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PARKERSBURG -- A light agenda awaits Parkersburg City Council at its first meeting of the year.
Council President Mike Reynolds will give out the 2020 committee assignments during the meeting, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building. Members will consider two reappointments to the Washington Avenue Architectural Review Board, the final reading of an ordinance regulating the construction of small homes in a designated area and perhaps the first reading of an ordinance making Christmas Eve a holiday for city workers.
Reynolds, who served as council president in 2019 as well, said he does not plan on making many changes from last year's committee rosters.
"I think most people are pretty happy with the committees they served on," he said.
The Personnel Committee could wind up with a slightly different makeup going forward than it will have when they meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to discuss giving city workers Christmas Eve off. The 2019 membership will act in that meeting since the new assignments won't be made until the council session beginning an hour later.
Committee Chairwoman Sharon Kuhl said city workers have had Dec. 24 off the last few years because West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has declared it a state holiday. But that announcement usually doesn't come until a few days beforehand.
"This way, they will know that they are off and they don't have to worry about it," Kuhl said.
The ordinance specifies it would only be a holiday if Dec. 24 falls on a weekday, she said.
Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce said Christmas Eve is already a half day for municipal employees. He noted city workers already get 12¢ holidays a year, with two more on tap for 2020 because of the primary and general election dates.
"I don't oppose it because it's really a nominal amount of money," Joyce said of the proposal. However, "I think that council needs to be mindful of what the folks in the private sector are doing" since they typically have half as many designated holidays.
If referred by the committee, the ordinance will be discussed at the full council meeting.
The ordinance designating a small home overlay district is back for a third reading after being amended on an 8-1 vote at the Dec. 17 meeting to remove the portion of it in council District 5. Joyce said he hopes it passes Tuesday because the city is getting inquiries about the guidelines.
The ordinance establishes the zoning area roughly between Virginia and Laird avenues and 16th Street and St. Marys Avenue. The structures can be no larger than 1,250 square feet, with a minimum of 250 square feet per resident, and must be built on lots of at least 5,000 square feet. It also enables the development of "pocket neighborhoods," with multiple structures around a shared green space.
Joyce said the legislation won't create a housing market on its own, but gives guidance to developers who might want to build smaller homes and makes sure "we don't have an influx of campers and storage buildings, things that aren't necessarily designed for permanent residency, moving in for permanent residency."
The administration is looking into whether it could use Community Development Block Grant funding to build a small home or two in the area as examples, Joyce said.
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.