Williamstown City Clerk Stephanie Stengel, left, swears in Shane King, middle, chairman of the board of zoning appeals, to council at Tuesday's Williamstown City Council meeting. Also pictured is King's wife, Tricia King, right. (Photo by James Dobbs)

WILLIAMSTOWN — Shane King, chairman of the Williamstown Board of Zoning Appeals, was sworn in as a member of Williamstown City Council on Tuesday.

Mayor Paul Jordan was unable to attend the meeting.

King took over for Randy Dick, who submitted his resignation from council in February. Dick handled the pool and the park commission, as well as the old Williamstown Elementary School project. There are two years remaining in the term.

“I’ve considered this for a little while, but had been on the fence about it,” said King, when asked what he thought about his nomination.

King said he comes to the meetings every week, and is excited to learn more and play a more active role in Williamstown.

Councilmember Pat Peters, left, discusses the tree ordinance during Tuesday's Williamstown City Council meeting. Also pictured is Shane King, councilmember, right. (Photo by James Dobbs)

Councilmember Marty Seufer attended the meeting via phone and discussed the 2023-24 budget. Seufer said the city still has reservations about the class four personal property tax in the area, but is forced to go with the numbers the state provided. He said the rest of the budget checks out and Stephanie Stengel, city clerk, did a terrific job. Seufer motioned to adopt the budget as presented. Council unanimously passed the 2023-24 budget.

Councilmember Pat Peters discussed the Williamstown Tree Commission’s tree ordinance. The purpose of the ordinance is to govern the Williamstown Tree Commission and clarify member responsibilities. Council unanimously voted and passed the second reading of the ordinance and it will go into effect immediately. The ordinance includes appeal forms, and landmark tree nomination forms.

“We would like to identity landmark trees where we can create a walk around the city, since we have so many walkers and children then can pick up leaves in the fall for science projects,” said Peters.

Peters said the tree commission and City Attorney Blaire Hudson did a great job working on the ordinance.

Peters said Williamstown qualified again to be a Tree City USA community. He said this is the 40th year Williamstown has been qualified as a Tree City.

Councilmember Jim Stage runs the meeting, as Mayor Paul Jordan was unable to attend the Williamstown City Council meeting on Tuesday. (Photo by James Dobbs)

Seufer said Williamstown has qualified as a Bee City community this year. He said it is Williamstown’s third year as a Bee City.

“No only are we the longest running Tree City in the state of West Virginia, but we’re also the longest running Bee City,” said Seufer.

James Dobbs can be reached at jdobbs@newsandsentinel.com