Thank you, Frank.

You're welcome, sir.

We will now bring this meeting to order.

Um first item on the agenda is a reading and approval of the minutes, July 7th, 2026 regular council meeting.

May have a motion to approve the minutes as presented.

I have a second.

Second.

Thank you.

Any questions from council?

Any questions or comments on the minutes?

Very well.

All those in favor of approval say aye.

Aye.

There's anyone opposed, say nay.

Minutes are approved.

Thank you, Council.

Next, we'll move on to public comments.

We've got several, a few more than we normally have.

So I'll remind you to keep it to three minutes.

Him or I will let you know to try to wrap it up.

If you are listening by phone or computer and you would like to be recognized after our last speaker here, if you're calling by phone, just dial star three to raise your hand.

If you're connected by computer, you can click the hand icon on your participants panel, and like I said, we will recognize you or let you speak after the six or seven speakers that we have here today.

With that, first is Mary West.

Good evening, everyone.

Good evening, I'm back again.

Oh yeah.

I'm gonna ask you guys, will you please enforce your lease laws on all these animals in this city?

Now I got a broke toe because I got a dog turned out on me, and then the owner come out barking and huffing worse than the dog, cussing me and thing.

So you all need to enforce this law, and then also clean out our atmosphere.

All you smell is doggy woggy poop all over Beckley now, no matter where you go.

If you gonna own a pet, clean up behind your pet.

But that let me know if you don't clean behind your pet, you don't clean behind your back.

So you need to.

And it's needs this stuff needs to stop because there is laws for everything.

Like I'm told, there's laws for music.

There's laws for these balking dogs and things trying to bite people.

And the two-legged dogs are even worse than the four-legged ones.

So I'm tired of all this, and I'm too old to go to jail, but I will go.

Why somebody else go to hell?

You all enjoy your lives, but get something done here in Beckley, like it's supposed to be, please.

Okay, thank you, Mary.

Thank you, Mary.

Tom Mosley.

Thank you.

Are you all this evening?

Yeah, uh just a couple of things real quick.

For the record, I want you to know I'm opposed to this Minnesota Avenue ordinance, and I would ask you all to really consider the ramifications of that as you vote on it this evening.

Uh secondly, uh, again with speeding, uh, I want to thank our officers.

They have been phenomenal down there to curtail some of it.

It has been great, but we still have a problem.

And unfortunately seems to be its worst late Sunday evening.

But again, if you all can put your hands together and come up with something for that, it would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Tom.

Thank you.

Douglas Terry.

Well, my name is uh Douglas Terry, and um I'm an English professor at tech.

And uh I I was uh Susan uh Miller asked me to come in and talk to you.

Uh and I have a request for um uh the the council members.

Um what we're uh at tech we're going to be uh starting a piloting and honors class and it's an honors English class, and the purpose of it is twofold.

The first is uh it's for um for freshmen or incoming students.

The uh the the first purpose is to you know like get them up to snuff with college writing.

Uh but then also the second purpose is to kind of introduce them to Beckley and introduce them to the surrounding area.

Um so and really what I want the course to be is kind of a bridge between tech students and the wider community.

Uh the writing assignments will encourage students to reflect on the relationships with to look to local communities to explore research issues that are relevant to Beckley, and also to consider how higher education contributes to the region.

And so the reason I'm here is that I would like to have in the class um uh class sessions, just in the regular classroom, uh, of question and answer sessions um with uh Beckley leaders.

And um I would um I would like to extend an invitation to uh uh anybody on the uh common council who would like to come and participate in a question and answer session with the students.

The class is small, it'll be like 20 students.

Um it'll just be for our best and brightest.

And um and uh uh they'll be kind of coming up with questions ahead of time.

We'll be working together.

And then the way I would envision it is that uh someone would come and and they would ask uh questions about like what your role is in the in the government, uh maybe your um history, your connections to the region, um things like that that will help them kind of like better understand the community and to better understand the city government and just understand uh their personal relationship as college students to the area.

And so if anybody would like to to to volunteer to or to uh participate in that, um I guess please come and talk to me.

Uh my name is uh Douglas Terry, and um my telephone number is 681 2201347, and my email address 30 seconds is uh D Terry5 at mail M-A-I-L dot W V U.edu.

And uh I'll be sticking around if you want to talk about it afterwards.

I was gonna say if you want to stick around afterwards.

I I think I'm already booked for like a view in the looking forward to it.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh next is Thomas Parham.

Wait, I hope you can hear me.

Uh the water company fixed a pipe in the winter and left a hole in my in the uh in my driveway and also left a hole in the highway.

Who is responsible for filling that hole?

And seems, you know, since the winter.

But I I'd like to answer to some of my questions.

I can't.

Who should require both holding?

Is it the water company?

Somebody all know.

And also I have two fellows that stay next door to me.

I think that number is like 509 Hunter Street.

And uh anyway, I thought this is another question.

Everyone should have water and electricity at a home if they stand in the ship.

Well, these fellas don't.

And they haven't.

The city came and cleaned up for them in 2025.

They had the big Right.

You understand, you remember.

And it needs it again.

They got two dogs and fuel all over the place like they had the last time y'all came and cleaned up for them.

And like I say it, if people live in a home, it's you that have water and electricity, I think.

Okay, and my next one is June the 26th.

The Connolly Scott reunion met at uh New River Park in shelter number one.

When we entered the shelter, the latest bathroom needed your attention.

Somebody's attention to clean it.

And we made a deposit on that place.

So I feel like you know, you owe us some money back.

Um apology of some for the place being like it was, because you know, this is Backley, and we are better than that.

Um and I like I said, I have people from all over the country kind of and find the place like that.

It was really embarrassing.

Okay, I think that's about it.

I would like to time the response for my three question.

Do I get them tonight on the 509 Hunter Street is continuously with code enforcement?

I'm sorry.

509 Hunter Street, that has the side of the code enforcement.

So we'll just get back in touch with them and see when they look back over there.

Okay, absolutely.

And what about the whole thing?

I'll call the water company.

And they still haven't been there, so I can call them back.

So they're a response.

Yes.

Thank you.

That answers that one.

And what's the business basket?

She's gonna check on the bathroom there's shelter.

The first one.

She said, when was it?

It was June the 26th.

Yes, it stopped it.

Okay.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Joyce Parham.

Like you say, give it all the place to try heavily calling.

And I had gotten in touch with the cold enforcement.

And I was told that there is a lien on that property next door to us that he's talking about.

And also, you know, there was a rat.

We saw a rat go up the tree.

And had some little ones under our building that we have next door where they had you know uh yes, and also um let me see.

And behind us, uh we found out that Oscar Enterprises, they own that place, and I had to pay $50 to have that property have the grass cut.

Now I came from Bluefield, and when I sold my house over there, and the grass was up, I was sent a letter that they will charge me $39 per day to have that grass cut.

And I mean, we have brown holes.

Uh we have raccoons.

I mean, and they're chasing each other.

And honestly, it's not funny when it's your you know when you have to put up with something.

I think it's a shame.

And um, and also next door, I found out that there is a lean on that property.

It is not supposed to be on you by, but it is so I'm hoping that someone will look into that.

I've talked, I've talked to business police here, and I've also talked to Genie.

Yes, and so they're waiting on, I guess, for the judge to make a decision on what they're going to do.

So thank you for your time.

Thank you.

And we do not have anybody online.

Okay.

All right.

Next, we'll move on to brief comments from city manager and council members.

Again, we'll try to keep it at three minutes as well.

Janine, would you like to start?

Okay, thank you, Mayor.

Um, thanks to Miss Regina Pennell for coming to council and Deacon Parham and Mrs.

Joyce Parham.

Yeah, she wanted to get her name.

Oh, what's her name on the Regina?

I'm so sorry.

My bad.

Regina Pennell.

I'm so sorry if you want to come up and speak.

We'll give you three minutes.

Yeah, what I used to call it.

I have calling commission about the dogs running in my yard, pooping on my shit.

I'm 87 years old.

I can't get out there and try to clean that stuff.

They run all the time.

And I will punk somebody, they told me they was gonna put a thing out there to catch them.

That's been two years ago.

They ain't putting nothing out there to get.

And the dog is still running all through my car.

What's what's the street's address?

Please.

F Street.

F.

Oh, yeah.

Another thing I'm asking.

Well, I can't tell you something about these cars the way they come down past my home.

They fly, and then the winter time is a big hole.

We ought to run all down in my yard from out in the middle of the road, get ice.

I'm looking for somebody hitting and come straight through my house.

So I would appreciate it if somebody would do something.

And that's all I had to say.

And I thank y'all for my time.

Thank you.

It's very good to see you all here tonight.

Don't let this be your last time.

Please come back.

Okay.

Please do.

Um I just wanted to thank Officer Swister.

Thank you for the fire fireworks complaints that we had.

And um thank you for responding.

And talking to the juveniles.

Seemed like they were very cordial with you.

So again, I just want to say thank you.

And Mrs.

Sherry Hunter, the councilwoman at large.

You all need to go and look at your paper for Saturday, July the 11th, 2026.

She was featured in there as the trash lady.

And it says the term trash lady isn't typically considered a term of endearment.

But then again, Sherry Hunter isn't typical.

Until her recent retirement, Hunter worked for nearly 25 years as the director of education for the Raleigh County Solid Waste Authority, where she was tasked with increasing awareness of the county's landfill and growing its recycling program.

She said, um, I remember being in a grocery store one day, and a child said, Mom, that's the trash lady.

Hunter said with a laugh.

The mother was so embarrassed, but the child explained that's the trash lady who takes us around and shows us all the trash.

Most people wouldn't want to be called that, she continued, but I really loved it because it meant that little girl had remembered what she learned, and that's what matters.

So I want to give that to Sherry.

I had that laminated, and just congratulations again.

Thank you so much on your return.

Thank you.

And thanks.

That's all I have.

Oh, and thanks to all the department heads.

Thank you all for what you do every day.

Thank you, Janine.

Kip uh just want to congratulate the trash lady for retirement.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

But good to see Coach Barham out here.

Glad to see you, coach.

Um, I'd like to thank uh all the department heads.

Mike Bowling, thank you for helping me on Cloud Street.

Appreciate it.

Leslie, Black Knights looking good.

Ryan I got off it let this past weekend.

Got beat, but we still had a good time.

Um just thanks to everybody for all your hard work.

Thank you.

Very good.

Frank.

Well, good evening, everybody.

I'd like to thank the two police officers.

I know I may be jumping the gun because I had talked to the chief, had talked to the mayor and uh Mr.

Phillip uh about recognizing the two police officers that didn't think about jumping in that water, saving those two people that was trapped in their car.

Not that is determination that it's they love what they're doing, and don't get me wrong, we got other people out there too, department heads everywhere, all the employees, but these two doing the reason why I'm singing out because they was they were shown in the newspaper doing it and on the news, and I want to thank y'all for thank them too, and I think something else is coming better for them also.

Um we we talk about the the dog, the trash, that's everywhere in the city of Beckley.

And trust me, we are trying to work on these things, and I appreciate everyone coming and giving their suggestions because we just got some suggestions just a few minutes ago.

And this is what's going to keep Beckley going.

And when we work together, you know, we're not going to be able to change it overnight.

But as long as we continue to work together, we're going to make things happen.

And all the department heads, I love you.

Because every time I need something, I call you number one.

You return my call.

And that's that's gratitude.

And I appreciate that.

And everybody up here, I love everybody up here too.

Thank you, Frank.

Nancy.

Um, I would like to thank the people that came forward tonight with their problems.

Um, we will be looking into that, so thank you for coming.

Uh hopefully next time you come, it'll be that it's been cured, but anyway, keep coming with problems so that we can look into it for you.

Uh department heads, thank you as always.

You do do a great job.

I know the city of Beckley's alive in the morning when I hear the fire department going down the road at seven.

I don't know who it is at seven, but every morning at seven, they're going down the road.

Thank you.

You sleep till seven.

Again, I thank all of the department heads, and I will tell everyone who comes to us and makes suggestions about things that are needed.

They're usually two or three steps ahead of us.

Um really, they really are.

We have a great group of people.

I have a couple of things.

Um August 1st, 2 30 to 5 is national night out.

The mayor and I went last year to Wildwood Apartments.

It was nice.

We had fun.

You were there, trust me.

Do you remember?

Autumn lane.

One autumn lane.

150 autumn lane.

That was a good time.

And that is a sort of national occasion, as Michelle, the social worker there has explained to me.

We got to meet some of the residents there.

They had activities.

It was nice.

August 2nd from 2 to 4 at Beckley Art Center.

You can come visit and see the work of our own say earhart.

Say is nationally recognized.

His latest job was on the set of Stranger Things on Netflix.

He was the art director.

He has also done many other uh series like The Walking Dead, which I don't like zombies, so I've never watched it, but he was an art director, and he was telling me if you've seen the movie Flight with uh Denzel Washington.

Say actually constructed that jet out of styrofoam.

He's that good at what he does.

So even if you don't get to see Say, check out Beckley Art Center.

It's amazing what we have in our small town.

Um Jack's Cafe, Robbie, how close are we?

That close.

Um did the health department paper work today.

I understand that the line dancing class that took place for the first time was packed.

That's a great thing.

Yeah, both classes was had over two dozen people.

Great.

Thank you for having a enough faith in Beckley to put a business up town.

We appreciate it.

And the arcades and what I get was a good hit that night too.

So awesome.

And that's all I have.

Okay, thank you.

Uh just like Kev said, Coach, good to see you.

Um, here I I hate that you're here on those terms.

Uh it's always frustrating to have neighbors, you know.

I I always say it all the time, and trust me, I get it on both sides.

I get people that complain of code enforcement ticketed to them, and then I also hear on the other side of people where the lake should be ticketed.

But uh we have been talking with code enforcement about trying to give them more teeth and things like that.

So we are, like Frank said, we are working on that.

Uh, but I think it's always you you owe it to your neighbors to have your house look in order, and I'm sure there's nothing more frustrating.

I we used to have a neighbor when we lived off Harper Road, that the street was beautiful, every house was kept up except for the one right next to us, and it was it was very frustrating.

But anyway, I appreciate you you all come up here and speaking about that.

Uh the other thing I was gonna talk about, I know we got a lot of events going on.

Summers already half over, maybe more than half over.

Uh Trish, do you want to talk about some of the events coming up?

I know the Appalachian Festival is coming up, and the Beckley Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce is putting on the Appalachian Craft Fair.

The Art and Craft Fair is 78th.

The first part of that first event was after the uh hometown hall of name on her featuring the Holly General, and it'll be on off the first call.

Very good.

Um, just talking with the Beckley Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce.

I know Natalie spoke with Michelle Rodlini, who I I still think her team is one of the hardest working in our area.

Uh they seem to be at every event.

Uh, but we got Beckley.

I heard a lady said something to me today that there's not enough things going on, and I said, Do you ever check Beckley.

Go in there and look at it.

So she did right there on her phone, and she was like, Well, I had no idea.

So the more we can get that out there, and it's one of the things that Michelle Rodalini uh mentioned is is just promoting that because it's not just city events, it's things that the chambers putting on, uh, but it's just an easy way to go to to see what's going on.

Uh I want to give a shout out to Joe Guffey, who if if you know him as well as we as we do, yeah.

He's if there's an event going on at Beckley Raleigh County, he's there.

Uh he helps put that site together or helps add content to that.

Am I right, Trish, to say that?

Uh and that's a huge, huge uh uh load off us, you know, for him to be able to do that in front of Beckley Raleigh County Chamber of Commerce.

And the other thing is if you have any events or if you know of some events and it's not on that, you know, let Trish know, let the Beckley Chamber of Commerce know, and we will get your event on that site.

There you go.

She knows more than I do.

Go ahead, Sherry.

Thank you all for coming.

I appreciate it.

You all have a lot of stuff going on.

We appreciate the issues brought to us, and we will work to remedy those.

And I'm proud to say that my fellow council man at large, Cody Reedy is a golden bear.

He is a golden bear graduate.

Yes, he is.

And so we'd love the opportunity to be able to help with that.

Um Leslie and your team, congratulations, reader's choice awards.

All right.

How wonderful is that.

Would you like to embellish upon how many statistics you got some good stuff to say?

Leslie, we need a microphone so people online cannot hear, and they've been complaining about the colour.

Oh, they can't hear.

Thank you.

Actually, Mr.

Gerald congratulated me on it, and that was the last I saw of it.

I haven't got to read the paper.

We have been doubling our attendance almost every day at the mines.

Um the rain helps quite a bit because people see us as an indoor attraction, so we are incredibly busy.

And like Kip said, Black Knight.

So we're firing and we're a little short-handed, so I haven't been at my desk a whole lot, but we have gotten that accolade.

Um there's um another nationally known podcast that just wrote me yesterday and ask that we do an out.

I think it's a 45-minute podcast because they have heard about all that we do and the things that we're doing.

So we're just busy, and thank you all very much.

This weekend, um, Beck's, which is something that Shane Pierce has been doing for years, we'll have the car show.

And Jose is gonna open an art show uptown on Friday night.

And then Sunday, two things are going on.

We kind of double book the exhibit at the youth museum.

We have uh West Virginia History Alive with the Humanities Council, Ruby Bradley, she was the most decorated woman uh veteran from World War II, she was from Spencer.

It will be at the youth museum at two o'clock, and then the Rusty Mechanicals will be doing uh Midsummer's Night Stream.

So, like you said, Mayor, when people say there's nothing going on in Beckley, um, there are two other sites, Beckley Events, our own very own website does a very, very good job of making sure that a lot of city events anything, and then visit Southern West Virginia.

All you have to do is, and they'll they'll peruse other things as well, and then they'll put it on their site as well.

And then they have um a very strong software that will tell you how many hits they had, which is quite interesting.

So we know that one of the reels that they did at Christmas for us did uh 485,000 views.

So yeah, there's a lot going on.

Very good.

Thank you.

I want to thank the department heads for all you do.

Thank you so much, Susan.

Thank you.

You're the glue that holds everything together.

We appreciate everything.

Um I'd like to echo what Councilman Williams said for us to work together.

We have a we have a mission to accomplish.

We have goals and we have aspirations uh to make Beckley cleaner, greener, more beautiful.

Our Raleigh County Make It Shine mission statement is to improve the parents' pride and marketability of Southern West Virginia.

And uh we've been doing that, Jill, right, since 2003.

Um so thank you.

And Councilwoman Bullock, thank you for recognizing me.

You know, it's been an honor.

Um, you know, we only have one Mother Earth, and we have to treat her accordingly.

And so what's been my honor to uh instill that to children to you know to take care of um when you learn to safeguard the environment at an early age, it cultivates a lifelong appreciation of your surroundings.

And so we're all in this together.

So thank you very much.

Thank you.

Cody to um just to go off everybody else, basically um I appreciate the department heads on helping situations.

Um like you said, we get issues brought up to us all the time.

It's not that we're not working on them.

It's not that the department heads aren't working on them.

Um, like someone said, most of the time I'll get a phone call or a message about an issue we're having, I'll reach out to uh Mr.

Bowling, Chief Bailey or or Mr.

Graham, and by the time I get a hold of them, they've already got a solution and they're working on it.

So we're working, we're trying to do the best we can for the city.

I think everybody can agree with that, and uh I just thank y'all for everything y'all do.

Thank you, Mr.

Gerald.

I just want to thank everybody for coming in tonight, uh, especially during the storm.

Uh I'd like to thank my department heads for all you do uh in addition to the two individual policemen that uh assisted the people out of the uh flooded area of Urd Avenue.

We also have three officers that needs attention uh pertaining to something uh five other officers that uh we're gonna bring up at a council meeting for what they've done.

So uh so I just want to thank my department has I I want to congratulate uh the fire department on their first uh entry level uh firefighter recruitment process and I think it was a great success, and if you want to uh impound on that, Chief, I certainly appreciate it.

Now we're gone.

Thank you, Mr.

Gerald.

I appreciate that.

Uh I want to start by saying that public safety recruitment is difficult, and I'm sure Chief Bailey would agree with that.

Um it's a different world, and we have to keep putting ourselves in front of people, building long-term relationships and showing them the value of a career serving the citizens of the city.

When applications opened for this test, we held two well-attended open houses.

They gave people a chance to visit our stations, meet our personnel, and ask questions about the job.

They also allowed potential applicants to see firsthand our culture, our higher standards, and our commitment to training.

It gave us an opportunity to highlight the sense of purpose and belonging that comes with the fire service qualities that we believe are important to today's candidates.

Majority of those who attended those open house events went on to submit applications.

In addition, we carried out a planned social media campaign, used traditional media and relied on our many community partners to help get the word out.

For the first time, we used the QR code to make the application materials easier to access.

It also allowed us to collect geographic information about where we were reaching people.

We now have enough usable data to better target our efforts and make improvements before the next recruitment cycle.

In the end, we received 74 completed applications.

That is our largest applicant pool in recent years and a 48% increase over our previous recruitment cycle.

More importantly, we believe we have a strong group of candidates moving into the testing process.

It was truly a team effort.

The fire department staff put a great deal of work into organizing the campaign, and our firefighters worked hard to support the open houses, outreach events, and other recruitment activities.

The firemen, civil service commissioners, recorder treasurer, city attorney, and human resources were also instrumental in helping us work through several issues that came up along the way.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the response.

We're going to take what we learned, apply it, and continue to improve.

Thanks.

Anything else, Mr.

Gerald?

No, that's okay.

Thank you.

Next item on the agenda is the enactment of ordinances.

First reading of ordinance authorizing City of Beckley to convey Minnesota Avenue to West Virginia Department of Transportation, Division of Highways.

I will now turn it over to Mr.

Fowell.

Thank you, Mayor.

Um VU Tech and the Department of Transportation, uh, Western Department of Transportation have been working on a project to uh to improve the campus there at W Tech, which is obviously a close neighbor of ours.

And one of the things that they have asked is that the City of Beckley convey Minnesota Avenue, which intersects their campus and is completely surrounded by their campus.

They've asked that it be transferred to the West Virginia Department of Transportation Division of Highways.

And if council agrees to do that, uh it will become part of the uh Department of Highways Network.

Uh it will be uh taken care of by the Department of Highways, whether that's improving the road or uh cleaning snow, things of that nature.

So tonight is the first reading of this.

Now it is important to point out that the project that they are anticipating doing does not include making South Kanawh Street one way.

Uh South Canal Street will remain, and we've been assured and received received in writing that South Kanawha Street is not going to be turned into a uh a one-way street.

It will continue to be uh a two-way street as it has always been.

Um Minnesota Avenue, if this is approved tonight is first reading, it will then belong to the state of West Virginia and to their Department of Transportation, their division of highways.

Um so I'm gonna read this by title tonight.

We will have a public hearing.

The public's invited to come and speak if they choose to.

Um that will be scheduled at the next council meeting, and then we'll have second reading at that time.

So this ordinance is titled Ordinance Authorizing City of Backley to transfer Minnesota Avenue to the West Virginia Department of Transportation, Division of Highways.

Mayor.

So with that, may I have a motion to approve the ordinance authorizing the city of Beckley to convey Minnesota Avenue to West Virginia Department of Transportation, Division of Highways?

So move.

Second.

Second.

Council, any questions uh for Mr.

Fowl on this.

So that's just how long how long?

Oh, go ahead.

Go ahead.

I was just wondering how long do you think that would take?

Do you have any idea how long that what would you be transferred over to the dates on the project?

You talk about on canal or Minnesota.

So they are currently working on new drawings for that since uh we negotiated or or had meetings concerning the one-way street uh South Kanoa going one way, and we got them to agree to uh to make it bi-directional.

So uh they have guaranteed us in writing that that will be mean by directional and with them getting Minnesota they can proceed with their drawings and complete their project.

And and that was one of the stipulations that they for them to continue with their drawings, uh engineering drawings and stuff, that they would have to have Minnesota Avenue because in the original drawings, I think they're going to extend Minnesota Avenue to Beaver to Beaver Avenue in order for their campus and their uh dorm rooms and those types of things.

To my knowledge, there's only one house on Minnesota that doesn't belong to the West Virginia Tech campus.

So uh but anyway, they're working on the drawings, and they said as soon as they get the permission and in the resolution passed that uh ordinance passed that uh they proceed with that.

And thank you.

Anyone else?

Thank you for that negotiation.

That was I think a concern for everyone that it remained a two-way street.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Not a problem.

Anyone else?

Yes, on the uh Keno Street.

The roundabout is still in place.

Yes, yes, the roundabout is still going to be in place, and I uh I think that that would be a benefit to Beckley.

I mean, you don't have to stop at a stoplight, you don't have to do this, you don't have to do that.

And a lot of times you're sitting here at a stoplight and there's nobody coming either way.

So I think it'd be a it would speed the traffic up going through Johnstown Road and South Kanoa and North Kanawha.

So yes, ma'am.

One round about my knowledge at this point in the game.

First again.

I'll check it.

Anybody else have anything?

I just want to say us seniors with that roundabout.

We're gonna keep going around.

You get to hang out pretty quick.

It's actually uh makes a lot of sense.

Anyone else have anything?

Any questions for Mr.

Fowell?

Very well.

All those in favor of approval of the ordinance say aye.

If there's anyone opposed, say nay.

Ordinance is approved.

Thank you, council.

Next we move on to old business.

And the first item is the award of bid for two 2027 four-truck F-150 series police responders for the Beckley Fire Department and seven Ford Police Interceptor Cruisers for the Beckley Police Department.

At this time, I'll turn it over to Council at large, Cody Reedy for more information on the bid.

Yeah, we received two bids on this and then uh upon our evaluation of the submitted uh bids for the non-vehicles.

We recommend that the uh bid be awarded to the lowest uh bidder.

That was Stevens Auto Center and the amount of four hundred and sixteen thousand four hundred and twelve dollars.

And I'll put that out.

416,000 412.

412.

Yep, and I'll put that out as a form of the motion.

And that's for that's for all the vehicles fireplaces.

Okay, very good.

Uh with that, may I have a motion to approve the bid awarding it to two 2027 Ford Truck F-150 series police responders for the Beckley Fire Department and seven for police interceptor cruises for the Beckley Police Department to Stevens Auto for the amount of 416,412?

So move.

Thank you.

Any questions from council on this?

Nobody has any questions?

Very good.

All those in favor of approval say aye.

If there's anyone opposed, say nay.

Okay, the bid is approved.

Thank you.

Council moving on.

Uh next is the approval of the fiscal year 2026-2027 general fund budget revision.

I will turn it over to Evan for more on this.

Sure.

So um everybody should have a copy of the resolution and the revision in the back of your book in the pockets.

So what this is is each year the city is required by the state auditor's office to update our estimate of our beginning balance.

This revision will increase that beginning balance by two million dollars.

And since the budget and all revisions must keep the balance budget budgeted and balanced.

So the first one is contingencies.

That'll increase by 1.1 million.

This will max out the contingency allowable amount of 10% of your total budget.

So if you remember from our original I'm sorry, do you have any extra copies?

Councilman Buchanan and I.

Hold on.

Yeah, I'm seeing like I said, I'm a senior citizen.

Thank you.

I just need a little extra time.

And I don't have to do that.

It's broken out real simple.

It's you have a top.

There it's updating our unassigned fund balance and then the three items, which I'll go over briefly here.

So with that contingency, we're allowed to have 10% of our total budget amount set aside contingencies.

And if you remember from our original uh original budget presentation, maxing that out is recommended.

Having that there is a flexible area that we can spend from.

It gets us one step closer to a rainy day fund.

And as long as we're meeting our revenues throughout the year, we can utilize that.

Keep in mind this is budget, not cash.

So if we're not meeting our revenues, then we're not going to tap into that.

But that's there.

It's flexible, and it's things that we can utilize throughout the year if needed.

The second one is government capital outlay.

We'll increase by 200,000.

This will help us for some one-time expenses, things that have came along in the last couple of months.

This includes the HVAC in this building that needs replaced, which I'm sure everyone will appreciate.

As well as HVACs and multiple other buildings throughout the city.

And it will also help us with the removal of the best as a removal of asbestos in our city owned properties to get them back into actual functional use.

What this is is a placeholder for our debt service for Fire Station 3.

In 2029, we have a $3.8 million debt service bill that'll be due.

We need to be able to make sure that we can cover that.

This will help us get to that goal.

And it also gives us options if we decide to the word smooth out that balloon payment in that year.

Having something extra set aside will allow us the options to choose the best funding mechanism at that point that we can ensure that we meet the debt service then.

So this is basically covering our debts from previous years and allowing us to be flexible in the future.

I know that doesn't sound fun, but it also sets aside this.

So our budget is fully funded, and these are one-time items and items that will allow us flexibility if revenues keep up, we can dip into the if we need to.

Thank you, Evan.

No thanks.

I just like to increase thank you.

Thank you, Evan.

Appreciate it.

With that, may I have a motion to approve the fiscal year 26-27 general fund budget revision.

So maybe a second.

Second.

Okay.

Anybody from council have questions for Evan on this?

I'd just like to increase this.

Yeah, I'd just like to thank him for giving a detailed uh piece of paper where we can actually see.

Uh I haven't seen it done in a while, and I sure do appreciate that.

Thank you.

Do you need us to sign this?

Or is that just for we can serve okay?

Any other questions from council?

Okay.

All those in favor of approval say aye.

If there's anyone opposed, say nay.

Okay, the general fund budget revision is approved.

Thank you, Council.

Moving on.

Is next is the appointment of Beth Shoemaker to the planning commission.

This is for a term of three years.

At this point, I'll turn it over to Mr.

Gerald.

Yes, I contacted Miss Shoemaker, and she was very much interested in serving on the planning commission.

Uh she currently is employed by the workforce committee, so uh I think she would be a very good benefit to the planning commission.

Is that it?

I recommend Miss Shoemaker for the planning commission.

Okay, thank you, Mr.

Gerald.

With that, may I have a motion to approve the appointment of Beth Shoemaker to the planning commission?

So moved.

Second, thank you, Janine.

Anyone to abstain, please.

Well, we yeah.

Any questions or comments from council on Beth Shoemaker?

Again, that Nancy that sits here on City Council, that is her sister.

So yes, we were going to have her not vote on this.

Anybody else have anything?

Okay, all those in favor of approval say aye.

Aye.

If there's anyone opposed, say nay.

Okay.

The appointment of Beth Shoemaker to the Planning Commission is approved.

Thank you, Council.

Uh next is the appointment of Jill Moorefield to the beautification commission.

This is a three-year term as well.

Uh Mr.

Jerry, you want to speak a little bit more on this, please?

We're reviewing reviewing all the committees, and uh we came up on the beautification committee, and you're allowed to have up to I think eleven members.

And uh this brings us up to 10.

Uh there's a couple, we called every member on the beautification committee to see if they wanted to repain their spot on the beautification committee.

And uh a couple of them uh actually resigned.

Yeah, they just wanted to get rid of the obligation.

But uh we've got Ms.

Moorefield, uh Andrew Wheeler, and Sarah Torres.

I want to appoint to the beautification commit commit commission for a period of three years.

So uh that's a good idea.

We'll do them one at a time.

Okay.

Uh so first is Jill Moorefield.

Uh may I have a motion to appoint Jill Moorefield to the beautification commission?

So moved.

Thank you.

May have a second.

Anyone have any from council have any questions or comments about that?

All those in favor of approval say aye.

If there's anyone opposed, say nay.

Jill Moorefield is appointed to the beautification commission.

Next is Andrew Wheeler.

Uh may I have a motion to appoint Andrew Wheeler to the beautification commission?

May I have a second?

Any questions or comments from council?

Very well.

All those in favor of approval say aye.

Aye.

Anyone opposed, say nay.

Very good.

Andrew Wheeler is also appointed to the beautification commission.

And lastly, is Sarah Torres.

May I have a motion to appoint Sarah Torres to the beautification commission?

Second.

Any questions about all those in favor of approval say aye?

Aye.

And Sarah Torres is also added to the beautification commission.

Thank you, Council.

Um, next is potential executive session.

I think Mr.

Fowles said we will.

Anyone oppose say nay?

I told him we can't office your office.

I don't want to look so different.

And uh for I know on the agenda it says that there will be a parking commission meeting following the city council, but Cody has told me that there will not be one.

So no meeting afterwards.

May have a second.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

With that, may I have a motion to adjourn?

Second.

Thanks, Kim.