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Parkersburg City Council public forum change pulled from agenda

$2-a-month sanitation fee hike passes

By Evan Bevins 4 min read

PARKERSBURG -- A resolution limiting comments in Parkersburg City Council's public forum to items on the agenda was pulled from Tuesday's agenda, but that didn't stop residents from expressing their opposition to the proposal.

Also during the meeting, the first readings of ordinances enacting pay raises and a sanitation fee increase approved in the 2023-24 budget passed on 6-0 votes.

Council President Sharon Kuhl announced at the start of the meeting that the resolution amending the public forum rules had been removed. Kuhl sponsored the measure with Councilwoman Jesse Cottrille and Councilman Mike Reynolds and said after the meeting she decided to pull her sponsorship. It takes three sponsors to place an item on the agenda.

"It was a matter of respect for our citizens," Kuhl said. "At this point in time, it was the right thing to do. We have a lot going on right now, and … I just didn't feel it was the right time to do it."

During the public forum, Parkersburg resident Jennifer Bryant was among those who said speaking in that venue is a way of exercising the Constitutional right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

"It's a horrible message to send … that you don't want civic engagement," she said.

Parkersburg resident Sonya Ashby said she understood some council members' desire to keep meetings efficient and focused. But she suggested providing a list of subjects within council's purview at the lectern where people speak or sorting the sign-in sheets where people sometimes list what they want to talk about to put the off-topic speakers toward the end of the 30-minute forum.

"Not all of the 29,000 people you represent are well-versed in how city government works," she said. "But you do represent them."

Former council members Cammy Murray and Jeff Fox were among those criticizing the proposed change.

Kuhl had previously said people could still express their concerns to council members outside of meetings, but Fox said that would prevent certain matters from being part of the official council minutes.

"If you don't want to hear from your constituents, then maybe you need to find something else to do," Murray said.

Subjects not on the agenda brought up by other speakers included a request for traffic studies and increased efforts to address speeding around 16th Street and a request to expand the eligibility for the city's Schools to Pools program providing free passes to kindergarteners through fifth-graders who qualify for free or reduced lunch.

"I think it would benefit a lot of our children if we could expand the free pool pass to age 14, regardless of what grade they're in," Parkersburg resident Jackie Blow said.

Before the vote to raise the monthly sanitation fee from $16 to $18, Councilwoman Wendy Tuck asked about the rationale for the request. Mayor Tom Joyce said the general fund subsidized the separate sanitation fund by about $270,000 in this fiscal year, which ends June 30, and would have needed to do so again to the tune of $250,000 without the increase.

"It's been since 2009 since those rates were raised," he said.

Joyce said he will look at putting additional money, such as from budget carryovers, toward staving off the need for future increases.

That passed on a 6-0 vote, with Reynolds and Councilman Bob Mercer absent. Councilman J.R. Carpenter started the meeting participating by phone but did not answer when called on for a vote on an ordinance on final reading to change a job title in the floodwall division. That passed 6-0, as did the first reading of an ordinance implementing the 4.2% employee pay raise for police officers, firefighters and part-time employees, all of whose salaries are set by ordinance.

Carpenter voted yes on a resolution approving an addendum to a memorandum of understanding for disbursement of opioid litigation settlement money that changed the split between the city and Wood County from 60-40 to 55-45. It passed 7-0.

In other business, Joyce announced the Quincy Hill steps and parking lot at Quincy Park would be closed for two or three days while trash is cleaned up on the hillside and vegetation cut back.

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