Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce and City Councilwoman Wendy Tuck discuss a proposed budget revision to allocate $15,000 in opioid settlement funds to the River City Runners Kids Running Series during a Finance Committee meeting Tuesday as City Clerk Connie Shaffer listens. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

PARKERSBURG – Members of Parkersburg City Council rejected – by one vote – an appeal of the determination that a petition for a referendum on the city’s proposed sanitation contract was insufficient.

“You can vote for sufficiency, and let’s get this over with,” said Edward Escandon, a member of the petition committee. “Let’s let the people vote.”

The council voted to affirm the certification of insufficiency 5-4, with Council Members Wendy Tuck, Zak Huffman, Chris Rexroad and Andrew Borkowski opposed. Read the full story online at newsandsentinel.com and in Thursday’s print edition.

After a second round of signature-gathering, petitioners opposed to the January ordinance authorizing a five-year, nearly $15 million contract with Waste Management for trash service wound up with the signatures of 3,091 registered voters, surpassing the required 2,763. However, City Clerk Connie Shaffer declared the petition insufficient, citing a memo issued by City Attorney Blaine Myers in March saying the ordinance was not subject to the referendum process because it involves the appropriation of funds.

Although the petition committee and their legal counsel, ACLU of West Virginia Legal Director Aubrey Sparks, have filed a motion in Wood County Circuit Court seeking a ruling that the court, not city officials, should make that determination, they also appealed the certification to council.

Parkersburg Finance Director Eric Jiles, left, outlines a proposed budget revision to allocate $15,000 in opioid settlement funds to the River City Runners Kids Running Series during a Finance Committee meeting Tuesday as City Clerk Connie Shaffer listens. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

If council overruled the clerk’s determination and voted to certify the petition, under the charter provision, they would consider a repeal of the ordinance at an upcoming meeting. If they did not vote to repeal, the question would go before voters on a future ballot.

But the question of whether the ordinance is eligible for referendum could still wind up in court, Myers and Edward Escandon, a member of the petition committee, have previously indicated a potential willingness to appeal the matter to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals if the ruling does not go in their favor.

With the uncertainty surrounding the ordinance and the referendum process, Waste Management has not signed the contract. Instead, the city has entered two emergency agreements with the company, one to provide assistance with trash pickup this month and the other to provide service on a month-to-month basis, beginning July 1.

City officials have said the move to contracted trash service was necessitated by staffing issues in the municipal Sanitation Department, while opponents have said the city did not do enough, including increasing pay rates, to address those issues.

Curbside recycling is being handled under a separate contract by Rumpke, though that, too, has been challenged in court.

Parkersburg resident Ashley Boggs speaks during the public forum at Tuesday's Parkersburg City Council meeting. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

Earlier in the evening, the Finance Committee voted 5-0 to refer to the full council a budget revision allocating $15,000 in opioid settlement funds to the River City Runners Club for their Kid’s Running Series, described as providing youth prevention and diversion. During the regular meeting, council approved the revision on a 9 vote.

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

Parkersburg resident Jamie McCormick speaks in support of a petition seeking a referendum on an ordinance approving a sanitation contract with Waste Management during Tuesday's City Council meeting. (Photo by Evan Bevins)