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WEIRTON CITY COUNCIL MEETING October 12, 2004 Regular Session A regular session of the Common Council of the City of Weirton, Brooke and Hancock Counties, West Virginia, was held at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 12, 2004, in the City Council Chambers, with Mayor William Miller presiding. Councilmen in attendance were Steve Dorich, Harold Miller, Dale Moore, Henry DeMasis, George Kondik, David Dalrymple, and Frank Veltri. Present from the City were Gary DuFour, Valerie Means, John Yeager, Chief Cole, Chief Scott, Rod Rosnick, Bob Riccelli, Brae Bryant, Andy Mastrantoni Rick Rekowski, Karen Orler, and Dolores Ostrander. Mayor Miller led the Pledge of Allegiance. MINUTES Councilman Moore moved and it was second by Councilman Dorich to approve the minutes from the regular session of Council held on September 13, 2004; this was passed unanimously. MAYOR'S AWARDS & PROCLAMATIONS Mayor Miller proclaimed the month of October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. A wreath has been placed in the City Building in recognition of this time. Mayor Miller proclaimed the week of October 3-9, 2004 as Fire Prevention Week, with the theme of Testing Smoke Alarms. Mayor proclaimed October 31, 2004, as Change Your Clock/Change Your Battery Day, in the City of Weirton. Mayor urge all citizens to heed, to advance, to install, and to maintain smoke alarms. Mayor presented Chief Cole with a plaque to be hung in the fire department. Chief Cole announced that the fire department received the Life Safety Award for no deaths in the City of Weirton. This is the twelfth year that they have received that award. Mayor Miller proclaimed October 18-22, 2004 as Business Professional Women's Week, with Judy Vovack, President, Carole Korzi, Past President, Diane Vukelic, 2003 Woman of the year, and Irene Mindzak, Chairperson of the Association, all present. COMMUNICATIONS Mayor Miller commented on the flood, which was brought on by Hurricane Ivan on Friday, September 18. Ivan had humbled our area by dumping over 5-inches of rain on our community causing heavy flooding and devastation. Fortunately, there was no loss of life. Our police and fire departments were accredited with 50 rescues. Mayor Miller offers his thanks to all our neighbors, churches, and businesses who all rose to the occasion and accepted the challenge with pride and compassion to those who were in need. Mayor Miller gave the opportunity, for the councilmen to make comments about the events that took place during and after the flood. Councilman Moore expressed his pride in the citizens of the community, churches, civic leaders, organizations, city workers, Public Works, Water Department, Fire and Police Departments, Salvation Army, West Virginia Northern Community College, student nurses, Change, Inc., and Union Chapel, which is at 12th Street and Kings Creek Road. Ward 2 goes from Pleasant Valley Country Club all the way past Varner's Radiator so the majority of the Creek area falls in Ward 2. Councilman Moore recognized some of the local landlords who stepped forward, at his request, and donated temporary living quarters for those in need. They were Mark Orecchio, Carol and Gene Pachino, Karen Gugliemmo, Robert Applegate, Jason Miller, John Grossi, and living quarters in the church at Union Chapel. It was really helpful to those who lost everything they had. Councilman Moore commented that the water was gone; the need was not, and encouraged others to help by donating furniture or even an old car that they did not need. Councilman DeMasis acknowledged the good work that the Fire Department did by getting rid of the muddy water in the downtown area. He commented on the work that the various other departments did by standing grand and that we smiled at the devastation and did the work that needed to be done. Councilman DeMasis commented that they were our front line of defense--included were the police and fire departments, Public Works, the National Guard and everyone who took food to those that were working. Councilman Dorich spoke on behalf of St. Paul's Parrish, commending the National Guard who scrubbed the inside of the school; after which it was sanitized, the football team from Madonna High School; who worked for 3 days in the basement of the school, children, parents, and everyone who contributed to the cleanup of the school. Councilman Dalrymple remembered the good that came after this devastation. The people coming together and helping each other, strangers helping strangers, and all the city departments working tirelessly and working long hours; some guys in the fire department had put in 30 hours at one clip. Councilman Dalrymple commented that it was an amazing thing to see all the people coming together. The city employees and the citizens coming together to help each other and trying to salvage something out of this. A lot of people lost everything dear to them, but thank goodness there was no deaths in this area. Councilman Dalrymple hopes that the good things that came out of this tragedy linger for a while; the good things, like the help from neighbors, the help from city employees, Public Works, and all the hard work of everybody. People have a tendency to forget these things and start looking at the negative, but there are a lot of positive things that came from this time. THERE WERE NO CITIZENS COMMENTS OLD BUSINESS Second Reading of Ordinance No. 1428. Ordinance amending ordinance No. 193 - Ordinance raising city license fee for Private Clubs. Upon the first reading of this ordinance on September 13, 2004, Councilman Veltri abstained from voting due to a possible conflict of interest. Councilman Veltri contacted the West Virginia Ethics Commission in regards to voting, on this ordinance, due to his currently operating a business that holds a liquor license in the City of Weirton. (See attachments) Mr. Yeager, City Attorney, commented that the last time they had voted on this, Councilman Veltri would not vote because it looked like a conflict of interest. Councilman Veltri received another opinion and brought up the fact that if you are a member of the class, which is large enough, it is not actually a club but an interest. Therefore, we looked to the Ethics Commission to be the last arbiter in this matter. Mr. Brewer, Executive Director, West Virginia Ethics Commission, responded with a letter and an Advisory Opinion No. 2004-19 (see Attached), and from this Mr. Yeager thinks that it was probably right saying, "I think you also have to look to whether people perceive it as being wrong or not. In other words, there is such a thing as conflict of interest but there is also such a thing as, the perceived conflict of interest and that is a matter of conscience." Therefore, it appears that it is legal, for Mr. Veltri to do as he wishes. In determining whether Mr. Veltri could vote or not, Mr. Yeager noted that based on the information received, Councilman Veltri has the option of choosing to vote or not. Mayor Miller said that the motion had been moved and second to defeat this ordinance with a 3 / 4 vote. The vote is as follows: To accept: Councilmen DeMasis, Dalrymple, and Dorich. To reject: Councilmen Veltri, Kondik, Miller, and Moore. (Councilman Veltri chose this time to vote.) Mayor Miller commented, "We go back to the drawing board." Councilman DeMasis asked if this opinion from the Ethic Commission pertained to him as well, as he had to leave the room previously when issues came up concerning Weirton Steel. (It was brought to there attention that it was no longer Weirton Steel, but ISG.) In the last meeting I had to leave the room when there was a question about the payouts. Councilman Dalrymple responding to what Councilman DeMasis had asked, in that Councilman DeMasis was trying to make a point that since Councilman Veltri felt it was okay for him to vote on the issue of private clubs, then is it permissible for him to stay in the room and vote when an issue comes up about the steel mill? Mayor Miller said that we were following the Ethics Commission ruling in all cases, not just one or the other. Just as in the $2 a week fee; Councilmen Miller, Veltri and myself, we all have businesses and we all voted on this fee. Councilman Miller making himself clear on why he voted no, again, on this ordinance is that it is discriminatory. It is for clubs who sell liquor only. It doesn't cover some one who just has a beer license. It just covers all the private clubs and we have talked about that before. The other thing is that it more than doubled the fees just to those businesses specifically. It didn't address any other businesses in the community. The Resolution also didn't address any professionals. In trying to raise more funds for the city by addressing all the businesses licenses at one time, it is only addressing an issue here of "Private Clubs", and private clubs are those who handle hard liquor. The fee was excessive going from $150 to $500. (It was pointed out that the fee was from $125 not $150.) But rather than possibly making it $125 to $300, this Resolution is doubling it by going to $500. So I wanted to make that point clear for those who were not at the last meeting. A comment was made that they had a chance to talk to some of the people who own these bars and they didn't mind giving something back to the city because they are doing "well". Councilman Moore commented that we canvassed other cities in the state West Virginia and of the 7 cities that we canvassed 5 of them has the $500 so we are not out of the ordinary. Some of the others cities did have $350 and $375. Mayor Miller thought that Councilman Moore wanted to make concessions for certain applications. The case is over with now. The City of Weirton is trying to solicit this type of license fee and is not out of the ordinary, so we move on. Second reading of Ordinance No 1429, Ordinance authorizing City Manager to make corrective Deed for Portion of Right-of-Way adjoining 313 Orr Street. It was moved by Councilman Moore to accept and second by Councilman Dalrymple. This was passed unanimously. NEW BUSINESS Resolution providing for public hearing for the purpose of Adopting Rules to Regulate Towing Services in the City of Weirton. It was moved by Councilman Moore and second by Councilman Dalrymple. This Resolution was passed unanimously. A question if it says anything about in the City of Weirton? Mayor Miller showed that it was for Weirton based towing companies by reading from the previous Resolution. They are trying to develop a Resolution that is more current and more defined. Resolution to enter into contract for Purchase of Ladder Truck Equipment for Weirton Fire Department. It was moved by Councilman DeMasis and second by Councilman Dalrymple to accept this Resolution. This was passed unanimously. Resolution to enter into contract for Purchase of Body Armor Packages for Weirton Police Department. It was moved by Councilman Dorich and second by Councilman DeMasis to accept this Resolution. This was passed unanimously. Resolution to enter into contract to hire Frank Dorsch, Engineer for the Economic Development Projects. It was moved by Councilman Dorich and second by Councilman Kondik to accept this Resolution. This was passed unanimously. Resolution to enter into contract for Purchase of Generator for Marland Heights Repeater for Weirton Fire Department. It was moved by Councilman Kondik and second by Councilman Dorich to accept this Resolution. This was passed unanimously. Resolution to enter into contract for Health Insurance Coverage for City of Weirton employees. It was moved by Councilman DeMasis and second by Councilman Dorich to accept this Resolution. This was passed unanimously. Councilman Moore commented that they are attempting to see if they can reduce the utilization of our health insurance and with the Councils' directives and our Finance Director, Valerie Means, to survey the employees to see if anyone is interested in a buy-out of their health care benefits. They have been informed that these buy-outs roughly total 30% of the cost of the package, and would potentially offer buy-outs to employees. Really the only way to reduce our out lays and in lays is to reduce utilization. It is possible that through this option, an employee may have a spouse who has a plan that is offered and it may be beneficial to them to not utilize the city insurance and utilize their spouse's. For every founder that they can get that will accept this buy-out, that option would save the city $9,700 per year. For every 10 family plans to leave the city would save nearly $100,000. Now, that was roughly the amount of the contribution that was discussed. And therefore, they can still offset the amount of increase by offering this plan. Anything they get from this just reduces the city bill. If no one takes them up on this, they are no worse off than they are this evening. If they do get some people to take advantage of this it will save the city in the long run. Every one of them will be one person off our health care roll, and we all know the cost of health care. The package they are looking at is an increase of 21% over the previous year. Resolution to authorize extension of City of Weirton's contract with R & D Associates for a period of up to sixty days. It was moved by Councilman Kondik and second by Councilman Moore to accept this Resolution. This Resolution was passed unanimously. Bob Riccelli, R & D Associates, was asked if he could make a comment on what had been discussed about floodwalls, in addition to, the project that he had been working on? Mr. Riccelli had spoken to council about a floodwall in the downtown area, which is the Harmon Creek area. A study is going to be done and Mr. Riccelli has been in contact with them by phone. They have expressed to him that the parameters that were set forth by the Flood Wall Project had economics and other criteria that they felt would not qualify the City of Weirton. Mr. Riccelli suggested, as part of a continuing development for downtown, after the 17th of September, that he re-contact them and see if based on the numbers effected by this impact, that there be some kind of floodwall along the creek, because there are property owners that want to do some developing down there. The entire value of those three-blocks of Main Street has been impacted by what happened on the 17th, and I believe that they need to be made aware of the circumstances, the facts, and figures. Mr. Riccelli is proposing and has spoken to the City Manager about those numbers; when they do come in, we are going to re-contact them and see if we can try to make the case of getting them back in here to get a floodwall in place. Mayor Miller commented on a note that the hours that were dedicated to the EDA Project will be reimbursed? Mr. Riccelli responded that that was his understanding with Philadelphia, after the September 15th meeting. He was not aware of that when we discussed it, because of the change in position and they had run the ethics issue through their office, their legal office, and had no problems with it. Also, we have been acting in a contract position to take costs associated with reimbursement to the EDA. Riccelli made a comment on the Frank Dorsch, which has already been passed, that too; that money, is already in the budget for the EDA. It is not like the city would fund it and it would be a pass through and paid out of the line item that is here marked for $150 to $160,000 for the remainder of the city's match in that. EDA, in Philadelphia, was quite welcoming, when I suggested the hours. Based on their experience with some of the Public Works Projects, Philadelphia was quite receptive of that information. Typically, it is $125 more an hour. Concerns were raised to Mr. Riccelli about whether it would be a sufficient amount of time on the flood wall project, because they have been talking about some other issues that have been on going and drawn out process. Mr. Riccelli responded that the time schedule with the EDA should come to council at the January meeting. The work should be done. There will be things to do after that. It is up to the council and they may have somebody in place by then, to take care of the things that Mr. Riccelli has spoken to the City Manager about. Mr. Riccelli is trying to get all construction documents together, so that the schedule will not be pushed back again because we don't have the final design. It is scheduled later this month for final design from the architect. Mr. Riccelli will be trying together with the committee to have a strategy session to work out a government proposal with various agencies and local departments. Once the Development Office puts their stamp of approval on the overtime, I will come back for finalization with the council, which may be at the November meeting, so this can be qualified by December 31st. Councilman Dalrymple asked Mr. Riccelli, if this resolution is passed, could he have a short report to let council know where he is with this process? Mr. Riccelli replied that he would try to track what has completed. Then every two weeks he will take what has been completed and what the progress has been. APPOINTMENTS It was moved by Councilman Miller and second by Councilman Dorich to approve the appointment to the Deputy Court Clerk of John Serafini who resides at 3924 Palisades Drive. This appointment passed unanimously. ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS Police Reports: Nothing to report. Fire Reports: Nothing to report. Public Works: In regard to the cost of the last cleanup: They got $60,000 for the second part of the cleanup, but had not received information on the first collection (metals day on October 14th). The information was not available and would have to get back with them. Inspections: Nothing to report. Library: Nothing to report. Recreations: Spook House will open on October 22nd through the 30th. The first night will be an open night for most school age kids. We thinks it is going to be a bigger success than it has been the last couple of years. Utilities: Nothing to report. TREASURER'S REPORT Valerie Means reported General Funds-September 2004, a beginning Bank Cash Balance: $1,366,834.14, Interest $731.06; Deposits: $1,847,570.23; Disbursement: $892,989.65; Investments: $1,400,000; and Cash Balances of: $922,145.78; Investments: $1,749,946.38; Cash Investments-: $2,672,792.16; Bills to be accrued: $12,882.81 It was moved by Councilman Dorich and second by Councilman DeMasis to accept the Treasurer's Report. This report was accepted unanimously. ADJOURMENT With no further business, this day of October 13, 2004, the regular session of Weirton City Council meeting was adjourned after closing prayer.
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