Parkersburg resident Wayne Waldeck, right, speaks about his concerns over his neighborhood and public safety during the public forum at Tuesday’s Parkersburg City Council meeting at the Municipal Building. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

PARKERSBURG — Residents concerned with drug abuse and crime in Parkersburg asked for action from the municipal government during the public forum at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

Longtime Market Street resident and business owner Wayne Waldeck said a good first step would be the creation of a task force of public officials and citizens to deal with issues like the prevalence of people sleeping on the street and on porches in the 900 to 1300 blocks of Market Street. He also expressed frustration over the lack of a response to a petition he submitted earlier this year to expand streetscape enhancements to that section of Market Street and issues related to parking in the area.

“I’ve seen our area dissolve into a neighborhood where people are afraid to walk the sidewalks after dark,” he said. “You must find ways to assist those of us who reside and do business in this area. Otherwise, you’ll have more empty homes and buildings and, most of all, a substantial drop in city revenue.

“It’s only a matter of time until one of my neighbors or myself is physically harmed, and maybe something even worse than physically harmed, by one of these people,” Waldeck said. “And after tonight’s presentation, if there’s no action or results from my request, I personally am going to hold all of you responsible.”

Resident Cheryl Fiedorczyk said when she was growing up in the area, Parkersburg “was such a magical city.” Today, “we are truly a city in distress,” she said, pointing to drug abuse, violence and vacant, dilapidated buildings.

Parkersburg City Councilman Bob Mercer, left, speaks during Tuesday’s council meeting at the Municipal Building as Councilman Eric Barber listens. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

Two Swann Street residents asked for help in dealing with a condemned structure where they said multiple people spend time, sell drugs and throw needles and containers of human waste into their yards.

Waldeck and Parkersburg resident Ed Hurst commended the Parkersburg Police Department and Wood County Sheriff’s Department for a recent drug trafficking sweep. Hurst asked for more such activity.

Councilman Eric Barber echoed residents’ concerns; he’s becoming increasingly concerned about the violence in his 13th and Latrobe Street neighborhood.

“The police are doing everything they can,” he said. “I hope that this government hears the cry … of the people and tries to develop some sort of relief plan for them.”

Councilman Bob Mercer said there are certainly things that need to be addressed in the city, but said he recently drove through Parkersburg and took note of folks enjoying their day at City Park, kids playing touch football on the north end and parents and children playing nearby.

Parkersburg City Councilman Eric Barber, left, discusses his concerns about crime in his neighborhood as Council President Mike Reynolds listens during Tuesday’s council meeting at the Municipal Building. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

“After seeing that, I realized there was absolutely hope for this city that we live in,” he said.

Police Chief Joe Martin said after the meeting that he is sympathetic to the concerns raised Tuesday.

“Law enforcement in Parkersburg does everything they can that’s allowed by what laws we have on the books,” he said.

Martin said people may be frustrated when, for example, police respond to a reported overdose and no arrests are made.

“By the time we get there, anything that was illegal has been consumed or cleaned up and removed from the scene,” he said.

Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce answers questions about an ordinance related to the transfer of property for a new fire station during Tuesday’s City Council meeting at the Municipal Building. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

Mayor Tom Joyce said the problems are not simple ones to address and he is working with Martin and reaching out to other government entities as well.

“This is a problem that we are acutely aware of,” he said. “There’s more to it than just the city doing their job. We are not the body that gets to adjudicate.”

Also during Tuesday’s meeting:

∫ Council unanimously voted to approve the first reading of an ordinance transferring city property at Emerson and West Virginia avenues to the Municipal Building Commission, which can issue bonds to fund the construction of a new fire station there.

Councilwoman Sharon Kuhl made a motion to send the measure to the Finance Committee but withdrew it after bond counsel John Stump and City Attorney Joe Santer explained that the language saying the bonds would not exceed $2.5 million did not mean that is how much the project would cost. The new fire station 2 at 16th and Covert streets cost approximately $1.5 million.

“Hopefully, the project comes in lower than the last one,” Stump said. “We can’t go up above the not-to-exceed amount. We can go under.”

Bids for the project are due Oct. 4, so the expected cost will be known when council holds a final reading and public hearing on the ordinance Oct. 8, he said.

∫ Council voted 9-0 to refer a resolution changing the membership of the Urban Renewal Authority to the Committee of the Whole. Like the authority, the committee consists of all nine council members. The proposed resolution would set the authority’s membership at seven — one council member and six appointees, three from the banking, real estate or development and planning community.

∫ Council unanimously approved the final reading of ordinances recognizing the Avery Historical District in city code and raising the minimum height of tree limbs hanging over a city sidewalk, street or alley from 8 to 13 feet.

∫ Resolutions authorizing Joyce to accept a $75,000 Homeland Security grant to provide 60 Microsoft Surface Pro 6 tablets for individual police patrol vehicles and establishing 70 percent as the minimum passing score for the Fire Department’s entrance exam also passed 9-0.

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