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Parkersburg City Council passes first readings of sanitation, sewer hikes

By Evan Bevins 5 min read

PARKERSBURG - The first readings of ordinances increasing the city's sanitation fee and the Parkersburg Utility Board's sewer rate were approved Tuesday by Parkersburg City Council.

The sewer rate hike - a total 18.47% spread over four years - passed 8-0, with Councilman Dave McCrady absent, while the $4-a-month sanitation fee succeeded by a 6-2 margin. Both ordinances should appear on final reading at council's June 10 meeting.

Discussion of the Sanitation Department will continue today at a joint meeting of council's Personnel and Public Works committees set for 5:30 p.m. in the executive conference room on the second floor of the Municipal Building.

The salaries of sanitation workers has been a topic at council meetings since last fall, when some employees of the department asked for raises while pay increases for the mayor and council members were being considered. The raises for elected officials were not adopted.

In March, council adopted the fiscal 2025-26 budget which included an across-the-board 4.2% raise for employees, excluding elected officials, and an additional adjustment to increase medium equipment operators' pay in sanitation and other departments by $2 an hour.

But some residents have continued to advocate for pay increases for sanitation as trash and recycling pickup has been delayed at times and Mayor Tom Joyce announced earlier this month that curbside recycling was being suspended, citing staffing issues and increased call-offs.

"If you would just pay a minimum starting wage of $15 an hour, you could restore our service," Parkersburg resident Sue Ellen Waybright said during Tuesday's public forum.

Another resident, Michael Westbrook, said he would support the rate hike if the money went exclusively to employee salaries.

"If it's for anything else, I'm against it," he said.

Later in the meeting, Councilman Zak Huffman asked how much of the $565,000 the increase is expected to generate would go to the pay increases.

Finance Director Eric Jiles said the revenue and expenses must be looked at as a whole and the increase can't be dedicated to one particular cost.

"That's just not how it works," he said.

Huffman said it looked like only about $100,000 would go to the wage increases. Jiles said that without the rate hike, the sanitation fund, which as an enterprise fund is intended to pay for itself, had a $160,000 deficit. He noted $200,000 was allocated to go to the capital reserve fund toward the purchase of new equipment for the department.

Councilman Andrew Borkowski said he would be voting in favor of the increase and took issue with Huffman's statement in a recent News and Sentinel article that the staffing problems in sanitation had a "simple" solution, to increase the pay.

"I think it's irresponsible for members of this body to go out to the public and tell them it's simple," Borkowski said.

He said council had three options: to increase pay and raise sanitation rates even higher, to increase pay and not dedicate money to maintaining and replacing equipment "or we can look at the elephant in the room: privatization."

Jiles said the $4 increase was proposed with the intent of maintaining the 4.2% raise and future cost-of-living adjustments for three years. With the additional increase to make the raise $2 an hour, the rates might be sufficient for the next fiscal year, he said.

"If we are able to hold off a rate increase next year, the year after that, it's certain," Jiles said.

The first reading of the rate increase ordinance passed 6-2, with Huffman and Councilwoman Wendy Tuck opposed.

The sewer rate increase passed unanimously, along with the first readings of ordinances authorizing the issuance of bonds to pay for upgrades to the wastewater treatment system and authorizing the design and construction of the project.

PUB Manager Eric Bennett said the estimated $26 million project is primarily focused on replacing two pumping stations with interceptor lines deeper underground. This would eliminate the need for the stations and the associated and ongoing operation and maintenance costs.

Some friction remained in the public forum after council's adoption in March of a rule limiting topics to items on the agenda.

Parkersburg resident Brian Hayden objected to council President Mike Reynolds asking him what agenda item he was speaking about, saying that violated Robert's Rules of Order and that he was reclaiming his time. Reynolds told him to step away from the lectern when his original four minutes were up and Hayden, after objecting again, did so.

"You do not intimidate me, sir," Hayden said.

The next speaker, Rusty Madison, thanked the Public Utility Board for fixing an issue on Swann Street then appeared to reference a social media post by Joyce. When Reynolds told him to speak about an item on the agenda or sit down, he became angry and argued with Reynolds before leaving the chambers and shouting expletives.

A police officer followed him out, but Chief Matthew Board said the man left without further incident.

In other business, council unanimously approved the final readings of ordinances authorizing the 4.2% raise for civil service and part-time employees, whose pay cannot be changed administratively; establishing a payout program for unused sick time; and setting salaries for a civilian fire inspector and housing coordinator in the Development Department.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.

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