Elected official raises pulled from Parkersburg City Council agenda
Mayor criticized for keeping pagan group out of parade
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PARKERSBURG -- Votes on pay raises for the Parkersburg mayor and City Council were removed from the agenda at Tuesday's council meeting, although that issue and others sparked discussion at the meeting's public forum.
City Clerk Connie Shaffer announced at the start of the meeting that ordinances increasing the mayor's salary from $90,000 to $97,000 and council members' pay from $6,000 to $9,000 would not be voted on. The council raise ordinance would also have set aside $12,500 for future pay raises for other employees.
A resolution allocating $20,171 to cover the proposed raises for the second half of this fiscal year was also removed from the agenda.
"So it takes a minimum of three sponsors to put something on (the) agenda," Council President Mike Reynolds said. "Two of those sponsors pulled their sponsorship, so we weren't really able to talk about it or vote on it."
Reynolds sponsored the ordinances and resolution, along with Councilwoman Jesse Cottrille and Councilman Bob Mercer.
Some speakers at the public forum still voiced their opposition to the proposal, while workers in the Sanitation Department continued their requests for pay increases.
Two speakers criticized the decision by Mayor Tom Joyce to prevent the Appalachian Pagan Ministry from participating in Saturday's Parkersburg Christmas Parade.
Earlier in the day, the Freedom From Religion Foundation announced it had sent a complaint letter to the city over the parade issue.
Joyce said after Tuesday's meeting that he made the decision because the parade is largely an event focused on children.
"It's really on its face a bunch of kids up and down Market Street getting free candy, waiting on Santa Claus...," he said. "So I felt that was not an appropriate place for that particular pagan and heathen church to be in our Christmas parade."
The foundation said Tuesday it sent a letter to Joyce that included an open records request seeking the city's communications regarding the parade and the denial of the Appalachian Pagan Ministry's participation.
"Singling out a religious denomination by denying them an opportunity to participate in a city-sponsored Christmas Parade, despite allowing similarly situated religious groups to participate, amounts to a clear violation of the First Amendment," Chris Line, the organization's legal counsel, wrote in the letter.
While Christmas derives its name from the birth of Jesus Christ, the release notes many traditions associated with the holiday, including its timing, are derived from pagan celebrations linked to Norse and Roman traditions.
"The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion and prohibits government favoritism toward any particular faith or belief system," Annie Laurie Gaylor, FFRF co-president, said in the release. "If the government is going to put on an event like this, there has to be 'room at the inn' for all comers."
The foundation filed suit in 2018 on behalf of two residents who objected to the recitation of the Lord's prayer at the start of or just before council meetings. In 2022, a federal judge issued an injunction prohibiting council from saying the prayer at its meetings and awarded the plaintiffs nearly $60,000 in attorneys' fees and costs.
Other speakers took issue with Parkersburg's score in the recent Municipal Equality Index rates cities based on policies related to the LGBTQ+ population. Parkersburg had the lowest score among seven cities surveyed in West Virginia. Joyce said in response that he felt groups like the Human Rights Campaign, which issues the index, aim to stir controversy and the city should focus on providing services for all citizens.