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Vienna City Council approves raises for full-time city employees

By Douglass Huxley 3 min read

VIENNA -- Vienna City Council passed a resolution Thursday increasing the salary for most of the city's current employees and any incoming full-time hires.

The resolution states all current, full-time, permanent employees shall receive an hourly wage increase of 65 cents, in addition to the annual hourly longevity pay increase of 35 cents per hour, for a total of $1 per hour. It says all current, non-seasonal, part time employees shall receive an hourly wage increase of $1 per hour and that all new hire full-time employee positions shall receive a starting pay increase of $1 per hour.

Vienna Mayor Randy Rapp said the increase will go into effect on July 1.

Ordinances were introduced on first reading defining a junk vehicle and what steps the city can take to remove them.

"It is simply a clarification, if you will, of the ordinance that we already have," Rapp said. "We've got several abandoned cars that have been in Vienna for a number of years. We're simply giving our code enforcement officer some more tools in the toolbox in order to take care of some of these abandoned vehicles."

The ordnance states a "junk motor vehicle" is any motor vehicle, other than an on-premises farm utilities vehicle, which is discarded, wrecked, ruined, scrapped, or dismantled; one that cannot pass state inspection, does not have a state sticker, or has one that has expired in the last 60 days; if it fails to display a valid license plate; or is not serving a functional purpose or use, is not in an enclosed building, a licensed salvage yard, or in actual possession of a demolisher.

The ordinance says individuals can keep their vehicles under a car cover. The ordinance defines a car cover as: "is any product that is specifically designed to provide coverage of the entirety of a vehicle from and including the roof of the vehicle to the ground". It says the cover must be free of holes and tears, and does not include tarps or other products not designed for motor vehicles.

The ordnance states the city can take possession of any abandoned vehicles or, "old vehicle tire or inoperative or abandoned household appliance on either public or private property" after giving the owner a ten day notice by registered or certified mail.

"Hopefully this will allow code enforcement a way to deal with some of the properties that have been consistent problems," City Attorney Russell Skogstad said. "Our former ordinance didn't allow us to deal with private property. This will allow us a way to deal with that."

Sgt. Greg Britton of the Vienna Police Department was named the Productive Enforcement Officer of the Year for 2022 at the Governor's Highway Safety Program on May 9 and the department was named the most Productive Enforcement Agency.

"He was the No. 1 officer in the state of West Virginia for productive enforcement," Vienna Police Chief Mike Pifer said. "Which means the ratio of citations versus time worked. So, out of 555 police officers, Sgt. Greg Britton, was No. 1. Which I'm absolutely delighted. He's making our streets safer, make our community safer, and in turn, largely because of him, the Vienna Police Department was the number one productive enforcement agency overall in the state of West Virginia."

Pifer said this was the second year in a row Britton won the award.

Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com

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