PARKERSBURG — Members of Parkersburg City Council will vote again Tuesday to determine who will serve as council president this year.

The first council meeting of 2023 is set for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building.

Two votes at the council’s Dec. 27 meeting, its last of 2022, resulted in a pair of 4-4 ties between Councilwoman Sharon Kuhl and Councilman Mike Reynolds.

Councilman Chris Rexroad, who was elected vice president on a 7-1 vote, was absent from the meeting. He submitted his choice for president and vice president, Reynolds and Councilwoman Jesse Cottrille, by email, but a vote to suspend the rules and accept those as his votes failed in a 4-4 tie. Reynolds and council members who voted for him — Wendy Tuck, J.R. Carpenter and Zach Stanley — voted in favor of the motion, while Kuhl and her supporters — Cottrille, Bob Mercer and Ray Eubanks — opposed it.

Stanley, who served the last two years as council president, said that Rexroad, as vice president, will call the meeting to order and preside over the vote.

Rexroad, who would be the deciding vote if none of the other eight members changes their mind, declined over the weekend to comment on who he plans to vote for Tuesday.

The council president runs regular meetings and makes committee appointments. The vice president runs meetings in the president’s absence and presides over the spring budget hearings.

The only other item on Tuesday’s council agenda is the first reading of an ordinance vacating a 10-foot-wide alley behind the Discovery World on Market Children’s Museum, which is set to open this spring.

The museum’s request was approved in December and forwarded to council by the Municipal Planning Commission. Discovery World representatives said they had purchased the neighboring Wood County Senior Citizens building in the 900 block of Market Street and want to use space behind it for parking. They sought the closure of the unnamed alley connecting Ninth to 9 1/2 Street for safety reasons, as they anticipate field trips bringing students to the museum in school buses and did not want children crossing an open alley.

The Planning Commission’s 7-1 approval included a requirement that utilities continue to have full access to their infrastructure and equipment in the alley.

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