(Meeting Updates - Photo Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

PARKERSBURG — The Urban Renewal Authority will consider a potential property acquisition Tuesday following the regular Parkersburg City Council meeting.

The property is not identified on the URA agenda, as matters relating to the purchase, sale or lease of property are exempt under West Virginia’s open meetings law. A closed, executive session and a public hearing are included under the agenda item.

Details would become publicly available if a sale closes, Development Director Ryan Barber said.

The resolution would authorize the execution of a real estate contract to acquire property.

The other item on the URA agenda is an application by Kimberly Matheny to purchase a URA-owned lot at 1711 Lawrence St. for $500 to use “for small-scale agricultural and community-oriented purposes, including a butterfly sanctuary, clover planting and beekeeping, a vegetable garden for personal and neighborhood use, and a chicken coop for raising chickens and selling eggs,” the report on the property says. The city received the approximately 0.1-acre property by donation last year and invested $8,500 to stabilize the property.

The URA meeting will begin a few minutes after the regular council meeting concludes. It’s set for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building.

Three ordinances on final reading relate to the establishment of two new positions – a budget and grant analyst in the Finance Department and an events and marketing coordinator in the Development Department – and the reclassification of the land surveyor position. They do not, as previously reported, relate to plans to bring full-time city employees’ salaries up to $15 an hour if they are making less than that.

That will be accomplished in the budget council approved earlier this month for the upcoming 2026-27 fiscal year that starts July 1, Personnel Director Jennifer Bolian said. The link, which was discussed at the March 10 council meeting, may have been the result of that topic being discussed at the same Personnel Committee meeting where those ordinances were considered.

Bolian noted the $15 minimum applies only to employees working for the city on July 1 and not individuals hired after that.

Also on the agenda are Mayor Tom Joyce’s recommendations of Stacey Robinson and Jordan Stewart to serve on the Municipal Tree Commission. Council recently added a sixth appointed seat to the commission after removing the defunct position of city arborist.

A resolution on the agenda would set next month’s council meetings for April 7 and 21, due to the state code requirement to lay the levy rate on the third Tuesday in April.

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