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Parkersburg City Council hears complaint about library book

By James Dobbs 4 min read

PARKERSBURG -- Parkersburg City Council was met with multiple parents and grandparents who wanted to "protect their children," and who asked council to restrict the material available to children in the public library.

Councilmembers JR Carpenter and Bob Mercer were unable to attend Tuesday's meeting.

There were only six public speakers, and four discussed the literature available to the public.

Stephanie Jones, a Parkersburg resident, asked council to restrict pornographic material in the public library.

"I am asking for you to consider to look at the material that is being made available to our children and not only available, but easily accessible," she said. "We don't put tobacco products next to Reese Cups, and we don't put liquor bottles next to Pepsi products. We're not asking for books to be banned, we're asking that they be restricted and out of reach for children with curious minds."

Jones continued by explaining that the books in question look innocent on the outside with pictures of cartoons, but have "extremely sexually explicit" material on the inside. Jones also said the books aren't just in the public library, but available to children through public schools. She suggested that a law should be enforced to require identification to view these kind of books, similar to buying alcohol or tobacco.

Councilmember Ray Eubanks III apologized for his "lack of awareness" on addressing the subject matter at hand during the last council meeting.

"And in doing that I also hampered the ability for the city council to produce a censure that should have come forth and should have censured not only the library director but the entire library board, because even as I read just a portion of the minutes here, it says the resolution stated that the city council does hereby censure the Parkersburg and Wood County Public Library for having available to minors, obscene and pornographic material and encourages the Parkersburg and Wood County Public Library to take decisive measures to prevent access," he said.

Eubanks then asked council to help him do something about the issue. He said it is a felony in West Virginia for making pornographic material available to minors. No decisions were made at this time. Eubanks was appointed to council by Mayor Tom Joyce at the end of September, after Austin Richards resigned from his seat.

Council approved the first reading of five ordinances. The ordinances will be read again at the next council meeting scheduled for Dec. 13 at 7:30 p.m. in council chambers. If approved on second reading the ordinances will go into effect.

Council unanimously passed the first reading of an ordinance amending city code to reflect changes in the organizational structure of the Fire Department, an ordinance expressing support for public access to a parcel on the southerly side of Bosley Industrial Drive if it is annexed into the city and an ordinance authorizing severance pay for Memorial Bridge toll workers whose jobs were eliminated.

Council discussed an ordinance to increase the annual limit for performance bonds from $10,000 to $20,000 for utilities digging into city streets and sidewalks. Councilmember Mike Reynolds motioned to amend the ordinance in question to increase the amount required to $25,000. Council approved the amendment and unanimously approved the first reading of the ordinance.

Council discussed an ordinance that would require the city to get bids for contracts and services estimated to cost $25,000 or more. The threshold is $15,000 now.

"By raising this bid limit, this does not eliminate procurement processes that we have both internally and we're still subject to state code, this just mirrors state code and allows us to get some work done or product procurement done quicker," explained Joyce.

Councilmember Sharon Kuhl recommended that any business that wants to be on the bid list, to see the bids that are put out by the city, should contact the finance department to be added to the bid list. This information can also be found on the city website.

Council voted to approve the first reading of the ordinance. The vote was 6-1, with Wendy Tuck dissenting.

After the meeting, Tuck explained that she doesn't like going against council, but expenditures matter to the public, and transparency is important.

"So I just felt like as a matter of taxpayer protection, that it's just better to have stuff out in the open and have it fair and square," she said.

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