Ashley Boggs speaks during the public forum at Tuesday's Parkersburg City Council meeting. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

PARKERSBURG – Parkersburg City Council rejected, by one vote, an appeal of the city clerk’s determination that a petition for referendum on an ordinance authorizing a sanitation contract was insufficient, though the matter is likely to be decided in court.

After hearing arguments from ACLU of West Virginia Legal Director Aubrey Sparks and City Attorney Blaine Myers, council members rejected a motion to overrule the clerk’s determination, 4-5, with Councilwoman Wendy Tuck, Councilmen Zak Huffman and Chris Rexroad and council President Andrew Borkowski in favor. Council then voted 5-4, with those four opposed, to affirm the clerk’s determination.

City Clerk Connie Shaffer’s declaration of the petition as insufficient was based not on the number of signatures – from over 3,000 registered voters, eclipsing the required number by more than 300 – but on a March memo from Myers that the ordinance was not subject to the referendum provision in the city charter because it deals with the allocation of funds.

Representing the committee that gathered signatures for the referendum petition, Sparks spoke to council members by phone, arguing it was not their place to determine if the referendum power applies to the ordinance.

“That’s wholly outside the scope of what you’re being asked to do,” she said.

Determining sufficiency is a non-discretionary duty, Sparks said, limited to whether there were enough valid signatures. The question of whether the ordinance is eligible for a referendum should be answered by a court, she said, citing state case law.

“Entering into this contract is inherently not an appropriation of funds,” Sparks said, arguing appropriation is a legislative act but expending them by entering into a contract is an action of the executive branch.

Myers said the charter language is broad.

“It says ‘relating to appropriations,'” he said.

The ordinance in question determines how money is appropriated, Myers said, noting the budget council approved in March reflects money for the contract rather than salaries and benefits for a municipal sanitation department.

“The bottom line is fiscal management issues are done by you as the elected representatives of the voters,” he said. “And we cannot manage the city by having these sorts of things subject to referendum.”

Myers said he agrees the question is subject to judicial review, which Sparks has already requested on behalf of the petitioners in Wood County Circuit Court.

Tuck said she appreciated Myers’ explanation but believed the ordinance was separate from the appropriation, which took place when council approved the budget.

“The vote to say, ‘Yes, we’re going to do this’ came later,” she said.

Rexroad asked why council was being asked to decide the matter.

“We’re the legislative branch,” he said. “This seems more like a judicial branch (question).”

Myers said the charter spells out that an appeal of the petition certification goes to council.

The contract was approved on a pair of 6-3 votes in January, with Tuck, Huffman and Rexroad opposed. Borkowski was the only council member who voted to approve the contract that voted to overturn the clerk’s determination.

During the public forum, multiple people asked council to rule that the petition was sufficient.

“You can vote for sufficiency, and let’s get this over with,” said Edward Escandon, a member of the petition committee. “Let’s let the people vote.”

If council had determined the petition as sufficient, under the charter provision, they would consider a repeal of the ordinance at an upcoming meeting. If they did not vote to repeal, the question would go before voters on a future ballot.

Also during the public forum, Ashley Boggs, who listed a Parkersburg P.O. box when asked for an address, said residents were demanding transparency and accountability, including in regard to an automobile accident involving Mayor Tom Joyce.

“Was the mayor involved while operating a city-owned vehicle? What happened? Was alcohol a factor?” she said. “Were standard procedures followed?”

During the message from the executive, Joyce said he was involved in an accident in a city-owned vehicle in which he opened a door into traffic.

“Police were called. A police report was filed. I did take a drug test,” he said. “I was treated just like everybody else that’s ever dinged up a city vehicle.”

A copy of the accident report was not immediately available Tuesday night.

Joyce also outlined efforts the city undertook to address staffing issues in the Sanitation Department that officials said ultimately led to the decision to contract out trash and recycling service.

“Obviously, maybe we didn’t do enough, but to say that we did nothing … is just patently unfair, patently false,” he said.

In other business, council voted to receive and file two emergency agreements under which Waste Management has been assisting with trash pickup this month and will take over the service July 1 under a month-to-month agreement. Myers said during discussion of the appeal that the long-term contract would not be signed until the questions about the referendum were settled.

Council unanimously approved a budget revision to allocate $15,000 from opioid settlement funds to the River City Runners Kids Running Series after the resolution was referred by the Finance Committee in a meeting prior to the council session. Joyce said in that meeting that this was an eligible use of the funds as a prevention and diversion effort.

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