(Meeting Updates - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

PARKERSBURG — Tuesday’s Parkersburg City Council agenda includes adjustments to the terms of two members appointed to a municipal committee two weeks prior.

At the July 8 council meeting, Mayor Tom Joyce’s appointments of Austin Young and Sydney Weber to the Downtown Facade Committee were on votes of 9-0 and 8-1, respectively. The appointments were for four-year terms to expire July 8, 2029.

Prior to the votes, Parkersburg resident Brian Hayden challenged the appointments during the public forum. He pointed to provisions in city code saying members of the committee – which reviews and approves repairs, modifications and upgrades to buildings in the downtown central business district – should serve staggered three-year terms. Joyce encouraged council members to approve the appointments, saying they had been signed off on by other city officials.

Asked about the discrepancy between the terms approved and those outlined in municipal code, City Attorney Blaine Myers said last week that the code does specify three years.

“Most of our boards and commissions have four-year terms,” he said. “The fact that this was submitted as a four-year term was simply an oversight. We’re going to propose some kind of amendment to that ordinance so that there’s no future confusion.”

The first step could come Tuesday, when Joyce proposes reappointing committee members Wayne Waldeck and Mike Williams to terms expiring Jan. 10, 2026, and Jan. 8, 2028, respectively. The agenda item also proposes “correcting” the terms of Young and Weber to expire July 8, 2028.

Myers said Friday the goal was “just to remove any discrepancy from what council confirmed and what’s actually in the ordinance.” He said other changes to the code regarding the Facade Committee may be considered in the future.

At the July 8 meeting, Councilwoman Wendy Tuck cast the dissenting vote on Weber’s nomination, questioning whether she qualified as a representative of a business that owns real property and operates within the Central Downtown Business District. Weber is director of the Wood County Resiliency Center, a facility owned and operated by the county government.

The center opened last year after being built with federal money to address emergency conditions as well as serve as a venue for meetings and conferences that cannot be handled elsewhere.

Myers said last week that he believes Joyce’s opinion is that Weber’s position overseeing the center meets the requirement of being a representative of a downtown business.

“I think a reasonable interpretation would be the duties she has are consistent with what a business person would be doing in the downtown area anyway,” he said.

Tuesday’s council meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in council chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building.

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