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PARKERSBURG – People seeking a referendum on Parkersburg City Council’s recent ordinance approving a sanitation contract with Waste Management have been granted an additional 15 days to collect the needed petition signatures.

The city did not object to the extension but said in a filing it reserves its right to determine whether the ordinance in question is subject to the referendum provision of the municipal charter.

According to filings provided by the city, Parkersburg resident LaDonna Reid filed a complaint seeking an extension of the petition deadline Tuesday in Wood County Circuit Court.

Under the city charter, residents have 30 days from an ordinance’s adoption to file referendum petitions, which require the signatures of 15% of the total number of registered voters in the last regular election. If the number of valid signatures – 2,763, according to the city’s response to Reid’s filing – is obtained and submitted by the deadline, council would have to reconsider the ordinance. If it was not repealed, it would go to the ballot for a vote by the public.

The 30-day deadline for the contract ordinance was Thursday, but Reid’s filing sought an extension of 10 to 15 days, citing recent snow and icy conditions that led West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey to declare a state of emergency.

“These conditions substantially and materially interfered with Petitioners’ ability to circulate the referendum petition in a safe, lawful, and effective manner,” the filing says.

The city’s response, filed Wednesday by City Attorney Blaine Myers, says the charter does not provide for time extensions for the reasons set forth in the petitioners’ filing. However, “in the interests of judicial economy, fairness and compromise, the City of Parkersburg proposes that the Committee be afforded an additional 15 day extension to February 27, 2026, at 4:30 p.m. with not less (than) 2,763 signatures of registered voters of the City of Parkersburg … and that no extension beyond said date for the filing of an amended petition be permitted.”

Wood County Circuit Court Judge J.D. Beane issued an order Thursday granting the committee a 15-day extension. It adds that an amended petition may be filed within 10 days of the original “only if the petition filed pursuant to the above timeline meets the required number of signatures but is defective for another reason.”

The charter does not specifically list other reasons a petition could be deemed deficient. Myers said his understanding from the order is an amended petition would be permitted if the initial filing had the required number of signatures but some of those were later found to be invalid.

Reid said the committee plans to ask Beane to restore the right to amend the petition if it’s determined there is not a sufficient number of signatures.

The city’s response said it did not waive its right to determine that the ordinance is not subject to referendum under the charter. Myers declined to elaborate on that Thursday; however, the charter says the referendum power “shall not extend to the budget or capital program or any emergency ordinance or ordinance relating to appropriation of money, levy of taxes or salaries of City officers or employees.”

The petition committee is coordinating its efforts to gather signatures through a Facebook page, Save Pkb Sanitation.

The Waste Management contract is one of two Parkersburg officials are attempting to enact to replace the city’s longtime sanitation service.

Curbside recycling has been suspended since May, with Mayor Tom Joyce citing staffing issues and excessive call-offs. The final reading of a contract with Rumpke of Ohio to provide a subscription-based recycling service is set for the council’s Feb. 24 meeting.

Joyce has said there are five employees remaining in the Sanitation Department, which was budgeted for more than two dozen. Employees from other city departments and temporary workers from an employment agency and the Parkersburg Correctional Center have been performing the duties of the department.

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