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Fireworks on Parkersburg City Council agenda

Catch-and-release, budget revisions also on agendas

PARKERSBURG — Tuesday evening will be a busy one at the Municipal Building, as Parkersburg City Council, two of its committees and the Urban Renewal Authority are slated to meet.

The Public Works Committee kicks things off at 6 p.m. with a discussion and possible action on an ordinance establishing dates and times for fireworks usage within the city.

Under the previous council, the committee considered the issue last year after multiple council members received complaints from constituents about fireworks being set off late at night in the days before and after the Fourth of July. Police Chief Joe Martin said at the time he believed the existing disturbing-the-peace ordinance was sufficient, and the committee took no action.

Martin said Friday that while disturbing-the-peace laws apply, he believes a fireworks ordinance could be beneficial.

“I’m not opposed to it, just because we get a ton of calls the week of the Fourth of July,” he said,

While the department tends to give people some leeway around the holiday, establishing specific boundaries would “probably be beneficial to everybody,” Martin said.

The Finance Committee convenes at 6:45 for a presentation on the 2017-18 Community Development Block Grant budget, which also includes the Parkersburg/Wood County Home Consortium. Thanks to Congress’ passage of a continuing budget resolution, funding remains at similar levels to the current year, Development Director Rickie Yeager.

“However, we’re still going to be cautious in our budgeting,” he said.

When council meets at 7:30, they will consider Mayor Tom Joyce’s nominees for the Advisory Commission on City Parks, a group that has not been seated for nearly 30 years.

The committee has a seat for a representative from each of the nine council districts, plus two council members. The agenda for Tuesday’s meeting lists seven nominees, and Joyce has previously said he asked Councilwoman Sharon Kuhl and Councilman Mike Reynolds, who districts include Southwood and City Park, respectively, to serve on the committee as well.

A trio of resolutions revising the 2016-17 budget follows. The first splits $25,000 from excess subsidy funds for the municipal swimming pools between park supplies ($15,000) and capital outlay for fencing around the new pickleball court.

The second would transfer an $11,978 reimbursement from the city’s insurer to capital outlay line item in the Police Department budget. Martin said it’s to replace an unmarked car that was totaled after rear-ending a larger vehicle earlier this year.

The last resolution would reallocate $59,550.33 in CDBG funds to the Minor Home Repair Program.

“Currently, we have a wait list for minor home repair projects,” Yeager said.

Most of the money, $50,000, will come from the Emergency Housing Repair fund, which is not seeing as much demand, he said, while the rest will come from completed project funds that need closed out or “cleaned up.”

Ordinances on first reading include an amendment to city code allowing pay increases for employees who are temporarily promoted to fill a vacant supervisory position and one making the ponds at City and Southwood parks catch-and-release, with the exception of the annual fishing derby. If passed, anyone violating the ordinance would be subject to a fine of $100 to $500.

“Those fish should be for folks to catch and release, not catch and go use as bait somewhere else,” Joyce said.

Some of the money in the parks revision will be used to stock the ponds with fish like bluegill and sunfish, he said.

The final ordinances concerns the proposed abandonment of an unnamed 22.2-foot street that is encompassed by property on Clyde Street which the owner intends to redevelop to build six homes.

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Tuesday’s Parkersburg City Council meetings

* 6 p.m. — Public Works Committee meets in the small conference room adjacent to council chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building to discuss an ordinance dealing with dates and times for fireworks use in the city.

* 6:45 — Finance Committee meets in the small conference room for presentation of the 2017-18 Community Development Block Grant budget.

* 7:30 — Council meets in council chambers. The agenda includes the nomination of members of the Advisory Commission on City Parks; budget revisions for the parks, an insurance claim and CDBG budget; an ordinance establishing a catch-and-release policy for ponds in city parks; and abandonment of an unnanmed 22.2-foot street off Clyde Street near 11th Avenue.

* Immediately following council — Urban Renewal Authority meets in council chambers to consider the donation of property at 1626 Park St. to the authority.

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