From left, Councilmen Harry Deitzler and Jim Leach listen as Councilman Tony Morrison asks Wood County Development Authority Executive Director Lindsey Piersol a question about property development within Vienna on Thursday night. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

VIENNA — Vienna City Council met Thursday evening for its regularly scheduled meeting to give an update on the city’s budget, to discuss the 12th Street Kayak Launch and to hear a presentation from Wood County Development Authority.

Finance Director Amy Roberts gave a brief update on a draft of Vienna’s budget. According to Roberts, the first version of the budget is currently missing insurance numbers and property tax numbers.

“I want you to know that in this budget…includes longevity only, no other pay raises for employees other than the 35 cents per hour longevity,” said Roberts. “There’s a capital outlay paperwork that is in there that lays out the department requests…tomorrow, I will put in all of the departments’ requests into the DropBox so that you can review those.”

Councilman Henry Sasyn held concerns with the budgetary process.

“We’re 58 days into this new administration and putting a budget together; where are our goals and objectives for 2025-2026?” said Sasyn. “We’re good at spending money, we need to start documenting what we’re going to do and how we’re going to have a review for a budget next week.”

Ethel Harris suggests that the City of Vienna clean up the vacant buildings in Vienna at Thursday evening’s Vienna City Council meeting. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

Mayor Chad Emrick addressed Sasyn’s concerns with the budget by citing his 15 years of experience in contract and budget management for the government in various roles, stating he had not seen a government agency set goals for finance in that format.

“I have never seen, in a government agency, goals and objectives in that way set. The question that I brought up was, whose are the goals and objects that we are enforcing? Once we write those and put pen to paper, then that becomes the standard,” said Emrick. “Each department head is responsible for setting what they want to achieve in the next fiscal year, that’s why they submit their budgets and they have that information available to them during the budget process.”

Executive Director of the Wood County Development Authority Lindsey Piersol gave a presentation on the partnership the agency has with Vienna. According to Piersol, the development authority has been awarded $700,000 through an industrial access grant to pay for a new road that will connect 12th Street between Lowe’s and Sam’s Club. Additionally, the development authority was awarded a $1.25 million grant to replace 468 windows and 32 doors at the former Ohio Valley University campus.

Regarding the West Virginia University Parkersburg Innovation and Technology Center (WVUP ICT) being developed on the campus, the development authority has partnered closely with WVUP to focus on business growth within Vienna.

“We’re working on a business incubator…there will be space for 25 businesses to rent space, and the hope for that is that they will work with students and or hire WVUP students to work there,” said Piersol.

Finance Director Amy Roberts reports on the first draft of the Vienna City Budget on Thursday evening. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

Craig Metz and Mike Davis gave a presentation on the Kayak Launch project. Currently, the site is selected for 12th Street in Vienna behind Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen. Metz and Davis presented the final designs for the kayak launch.

According to Davis, they are looking at installing an access dam which will allow for future maintenance and in the event of flooding, the ramp will be removable. The current kayak launch is also expected to be ADA compliant so there will be the ability for individuals to transfer from mobility aids into a kayak. The estimated cost is $350,000 with the expected city contribution at $65,980. Metz said a formal proposal will take place during the next Vienna City Council meeting to move forward with the project.

The next Vienna City Council meeting will take place on March 13 at 6 p.m.

Gwen Sour can be reached at gsour@newsandsentinel.com

From left, Mike Davis and Craig Metz gave a presentation on the 12th Street Kayak Launch during Thursday evening’s meeting. (Photo by Gwen Sour)