PARKERSBURG — A resolution on the agenda for Tuesday’s Parkersburg City Council meeting would increase the number of sponsors required to get an item on the agenda for discussion purposes only.

The meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building. It will be followed by council members meeting as the Urban Renewal Authority.

Three sponsors would remain the threshold for ordinances and resolutions, but five of the nine council members would have to sign off on placing topics on the agenda for discussion purposes. The resolution for the change is sponsored by six members, including council President Mike Reynolds.

“City Council has been divided 6/3 on a lot of issues lately,” Reynolds said. “Requiring (five) sponsors on communication items … would bring issues more towards the middle.

“Bringing items more towards the middle would mean the items would have more support and a much better chance of passage if council majority feels the idea is good for Parkersburg and eliminates the items that are bad for Parkersburg,” he said.

Ordinances and resolutions that are not discussion-only items would still require three sponsors.

Two items have been placed on the agenda for discussion purposes only since council voted 6-3 in March to limit comments in the public forum to agenda items.

The first, on May 27, dealt with sanitation and recycling service in the Avery Street and Julia-Ann Square Historic Districts, amid a suspension of recycling services and complaints about interruptions in trash pickup. It said the request was made by residents to Councilman Zak Huffman, whose district includes those areas, but did not list any sponsors. The second, in June, was for a presentation by Development Director Ryan Barber about land reuse agencies and was sponsored by six members.

Reynolds said there had been attempts by some council members to place items on the agenda that didn’t make sense. Asked for an example, he said there were initially three sponsors to place a discussion item on Tuesday’s agenda about a request for proposals the city recently issued for potential sanitation and recycling services.

A joint council committee voted in May to seek proposals from private companies on taking over those services from the city. City officials said that does not mean sanitation will be privatized, and any such contract would have to be voted on and approved by council.

The request was officially released on Aug. 11, and proposals are due by 4 p.m. Sept. 24. Reynolds said it would be premature to discuss it without having any proposals, and one member pulled his sponsorship.

Councilwoman Wendy Tuck said Friday she believes that issue and another proposed discussion item were the reason the resolution increasing the number of sponsors for such items was initiated.

“If you have three sponsors, you can put forth any resolution or ordinance. It’s the discussion that’s been blocked,” Tuck said. “Unless I get five people to agree to talk about stormwater (or another subject), it’s not going to happen.”

The only other item on Tuesday’s agenda is Mayor Tom Joyce’s appointment of John Reed and Luke Peters as alternate members of the Building Code Appeals Board.

The Urban Renewal Authority includes two offers by churches to purchase property and a possible eminent domain acquisition.

The Cross Church is offering $2,000 to buy a vacant lot at 416 12th St., while Bethany Church seeks to buy a lot at 906 Lynn St. for $150. The authority voted in June to table consideration of the Bethany offer until documentation of approval of the offer by church members and other information could be provided

Property at 315 Franklin St. was referred to the authority by the Building Enforcement Agency for eminent domain acquisition after communications with the owner, who lives outside the area and originally submitted a plan to correct code violations by the end of August 2024. The estimated fair market value of the property is $76,000.