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Drugs take center stage at Parkersburg City Council meeting

Council hears residents’ concerns; votes down 5 percent raise

Parkersburg resident Hope Wilson, standing, left, talks about her and her family’s struggles with addiction as members of the Vandals Motorcycle Club and Parkersburg resident Cathi Wermter wait in line behind her during the public forum portion of Tuesday’s Parkersburg City Council meeting. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

PARKERSBURG — Nearly 20 people spoke about the life-and-death issue of drugs facing the region at Tuesday’s Parkersburg City Council meeting, with several asking council to redirect money from a proposed pay increase to drug abuse prevention and recovery efforts.

A 5 percent pay increase for all City of Parkersburg employees except elected officials and appointed department heads was ultimately rejected with a 6-3 vote and sent back to committee.

Parkersburg resident Tina Richardson started off the public forum portion of the meeting, addressing the nearly $800,000 carryover the city had from fiscal year 2015-16, which ended June 30.

“I’d like to know with the surplus that we have, why not one dime is being spent toward our drug addiction problem,” she said.

Earlier this month, council approved Mayor Jimmy Colombo’s proposals for $462,105 of the carryover. A resolution on Tuesday’s agenda would have allocated the remaining $303,377 to the pay raises and the creation of two new positions, an executive administrative assistant for the mayor and an assistant information technology technician.

Parkersburg resident Tina Richardson, front, talks about the need for city funds to address the local drug addiction problem as other speakers wait their turn during the public forum portion of Tuesday’s Parkersburg City Council meeting. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

“If you don’t stop it, at least lower it,” said Donna Helmick, co-founder of the group M.A.D. in PKB, a local anti-heroin group. “This is citizens coming together. Where’s the city at?”

Parkersburg resident Tyler Farley, 21, said he’s been sober two years thanks to the Amity center in south Parkersburg. But the 15-bed, 28-day program can’t meet the need in the community, he and others said.

Farley and Parkersburg resident Justin Stukey held up a banner from the event filled with names of people who had died because of drug addiction. Parkersburg resident Rich Walters said the number of names on the sign “will double again next year and maybe triple” if no action is taken.

Other people talked about their battles with addiction, and representatives of the Vandals Motorcycle Club voiced their support for fighting the heroin problem in the area.

Parkersburg resident Cathi Wermter said that in addition to finding a way to expand recovery resources locally, the number of police officers and their salaries should increase.

James Stukey, left, and Tyler Farley, center, hold a sign bearing the names of people who died because of drug abuse as Parkersburg resident Rich Walters, right, speaks during the public forum portion of Tuesday’s Parkersburg City Council meeting. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

“We need to do something to retain them after we train them,” she said.

Councilwoman Kim Coram thanked people for speaking up and expressed frustration with the city.

“We invited police to a church in our district (for a substation) and we were turned down,” she said. “We are required to do town hall meetings. Our last mayor” ended that practice.

Councilwoman Sharon Lynch talked about a family member’s struggles with addiction and said she is willing to form a committee to look at options for bringing a treatment center into the area.

“The ones I’m aware of are privately run,” she said.

Councilman Warren Bigley said his family has been touched by drug addiction and vowed to work with those in attendance to increase local treatment options. However, he said they should not look to government to provide those options.

“You don’t want the government running this,” he said, adding it should be done by private individuals who are emotionally involved, not overseen by bureaucrats.

Colombo said he would use contacts from his time on the West Virginia Parole Board to reach out to faith-based treatment programs.

Councilman J.R. Carpenter made a motion to reduce the raise to 2.5 percent. At first, he suggested allocating $120,000 to the capital improvement fund, earmarked for a new fire station, and the remainder for drug awareness and prevention programs.

Finance Director Eric Jiles said cutting the increase to 2.5 percent would save about $139,000. At Coram’s request, Carpenter amended his motion to put $120,000 toward drug programs and the rest for fire station construction.

Lynch said the raises weren’t just a reward for employees, but a preparation for anticipated minimum wage increases.

“We’re going to have to raise employees’ wage whether we want to or not,” she said.

Coram said additional salary funds could come from elsewhere as there was a lot of “fluff” in the budget that could be cut. She cited $30,000 recently approved for wayfinding signage and $10,000, in state grant funding, for swings installed last year at Point Park.

“That’s your personal opinion, that there’s a lot of fluff in this budget,” Colombo said. He and Coram both began speaking until the mayor said, “Yes or no?”

“No,” Coram said. “I can prove it.”

Councilwoman Nancy Wilcox said she would support the amendment if none of the money went toward the fire station, since it’s been proposed to fund the construction of up to three new stations with a bond. No change was made and the amendment failed 5-4, with Carpenter, Coram and Councilmen Roger Brown and Mike Reynolds supporting it.

The resolution for the raises failed 6-3, with only Lynch, Councilman Jim Reed and Council President John Rockhold voting for it.

Wilcox said after the meeting that she supported cutting the raise to 2.5 percent but wanted the rest of the money to go for an additional $2-an-hour raise for police, in order to make the salaries more competitive with surrounding law enforcement agencies.

A pair of ordinances that would have enacted the changes funded by the resolution were unanimously sent to the Finance Committee for further discussion.

In other business, council unanimously approved acceptance of a federal Community Oriented Policing Services grant that will provide $250,000 over three years to support the salaries and benefits of two police officers and a budget revision for $30,000 to upgrade cages in 42 police cruisers after a suspect was able to get through one into the front seat of a police car he stole before crashing.

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