offer right now to advertisement and…”

 

Mr. Greathouse commented, “I would like to take that money and put in seed events, events, events, events.  Let’s get events going every…every month to start out.  Let’s get them through the winter.  The people are coming to town.  You know, I’ve talked to the high school, cause we put a basketball tournament on in Weirton.  Man, those kids come into town just to go to that.  I don’t know why they haven’t done it Frank.  But, I think we’re changing…we’re changing…we’re reinventing ourselves to change ourselves.  We gotta look at tourism.  We gotta go forward.  You know, we got a nice town here.  We’re right off the interstate.  We got good hotels.  We got good restaurants, and we got…we got…we have to put that stuff up there.”

 

Councilmember J. Miller commented, “You’re going to be getting a baby boost next…uh…from March until May of next year, because…uh…the Weirton Men’s Association is sponsoring the state bowling tournament.  So, you’ll have people coming in and out of here for 2 ½ months.  There’s a great opening for your…uh…tourism push.”

 

Mr. Greathouse commented, “Let’s sit down and see if we can help you there.”

 

Councilmember J. Miller commented, “Absolutely.”

 

Councilmember DeMasis commented, “Hey Danny.”

 

Mr. Greathouse commented, “How you doing Henry?”

 

Councilmember DeMasis commented, “OK.  You know they say talk is cheap.”

 

Mr. Greathouse commented, “Absolutely.”

 

Councilmember DeMasis commented, “Are you going to do it?”

 

Mr. Greathouse commented, “Absolutely.”

 

Councilmember DeMasis commented, “When?  Tomorrow.”

 

Mr. Greathouse commented, “Well, I’m working with…uh…”

 

Councilmember DeMasis commented, “If you’re going to do it, jump into it.  If everybody goes along with it, we ought to jump into it tomorrow morning.”

 

Mr. Greathouse commented, “Gus Monezis has got me the act, so that right after Christmas we’re going...”

 

Councilmember DeMasis commented, “Go Gus.”

 

Mr. Greathouse commented, “It’s, it’s a great act.  You’re going to love the act.  Jim McHenry’s working on a Septemberfest here.  I mean, we have to create these events.  We have to create these events.”

 

Councilmember DeMasis commented, “Fine.  I agree.  I’m just saying lets get it started.”

 

Mr. Greathouse commented, “I agree.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “If we’re going to get started, Council has to pass it, and it’s going to take two readings.  OK.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “Uh…Terry…I want Terry to jump in, Danny, and see what it’s going to do…what it will do for us, the community center and our parks.”

 

Mr. Weigel commented, “Well this is a…actually I’m looking at it from both sides Mayor…uh…with this.  Um…as you know, last year…um…Council…decided to allocate some of the funding from the hotel/motel tax, and we were able to go in and renovate three playgrounds.  Now, we’ve got 13 playgrounds out there.  Uh…of those your only 2 out of 13 that met the…the…the standards of some…of the park safety commission standards, and we had since taken equipment out.  So, we were fortunate we were able to go in and do several of them last year using this type of this funding.

 

Um…this funding can be used to my understanding for parks and recreation, tourism, and maintaining those facilities that we have out there.  Um…funding has been an issue for parks and…and recreation.  It’s a…it’s a tight economy around here for everybody and for all.  This is an avenue…uh…where these funds are allowable to be able to go ahead and continue to improve those facilities that we have, and to maintain those facilities that we haven’t.

 

On the other side of it, you know, I’m learning more and more about the CVB and, as some of you know, we’ve been having some…uh…communications.  We’re already booking acts for the event that will take place right after the Christmas Parade…uh…at the Millsop Community Center.  We’re excited about it.  We’re getting those pieces of the puzzle together.  And, we already have another request for another event that we’ll (unintelligible) through.  And, I think this can help us in some of the things that we do.  Um…recently we had a bodybuilding show over at the community center, and while a lot of people might not have known about the event in the community, the hotels really knew about it.  OK.  Cause it draws…it draws in people from out of town.  And they know those bodybuilders…they have all the makeup on, so they do…they gotta prepare for those…uh…those people up there.  It’s different.  Um…we had a wrestling tournament in…in January, and, while not a lot of those people were staying over, yes, it was attractive in bringing people in from out of town.  You know, the wheels are spinning in my head on how can we take advantage at the Community Center and at Starvaggi Park with what the CVB does to try to build up our events even bigger…to try to draw out more.

 

We’re fortunate.  We’ve understood that our position with the Community Center, in particular, and Starvaggi Park to a lesser degree, are attractions.  Any given day, come into the community center and take a look at the license plates in the parking lots.  It’s…uh…many is Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia.  It’s pretty even.  They’re from all three over there, and that’s on a daily basis.  And, when I look at those license plates, I think, ‘is he…he’s already coming in and spending money here at the community center.  Is this person buying gas here in town?  Does he stop and grab a…a pop on his way in or an energy drink?  Is he going to eat afterwards?  Is he going to go buy a newspaper here and there?’  That’s money coming into town.  Um…we have those types of facilities.  I think along with the…the CVB, we do a better job of marketing what we do have and try to add in some…uh…other events.  And again this…this usable…um…cost for these…for these taxes you can fund recreation, parks and recreation events.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “Any comments or questions from Council for Terry?  If not, thank you Terry.  I appreciate it.  It’s going to be a win/win if it passes Council.”

 

Mr. Greathouse commented, “You know, I’ll state for the record, Mayor, is…um…it’s…it’s family entertainment we want to bring in here.  We want good clean family entertainment for our children and for our families here, and we’ll make it reasonably priced.  And, we’re going to take that money that we…whatever the ticket sales are, and put it back in there.  Heck, there’s no reason why Terry couldn’t have 4 or 5 shows there over the weekend, over the winter.  You know.  We could bring people in here.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “I know the Councilmen have been pushing Terry for many, many more events over there, so…”

 

Mr. Greathouse commented, “I’d like to do that.”

 

Mr. Weigel commented, “However, I would say this Mayor.  Does everybody know we just had a show over here done by the Community Players?  You know.  We just had that event.  That went very good.  You know.  We’re booked.  If you want to book something for next winter, we’ve gotta…we gotta do it right now.  We are having events all the time, and (unintelligible).  Our goal, 365.  OK.  We want something everyday.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “Sounds like a winner.  Thank you, Mr. Greathouse.  Thank you, Terry.  Second on the Citizens Comments is Jack L. Cassella, 154 Patterson Road in Weirton.”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “Thank you Mayor, Council, and the lady.  Um…I’ve lived in Weirton all my life, born and raised here, all but the military time, and I plan to stay here the rest of my time.  And, what I would like to talk about just fits in with your beautification project that you’re talking about.  And, it’s…uh…uncut properties, privately owned properties.  I’m not talking about city property, but it needs to be cut also.  Uh…I talked to Mr. Moore shortly after Easter…uh…when he was gracious enough to return my call, and there’s a property on Hindman Lane that is disgraceful.  Uh…the weeds are knee high.  The people have moved out, and somebody owns that property, and my question is, ‘Who’s responsibility is it?’  Is it anybody’s responsibility in the City here to find these properties, and to see that they’re taken care of?”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “Can you stop right there, Jack?”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “Yes, sir.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “Uh…I’m going to answer that question.  Yes it is.  Once…once we get a complaint, as I understand it, the City gets into it, and then they try to run down the owners, and I know we send letters to California and Nevada to people who have owned the properties, and I guess we’ve got to do the due process of the law, so…”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “Can I pass these pictures around?”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “Sure.”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “Sorry I don’t have a picture for everybody.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “That’s OK.  Let the Councilmen see it.  John?”

 

Mr. Serafini commented, “You’re pretty much right on that Mr. Mayor.  A lot of times what happens is…like these abandoned properties…they go for…um…foreclosures.  And while it’s in foreclosure, we cannot…the…um…the original property owner and the company holding the mortgage…they basically fight back and forth and say, ‘Who’s responsible for the property?’  And, in the mean time, you know, we do the best we can to get it cut, and a lot of times we don’t get it cut.  Uh…we contact Mr. Yeager.  Under his guidance, we figure out whose site.  We cite them, and then we can go cut the grass.  But, unfortunately, when it falls into those types of categories, it takes a good month, month and a half, to get through the process.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “Four to six weeks, as I understand it.”

 

Councilman Kondik commented, “And longer.  That due process needs to be changed somehow, someway.”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “So, the city can’t cut this and then put a lien on the property once they establish…”

 

Mr. Serafini commented, “Not without due process.   We have to go through the entire thing, and unfortunately, I…I mean, if Mr. Yeager can back me up on this, there’s no…I mean, you have to give due process before you can convict…er…attempt to convict anyone of any crime.  Is that correct sir?”

 

Mr. Yeager commented, “Yes.  It’s not so much a crime as it is that you want to be able to get back what you put into it, in terms of that you have contractors that will cut this.  OK, so, let’s say he charges $75.00.  Well, that doesn’t mean that the homeowner owns it…owes it to you yet.  You’ve got to have a judge tell you that, so you can do something like put an improver’s lien on it, but you have to file a suit in a certain period of time though to perfect that.  So, it always…it always includes…uh…unless you can make an agreement with the…uh…the person holding the land or owning it.  It always includes going to the magistrate court and suing them.  In the judgment, the judgment is set.  But, that all takes time.  Because, once you sue somebody, they have twenty days to appeal it, and if they want to come back and fight about it, it’s hard to tell how long it would take…”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “He brings up an excellent point.  And, you know, it…it would be wonderful if everybody took care of their property within the city, and there are…are many that don’t.  And, how we can speed up the process, Jack, I really don’t know.  Uh…other than you making the original complaint on specific properties, and then let us take our due course, and it may take up to six weeks.  And, again, you got probably another foot of grass growing up.”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “Right.”

 

Councilmember Kondik commented, “The last time I did that, I went up and cut it myself.  The last attorney, city attorney, says you can get sued for that for trespassing.”

 

Councilmember DeMasis commented, “Hey Jack.  You know.  The light…the line never shortens.  Believe me.  The line to have grass cut never shortens.  It’s continuous.  We’ve got enough for two armies to come in here and cut grass.”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “And if, it there was an elderly people living there or handicapped, I would cut it.  The house is vacant.  In fact, I’ve cut that grass before.  Uh…but, I think the last time it was cut…um…approximately August.  So, now it grew clear into winter, and now you know what we have this spring.  I don’t know if Mr. Moore had a chance to drive past it or not after we talked.”

 

Councilmember Moore commented, “And we did file it.  There is a active complaint on file.”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “But…is…does somebody working for the city.  Is that their responsibility?  I see trucks with Code Enforcement.  What does that mean?  Is that the people who…”

 

Mr. Serafini commented, “That’s us.  We’re the department that deals with the property…”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “And what is your name?”

 

Mr. Serafini commented, “I’m John Serafini.  I’m one of the code officials.”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “John.  (Mr. Cassella shakes hands with Mr. Serafini.)  That’s the problem I have, and there are city employees driving on all these streets every day.  Uh…start a little program.  You know.  If you find something, turn it in, give ‘em a couple bucks or something, or give ‘em a free meal or something.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “They do...do that Jack, but, initially it takes a complaint from another citizen about the property.  But, John, you can answer to that.  I mean, there’s many, many properties that we can drive around and go ahead and cut the grass, but who’s going to pay for it and…”

 

Councilmember Dalrymple commented, “The way understood the…the code enforcement since I’ve been in office was it’s a complaint driven department.  If they were going to go out and seek violations, we’d have to hire probably about 50 more code enforcement officers to handle it.  And, being that that’s the case, that we don’t have that type of money in the city budget to support an army of code officers, we have to do it on a complaint basis.  And, I don’t like that.  I have 4 yards every year.  Every year, I get a call on the same 4 guys, the same 4 landlords every year.  As a matter of fact, I’m expecting a call any time now.  And when that happens, I go through the due process, and the people…”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “And that takes…”

 

Councilmember Dalrymple commented, “Right.  And, I do not like that, but that’s just the way it is.  And, I explain that to each person that calls me about that…that it’s unfortunate that people can’t take responsibility for their own properties, cause their not living by it or they’re not in the state, or whatever it is, or they just plain don’t care.  They’re just drawing money off of it.  And, it’s not right, and it’s not fair to the people who have to live by it, but it’s an unfortunate hap pence in this community.”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “Well, I’m a volunteer in the community.  Maybe we should look for some volunteers…”

 

Councilmember DeMasis commented, “Do you live in the 4th Ward?”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “…and deputize the volunteers.  I have another…um, one I want to talk about, uh… (Mr. Cassella passes out photographs to the Council members.)

 

Councilmember DeMasis commented, “Do you live in the 4th Ward?”

 

Councilmember Moore commented, “No.  He lives in the 3rd Ward.”

 

Councilmember DeMasis commented, “Oh.  Does he?  You know.  I’m out there every day turning in to the code enforcement people…”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “…this one you’re looking at…”

 

Councilmember DeMasis commented, “This guy don’t listen the other way.  You’re not listening the other way…you know.  Words go both ways, now.  Understand that.”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “OK.  I’m sorry.”

 

Councilmember DeMasis commented, “I just want you to know.  I’m out there always!”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “OK.”

 

Councilmember DeMasis commented, “Always!”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “Thank you.  We appreciate that.”

 

Councilmember DeMasis commented, “…and these guy…those guys do a marvelous job.  Believe me.”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “OK.  I’m not disagreeing with that.”

 

Councilmember DeMasis commented, “They did a ton of work out there.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “I’ll tell you what.  I don’t want to, but we will take a look at the Citizen’s Corp that you’re talking about that it (unintelligible) to cut grass.  The only problem is, if you’re going to volunteer, that’s fine, but we have to get it from the city attorney that you won’t be sued, and we won’t be sued for…for cutting the grass.”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “I’m not gonna cut it.  I’m volunteering to find the properties that need cut, and turn it in to the city administration.”

 

Mr. Yeager commented, “You know.  Several times since I’ve been city attorney, I’ve gone and cleaned sidewalks and stuff out there where they need it.  But…uh…it’s hard to find other people to do that.  So, I’ve tried to think of other ways to get this done.  We don’t have enough city employees to do that.”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “Right.  I understand that.”

 

Mr. Yeager commented, “So, we’ve had a couple…we’ve had a couple of defendants in the criminal court that I was able to get together.  We’ve probably had…probably in the North end of…uh…Main Street, on the right hand side…probably only about three more lots that we need the sidewalks and steps cleaned up.  The rest of it, we’ve pretty well got, or the people keep it themselves.  But, to find volunteers is really very hard.  I think you’d be better off if you wanted to put your efforts toward volunteering to do some little project like that than to find the problem.  Uh…these guys can tell you where the complaints are, but…and…and I’ll be glad, if…if you want to come out and do some of these projects, I’ll come with you sometimes myself.  But, there don’t seem to be very many people around that want to do that.  And, I don’t understand why.  I think one of the things that…I know that when I’ve…when I’ve been doing this work, people stop and say, ‘What are you doing?’  You know, ‘Are you being punished, or what?’  And I want make it look better, and…but the…the, you know, that concept doesn’t really…doesn’t really mean anything like it…like it used to.”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “Right.  OK.  I won’t take up too much more of your time.  I want to explain the pictures you’re looking at now.  You see the date on the two that were taken this winter.  That bank is strewn with railroad ties.  Uh…right now, I have a measuring stick there.  You can see how high they are.  That’s my next door neighbor.  I’m a senior citizen.  I keep my property cut.  I called and turned this in last year…uh…talked to Mr. Rosnick, and I felt that he was a little bit sarcastic with me, when I talked to him on the phone.  I told him it hadn’t been cut in 10 years, and he said, ‘Well, like, gees, why are you calling now?’  Well.  I was trying to be neighborly.  So, I’m up to here with the neighborly stuff.  So, then a month later it was cut.  Now, you see what it looks like.  It hasn’t been cut since 9/14/05.”

 

Councilmember Dalrymple commented, “John, what’s the height for grass?”

 

Mr. Serafini commented, “After a complaint, it has to be over 10 inches, by policy, for us to be able to enforce our code on it.”

 

Councilmember Dalrymple commented, “And the grass in this picture is well over 2 feet tall.”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “Yes.”

 

Councilmember Dalrymple commented, “So, did you make a complaint about that property when it reached somewhere in the vicinity 10 inches?”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “No.  I never…”

 

Councilmember Dalrymple commented, “No?”

 

Mr. Cassella commented, “I’ll tell you in private, who it is.  I’m not going to bring his name up here, but he works for the city.  If you call me at home, I’ll tell you who it is, or I’ll meet with you in private quarters, or whatever.  And, he’s making policy for other people in this city!  That’s all I’m going to say.  Thank you gentlemen, young lady, thank you.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “Thank you, Mr. Cassella.  Last on the list is Diane Bannister and Rik Rekowski.”

 

Ms. Bannister commented, “Good evening.  I’m representing the Mary H. Weir Public Library.  As the coordinator of an event at the library, I would like to invite the Mayor, City Council members, and the public to a unique cultural program that will be held at the library next week.  It will be held next Monday in the gallery behind the library.  And, we just had somebody paint the wooden display structures, so they’re looking spiffy now, and they’ll be all set for this wonderful display that we will have next Monday.  And, this will be called “Art from the Fire” which is metal work by Brad Silverberg.  Brad is a world known metal artist and…uh…he is from Burgettstown, Pennsylvania.  He’s originally from the Maryland, Washington, DC area.  Uh…we will have the outdoor exhibit of photos of his metal work, and that will open at 6 PM in the gallery behind the library.  And…uh…Mr. Silverberg will be there to meet people and to answer any questions about his artwork that they might have.  Also, at 6:30 PM we will go inside to the activity room, and Mr. Silverberg will give a presentation…um…a slideshow of his metalwork, and talk about his metalwork.  And, also he will have some of his actual metalwork on display.  And, again, it’s free to the public, and the outdoor exhibit will remain through June 10th.  So, in case you can’t make it there next Monday, just go…you’re out this way anyhow…go by the library and take a look at the exhibit which will be there through June 10th.

 

And, I just want to tell you a few things about the metalwork of Mr. Silverberg.  Um…he’s unique and creative.  He works in the mediums of steel, brass, copper and aluminum, and integrating other materials such as glass, beach pebbles, wood, stone, and leather.  And, kinds of objects he has made are indoor and outdoor sculptures, tables, lamps, pot racks, fountains, fireplace tools, practical tools, lidded vessels, and candleholders.  And he has done architectural, forged ironwork including staircase railings, driveway gates, garden gates, window grills, fireplace equipment and furniture.  And Mr. Silverberg is skilled in other art as well, carved wood, stone and glass.  He has had his metalwork featured in many magazines, in books, and he’s won awards.  And, now I would like to show you a photograph.  And, this is Mr. Silverberg.”

 

Mayor Miller commented, “Does he have a mustachio?”