PARKERSBURG – Despite the committee seeking a referendum on Parkersburg City Council’s approval of a sanitation service contract with Waste Management obtaining an additional 1,000 valid signatures, the city reported the petition insufficient on Friday.

“The committee is dismayed, but not surprised by the city’s latest action in this matter,” said Edward Escandon, a member of the referendum committee. “It’s a good thing for the citizens of Parkersburg that the city attorney’s opinion is not the final word on this point, far from it.”

According to a letter provided by the city from City Clerk Connie Shaffer to LaDonna Reid with the petition committee, the total valid signatures submitted by the committee exceeded the required 2,763 by Section 8.102(1) of the City Charter.

But despite the validity of the signatures, City Attorney Blaine Myers said the ordinance was not subject to referendum and therefore the petition was invalid.

“In accordance with the opinion of the city attorney as set forth in his memorandum dated March 5, 2026 … it has been determined that the ordinance is not subject to referendum under the provisions of Section 8.101 of the City Charter,” the letter read. “Accordingly, the petition and supplemental petition are hereby determined to be insufficient.”

The committee seeking a referendum has the opportunity within two days of receiving the city’s notice to request for Parkersburg City Council to review the matter at hand.

“The city attorney claims that this ordinance was not subject to referendum because it regarded the spending of money,” said Escandon. “This opinion will not stand up to judicial review which will be happening directly.”

In February, the committee submitted about 3,000 signatures but after review from the county clerk’s office, they deemed only 2,091 were valid leaving the committee 672 short of what was needed.

After the committee received explanations on why those signatures weren’t valid, they spent the next few weeks gathering more signatures by the deadline in April.

Due to the uncertainty of the referendum, Waste Management has not signed the contract as of Friday. The company is set to begin providing service on an interim basis July 1. City officials have said if the original contract does not go into effect, residents might have to sign up for their own trash service instead of it being billed through and handled by the city.

Escandon said the committee is “confident this opinion will be nullified in court and that the petition will be certified as sufficient.”

On behalf of the committee, he said they will continue to advocate for those who signed the petition and it may require further review depending on the actions taken by city personnel.

Should the petition be certified, if council did not repeal the ordinance, it would go before voters in a future election.

Amber Phipps can be reached at aphipps@newsandsentinel.com