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Council allocates $3.1M in ARPA funds

Photo by Evan Bevins Mayor Tom Joyce, standing, speaks to Parkersburg City Council President Zach Stanley prior to the start of Tuesday’s council meeting at the Municipal Building.

PARKERSBURG — Parkersburg City Council Tuesday allocated $3.1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to cover renovations to the baseball field in City Park, make stormwater improvements and assist nonprofits in the city.

Mayor Tom Joyce also appointed Ray Eubanks to the vacant council seat for the 9th District. And following the meeting, council members acting as the Urban Renewal Authority voted to acquire a dilapidated Fifth Street building via eminent domain, with plans to demolish it after safety concerns led to the closure of an adjacent alley earlier this year.

The $1.5 million improvements to City Park’s Bennett Stump Field will include Astroturf for the infield, a building for equipment and new lights, fencing and dugouts, Joyce said.

“It’s not cheap. It’s certainly eligible” for the funding, part of the second tranche of $10,925,204 the city received from the federal legislation aimed at helping the economy recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The money is being allocated under a federal guideline that allows cities to claim up to $10 million in lost revenue due to the pandemic.

The resolution, which passed 7-0 with Councilman Bob Mercer absent and the District 9 seat vacant, also included $550,000 for a vactor truck to clean stormwater lines, $500,000 for stormwater lining projects, $350,000 to repave Broadway Avenue once a stormwater reconstruction project is finished and $200,000 to fund the balance of requests from nonprofits that could not be filled by a previous $525,000 allocation to the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation.

Councilman J.R. Carpenter asked if any consideration had been given to repairing the roof on the Ohio Valley Rowing Club facility at the former city water works.

“As it progresses, it will get more and more expensive,” he said.

Joyce said the expenditures proposed Tuesday were based on feedback from the public and local foundations. Council President Zach Stanley noted nearly $8 million in ARPA funds remain unallocated.

Council also approved resolutions revising the budget to reflect those revisions, as well as for $47,043 within the Police Department budget to fund a civilian child abuse and exploitation investigation specialist position. The ordinance creating the job also passed 7-0 on final reading.

During his executive message, Joyce announced he had chosen Eubanks to complete the unexpired term of former Councilman Austin Richards, who stepped down because he was moving out of the district. Eubanks’ name was submitted to Joyce by the Parkersburg Republican Executive Committee along with Matt Dodrill and Terri Goodnow.

“All three were good and qualified, so it was a tough decision,” Joyce said.

Eubanks is a pastor at the Church of His Presence in Parkersburg and also works for Highmark West Virginia.

“There’s a lot of positive things going on, and I just want to be able to help influence that,” he said.

At the Urban Renewal Authority meeting following the council session, members voted 4-1, with Stanley opposed and Councilmen Mike Reynolds and Chris Rexroad absent, to acquire 318 Fifth St. via eminent domain.

City officials ordered the closure of Phillips Court Alley beside it in April due to safety issues related to falling bricks. Carpenter and Code Director Andy Nestor said the building has been vacant for several years.

Stanley questioned paying a fair market value of $50,000 for the property then spending another estimated $50,000 to tear it down. He asked if the owners, Paul and Carol Hildebrand, might be willing to donate it. They were not in attendance, but Assistant City Attorney Rob Tebay said that did not appear to be an option.

The city first cited the property for a code violation in 2018.

During a Public Works Committee meeting earlier in the evening, City Engineer Adam Stout said an environmental study of the Central Garage and Street Department property on Camden Avenue, on either side of Fairfax Street, showed no levels of hydrocarbons or other chemicals requiring action from state or federal environmental authorities.

“This report is enough for anybody, including ourselves, to be able to work on the site, no questions asked,” he said.

Some members of council have expressed interest in selling the site, which Councilwoman Sharon Kuhl described Tuesday as “prime property.”

The committee voted 3-0, with Mercer and Carpenter absent, to ask the administration to pursue an updated appraisal of the property. A 2018 appraisal put the value of both buildings at a combined $955,000.

The central garage was acquired by the city in the 1980s and includes a former car dealership and other buildings that have been modified and added onto over the years. City officials previously said the buildings combined have about 36,000 square feet under roof, but based on the space used and vehicles stored there, it could be replaced with a 26,000-square-foot building next to the city’s Sanitation Department and recycling center off 24th Street.

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

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