Parkersburg City Council to consider ban on camping on public property

$216K budget revision to address firefighter holiday pay

PARKERSBURG -- Parkersburg City Council on Tuesday will consider the first reading of an ordinance prohibiting camping on public property.

And if the Finance Committee approves a $216,522 budget revision to reflect a judge's ruling in a lawsuit over firefighters' holiday compensation at a meeting earlier in the evening, that will also be on the agenda for the 7:30 p.m. council session.

The proposed ordinance says people cannot sleep on, store personal property or cook for habitation purposes on municipal property without a permit issued by the public works director.

"We really had nothing to protect ourselves on the books from people setting up campsites on public property," said Councilman J.R. Carpenter, a sponsor of the ordinance. If the ordinance passes, "it should be easier for the police to decide at the moment to charge them with trespassing."

The ordinance establishes fines for $100 to $500 for people who violate it.

The city has allocated more than $100,000 this year alone cleaning up debris at homeless encampments, though most of those have been on private property. Mayor Tom Joyce said they have had issues in years past with individuals experiencing homelessness sleeping in City and Southwood parks and more recently at Point Park.

"It's a very concise and to-the-point ordinance," he said. "We don't want people camping in our parks or public property."

The Finance Committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. in the executive conference room on the second floor of the Municipal Building to consider allocating $216,522 from the city's stabilization fund to cover additional holiday time payouts for firefighters.

The additional cost is the result of a ruling last month by Wood County Circuit Court Judge J.D. Beane that firefighters must be paid for unused holiday hours at the rate of time-and-a-half rather than straight time.

Beane ruled in December that firefighters, who are scheduled to work in 24-hour shifts, are entitled to credit for 24 hours of holiday time, even though only eight or 16 hours of their shift falls on the actual holiday. That impacts the number of holiday hours firefighters have banked.

Twice a year, the city pays down firefighters' accrued holiday hours to 100. But it had been doing so, by ordinance, at their regular rate rather than the holiday rate of time-and-a-half.

"The court order, obviously, has invalidated the ordinance," Joyce said.

After calculating what is owed based on the judge's order last month, the average annual holiday payout increased by $5,822, Joyce said. The city had budgeted $275,000 for payouts in the 2023-24 fiscal year budget but needs an additional $216,522 to meet the updated obligations.

"Legacy costs such as this are impactful to the overall budget, not just the Fire Department; and long-term fiscal sustainability is something that I and council must seriously consider and review moving forward to ensure that the city remains fiscally capable of providing all the services and competitive compensation to all city personnel," Joyce said. "I am hopeful that we are not faced with increasing fees or reducing other services or staff to address this matter long-term."

Also on the agenda is a resolution amending the rules for Fire Department civil service exams for promotion to lieutenant and captain.

Fire Chief Jason Matthews said the rules now say a firefighter must score at least 70% on the exam to be eligible for promotion before points for their seniority are added to the score. Under the change recommended by the department's Civil Service Commission, seniority would be added to the base score and a minimum score of 75 would be required.

"This gives a little bit more weight to experience," he said.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.