Vienna City Council on board with Wood County Economic Development Authority efforts
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VIENNA -- Vienna City Council voted to sign an agreement with the Wood County Economic Development Authority.
The agreement stated the City of Vienna is utilizing their services to pursue economic development opportunities and utilizing the resources available at the organization's disposal. The city would pay the WCEDA a total of $75,000 split up into quarterly payments of $18,750.
Under paragraph D, culture development, council member Chris Mancuso motioned to amend a sentence. It originally read as: "As it pertains to cultural development, WCEDA recommends that a group as Friends of Vienna begin the process of becoming a West Virginia OnTrac community." Mancuso said he thought the verbiage should be more generic.
"I don't think we want to lead anyone on to say, `yeah for sure we want Friends of Vienna to do this.' At the same time, we know we need to use a 501c3 organization or something similar. I motion that we change Friends of Vienna to 501c3," he said.
Council member Kim Williams seconded the amendment and Mayor Randy Rapp immediately responded to Mancuso.
"That is the absolutely wrong move to do on this," he said. "The Friends of Vienna is the driving force on almost every activity we do. And to do that is a slap in the face to the most dedicated group of people I've ever worked with."
Mancuso replied, "You accused me of slapping Friends of Vienna in the face, which is completely inaccurate. ... Who knows who's going to be sitting here next year. I'm asking that we consider that there might be other non-profit organizations that fit the bill."
The amendment failed, 3-4 with Mancuso, Williams and Recorder Melissa Elam voting for it, and Rapp and council members Jim Leach, Tom Azinger and Roger Bibbee voting against it. The original agreement passed 7-0.
The council also voted to unanimously waive the scheduled primary on May 7 due to not meeting the parameters set in Vienna Code 103.17 "Cancellation of Non-Partisan Primary Election." The code says a primary may not be held when the city has three candidates or less for mayor, three or less for recorder, and 15 or less for city council. Three have filed for mayor, two for recorder and 11 for city council.
Kristen Hainkel can be reached at khainkel@newsandsentinel.com