(Meeting Updates - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

PARKERSBURG – Parkersburg City Council will consider the final reading of an ordinance establishing a cable franchise fee and a resolution making changes to council rules at Tuesday’s meeting.

A set of budget revisions recently forwarded by the Finance Committee is also on the agenda for the regular session, scheduled for 7:30 p.m.Tuesday in council chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building.

The city has not previously charged a franchise fee for cable providers, but a 5% fee was part of agreements with both CAS Cable and Cebridge Acquisition LLC. that passed on final reading at the Oct. 14 meeting.

The 5% fee would be passed along to cable customers. City officials predict it will generate $250,000 a year.

The resolution regarding council rules is an effort to put in writing some practices members have observed for years, said Councilwoman Sharon Kuhl, one of the sponsors.

The first would specify that while items for the upcoming meeting’s agenda should be submitted “to the extent reasonably possible” by 4:30 p.m. the Tuesday before the meeting, items submitted by noon on Wednesday shall be included. Items submitted after that will be included “only if determined by the President of Council (or the Vice President in his absence) to be a matter of sufficient public importance to be included.”

The meeting agenda is to be made available to the public by 4 p.m. Thursday, as required by law.

This was questioned in August when council voted 6-3 to change its rules to require four sponsors instead of three for discussion-only items.

Councilwoman Wendy Tuck pointed out that resolution had been added to the agenda after the 4:30 p.m. Tuesday deadline. City Attorney Blaine Myers said at the time the council president had discretion in many areas and it was ultimately up to council to determine whether the addition of the resolution was acceptable. A motion to postpone the resolution failed on a 3-6 vote.

Kuhl said that while it doesn’t happen often, additions to the agenda after the 4:30 p.m. deadline have been made multiple times in her nine years on council.

“Always been done. Sometimes things come up,” she said.

Since it was questioned at the meeting in August, Kuhl said, she felt the practice should be reflected in council’s rules.

Another change would remove language stating nominations for committees, boards or commissions appointed by council should be considered by the Personnel Committee. Kuhl, who chairs the committee, said that has not been the practice and is unnecessary.

“Personnel is for personnel of the city, and they (appointees) are not employed by the city,” she said.

Council members have enough time to vet nominees before their appointments are voted on, Kuhl said.

The resolution would also add to the rules a statement saying committee chairs “shall have the discretion to determine the extent to which it is necessary that any legislative matters be brought before their committee prior to consideration by City Council at a regular or special meeting.”

Another resolution on the agenda would authorize end-of-the-fiscal-year budget revisions approved by council’s Finance Committee last week.

Many of the revisions deal with funding for purchase orders initiated in the previous fiscal year but not paid before it ended on June 30. Others include accounting for a $200,000 grant toward the purchase of a Bearcat armored vehicle for the Police Department and the earmarking of funds for vehicles including new dump trucks, a fire truck and a recycling truck.

The last resolution on the agenda would slate regular meetings for Nov. 4 and 25, since Nov. 11 is a holiday, Veterans Day.

Council will reconvene after Tuesday’s meeting ends as the Urban Renewal Authority.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com