(Graphic Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection - Public Meeting- Council Meeting)

PARKERSBURG – Next week promises to be a busy one for Parkersburg City Council.

Its first regular meeting of March, slated for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, will be surrounded by the annual hearings on the proposed municipal budget submitted Feb. 24 by Mayor Tom Joyce.

Council will convene as the Committee of the Whole for the first hearing at 6:30 p.m. Monday in council chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building. During the hearings, Joyce and department heads outline their budget requests and field questions from members of council.

It will be preceded at 6 p.m. by a Finance Committee meeting in the Meeks conference room adjacent to council chambers. The sole item on the agenda is a budget revision to provide an additional $20,000 from the opioid settlement fund line item to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Parkersburg for intervention programming and $15,000 to First Choice Services to provide crisis intervention training to local agencies.

The hearings continue at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday before the regular council meeting. The agenda for that session is expected to be released today, but it will include an opportunity for the public to offer their thoughts on the spending plan with a designated public hearing.

It will also be the first council meeting since members voted 7-1 on Feb. 24 to allow any topic to be addressed in the public forum, not just items on the agenda.

The third and final hearing is set for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Traditionally, council members wait until the last hearing to offer amendments to the budget.

The budget proposes a 4.2% cost-of-living adjustment for all employees, excluding elected officials, as well as additional funds to raise the pay of 14 workers so that no full-time city employees make less than $15 an hour.

Among the capital expenditures in the budget is $298,000 for four new police cruisers, equipment for which will include dash cameras.

The budget also reflects the city’s move to contracted sanitation service after contracts were approved with Waste Management for trash pickup and Rumpke for a subscription-based curbside recycling program. However, signatures for a citizen-led petition seeking to repeal the ordinance approving the Waste Management contract are being reviewed by the Wood County clerk’s office.

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