Vienna City Council receives info from Northstar Child Advocacy Center, Wood County Development Authority

VIENNA -- Vienna City Council heard presentations from organizations during Thursday's meeting at the Vienna City Building.

One presentation was by Executive Director Greg Collins of Northstar Child Advocacy Center. He said the center sees children from active investigations of abuse that are referred to them from Child Protective Services and law enforcement.

Collins said the center interviewed 604 children last year in its service area of Wood, Wirt, Pleasants, Ritchie and Calhoun counties, of which 475 were from Wood County. However, he said the numbers might be misleading.

"I don't want people to think we are a county full of abusers and pedophiles because of this number," he said. "We have 150 police officers, we have 34 CPS workers, we have a dozen or so prosecutors and assistant prosecutors and advocates. Calhoun County has one prosecutor and secretary, one sheriff and three state troopers," he said.

Lindsey Piersol, executive director of Wood County Development Authority, answered questions from council regarding the city forming a separate economic development committee under the city's jurisdiction rather than the WCDA. The ordinance and resolution both failed due to lack of motion.

Council unanimously reappointed three individuals to the Planning Commission, Carl Tanner, Jim Sims and Jamie Witkosky. Each person will serve a three-year term.

Council member Tom Azinger attended the meeting by phone.

Kristen Hainkel can be reached at khainkel@newsandsentinel.com