Let us pray that we all may work together for the betterment of our city.

Each other's perspectives and striving for fairness.

Let us seek wisdom and understand as we make decisions that will affect all residents.

Let us pray for our city to have compassion, unity all wealth.

Amen.

We would see council meeting of August 19 to order.

The clerk will call the roll.

Mr.

Asaro.

Here.

Ms.

Kane.

Mayor McGruder?

Here.

Mr.

Palmer?

Here.

Mr.

Seidler.

Here.

Mr.

Slavonakis?

Here.

And Mr.

Thorngate.

Quorum is present.

Thank you.

We do have the minutes of August 12 in front of us.

Is there a motion to accept those as delivered?

So moved.

Second.

Any discussion?

If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Those opposed.

And the motion's approved.

Those minutes are approved.

We do have a scheduled public hearing on the Degasparus lease.

Do I have a motion to go into hearing mode?

I would move to exit the regular order of business and conduct a public hearing regarding the lease.

I second.

Any discussion?

If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Those opposed.

We are now in public hearing mode.

Nobody has registered to speak on this issue.

So having no other information, do we have a motion to return to regular session?

I will move to resume to the regular order of business.

I second.

Any discussion?

If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Those opposed.

And that motion's approved.

Mayor's report tonight's pretty brief, but it just an exciting summer.

So much going on in Wheeling.

I just wanted to report that last Saturday night there was a the Mountain Year Brew Fest on the waterfront was sold out, was another phenomenal event.

And that event has contributed a lot of dollars to charity in the local area.

So again, great event.

The waterfront's been extremely busy this summer.

Uh we're all happy about that.

The other thing next door at West Banco Arena, the arena hosted the OVAC Hall of Fame Banquet, which also had a nurse turnout.

Was it was a great event?

And uh Wheeling is a center, the geographic center of the OVAC.

So the 50 member schools were all here to participate.

So uh a great Saturday in Wheeling.

Uh I don't have anything else.

I would uh ask the clerk to make her report, please.

There is notice of annual report of the pension funding revenue bonds and a notice of application to operate a private club located at 808 National Road, the wheel.

And that concludes the clerk's report.

Okay, unfinished business.

An ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds in the amount of 17,400 with Edgeco Inc.

of Lansing, Ohio for emergency demolition of 1113 Ohio Street be charged to ARPA.

I'll motion to adopt the ordinance.

I'll second.

Do we have any discussion?

If not, please record your vote.

That motion's approved.

An ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds in the amount of 177,358 dollars and thirteen cents with USI Insurance Services LLC of Virginia Beach, Virginia for excess liability workers' compensation policy to be charged to workers' compensation fund.

Move for adoption of the ordinance second.

Do we have any discussion?

Once again, hearing none, I ask you to please record your vote.

That motion is approved.

An ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds in the amount of 20,057 and 92 cents with Lesnar Wharton and Andrews Insurance LLC of Wheeling, West Virginia for cybersecurity insurance to be charged as follows.

14,241 dollars and twelve cents to the general fund, three thousand two hundred and nine dollars and twenty-nine cents to water and two thousand six hundred and seven dollars and fifty-three cents to water pollution control division.

Move to adopt the ordinance.

Second.

Is there any discussion?

Once again, hearing none, please record your vote.

Motion approved an ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds in the amount of 27,000 with centrists of Pinochet, Wisconsin for purchase of rental services for centrifuge to be charged to water pollution control.

Move for adoption of the ordinance.

I'll second.

Any discussion?

Please record your vote.

That motion's approved.

An ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds in the amount of $947,500 with Savage Construction Company Inc.

of Wheeling, West Virginia for Greenwood Storm Sewer Improvements to be charged to ARPA.

I'd move to adopt the ordinance.

I'll second.

Do we have any discussion?

Once again, hearing none, please record your vote.

That motion is approved.

An ordinance authorizing the city manager to enter into an agreement and to execute any and all necessary documents with Fredantis Engineering of Wheeling, West Virginia for wastewater treatment, sludge and dewatering services and centrifuge design in the amount of $382,640 to be charged to water pollution control and sewer bonds.

I'll move to adopt the ordinance.

Second.

Is there any discussion?

Yes.

Mr.

Heron, on this one, um, I've been explaining to people, you know, when uh news came out last week about upcoming increases in rates and things like that for water and sewage.

Um, and also some of the complaints about the smell.

Can you just explain to them uh just how this is going to start that process of us figuring out how to how to get rid of that?

This is obviously just consulting for yeah, yeah.

But just explain that.

Yeah, so uh there's actually uh three ordinances that address um the issue you're referring to.

This is being one of them.

The other two are the actual clean of the digesters and then repairs to the digesters.

And so what has happened is our digesters have have filled up.

We've had some uh issues with um being able to empty them.

Um this is this cleaning the digesters occurs usually every 10 to 15 years.

Um, it's probably been uh at least 15 years since they were cleaned out.

Um, but at any rate, uh we've had some uh because of the age and the incredibly difficult environment.

You can imagine inside uh a tank with sludge, etc.

We've had some issues.

So this is a complete cleaning of the of the digesters and then a complete repair of everything that's in those digesters uh included in the three ordinances that are before city council this evening.

The cost of this is included in the um uh proposed uh bond issue that uh we discussed at the last uh city council meeting.

Uh this uh would be covered under a bond anticipation note, but that note would be taken out by uh by those bonds.

So it's it's actually it's not in addition to it's also it's inclusive of the projects that were presented for the for the rate increase that we discussed last week.

Great.

And these and the collective efforts of these three um these pieces will go long way to obviously upgrading that facility, but also helping knock down the smell that that it's kind of perpetuating.

Yeah, as was discussed.

I mean, it is it is a wastewater treatment plant, so there's always going to be some uh odor.

We do have ways to treat that that have been effective uh in the past, but the problem that we currently have is the fact those digesters are full, and that is creating the uh odor that's uh emulating from the wastewater treatment plant that is almost impossible to control.

Thank you.

So any further discussion.

Hearing none, I would ask you again to please record your vote.

That motion's approved.

An ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds in the amount of thirty-two thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine dollars with past and baker corporation of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania for 11th Street paving project to be charged with sales tax RCIP.

I'll move to adopt the ordinance.

Second.

Is there any discussion?

Hearing none, please record your votes.

Motion approved an ordinance authorizing the city manager to transfer funds in the amount of 165,000 from arena RCIP to the Greater Wheeling Sports and Entertainment Authority for concrete stair and landing replacement at West Banco Arena.

Move for adoption of the ordinance.

Second, any discussion?

Hearing none, please record your vote.

That motion is approved.

An ordinance authorizing the city manager to enter into an agreement and to execute any and all necessary documents with mobile solid solutions of Somerset, Pennsylvania for anaerobic digester cleaning, inspection repair, and valve replacement, contract A, in the amount of three hundred and thirty-two thousand two hundred and fifty dollars to be charged to sewer bonds.

I'll move to adopt the ordinance.

A second.

Do we have any discussion?

Once again, please record your vote.

Motion approved.

An ordinance authorizing the city manager to enter into an agreement and to execute any and all necessary documents with Raycon Construction Inc.

of Stevenville, Ohio for anaerobic digester cleaning, inspection repair, and valve replacement contract E in the amount of 1,330,630 to be charged to the sewer bonds.

I make a motion to approve the ordinance.

Second, do we have any discussion?

Again, hearing none, please record your vote.

That motion is approved.

And that concludes unfinished business.

Thank you.

We do have the planning commission minutes from June 9, 2025, which we've held over.

Is there a minute to uh is there a motion to accept those as received?

I'll move to accept those as received.

I'll second.

Any discussion?

All those in favor signify for saying aye.

Aye.

Aye.

And those opposed, uh those minutes are approved.

We now have remarks from members of city council, and I would ask councilman uh counselor Palmer to begin tonight.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh tomorrow evening, 5 30.

Um grave civics to the ward six crime watch meeting.

And I had something else, but for the life of me, I can't remember what it was.

So thank you.

I have done things.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor.

Um, if you all recall, um, I don't know how long ago it's been, it's been a while ago.

Um, there used to be a flagpole um down right in front of Perkins, especially when it was LBs.

And I think it was there, probably there for a year or so when you know, some time when Perkins came in.

It was a huge flagpole.

Uh it was very visible from the interstate.

Um, Mr.

City Manager, I'd like to ask if you could um um ask some folks to take a look at what it would cost to uh put that flagpole back up.

I think it was a very proud thing for our city.

Um, and uh I'd like to know what what it might cost to pull something like that off.

And then also on one other topic.

Um I know it was a matter of of policy, generally speaking, our code enforcement.

Um when we have a rental unit with a tenant to mix complaints um to code enforcement.

Um, I know I know it's a matter of policy.

We typically won't allow code enforcement officers to go into that property at the tenant's request unless we have permission from the landlord.

Um we've had a number of issues over recent years where um you know a tenant's making a complaint that's that's completely valid, as I've seen the pictures enough for that this the code enforcement, but the uh landlord uh doesn't like that, won't give us permission to enter the property, and it kind of puts us in a really hard position to help out those folks.

Um I would ask if you could ask our legal department to evaluate that option to see if we can make that easier.

Uh, we certainly don't want to make it painful for landlords um if a tenant is just trying to get a free month, but there are certainly a number of uh complaints we've seen over the recent years that it's been a point of contention, and and these folks really do have a right to save housing.

And um, you know, so you know I can invite anybody I want over to my house to watch the Super Bowl or something.

I don't it doesn't make sense to me from a legal perspective why we can't invite code enforcement in uh if that were to happen.

But but if you could ask that we can do a deep dive into that and and look at what our policies are in place there.

That's all I have.

Thank you.

Nothing this evening.

Very briefly.

Um, you know, being on Wheeling City Council has been a great privilege of mine.

A lot of time we get to deal with interesting stuff, but it seems like the last few weeks we've been dealing with sewers, wastewater treatment plants.

That's not something we want to deal with, and it's not something that that is you know, one of those things that might be moved the needle, but it's something that we as city council and city staff are obligated to address.

I mean, this is sort of one of the major functions of our uh governing body, which is us.

So it's not something that we want to do, but we have to do this.

Uh, if we want to have clean water and water that doesn't violate EPA standards, this is what we have to do.

So it's not the most exciting thing, but it is absolutely vital and necessary for our functions as a society.

So I just wanted to throw that out there because I know that um you know some people aren't happy with the rate increases and what we're doing, but we don't really have a choice in this matter.

Uh so this is sort of one of our basic functions as government is to make sure that the firemen have what they need, the policemen have what they need, and the wastewater treatment plant has what it needs to function.

And we've been spending significant amount of money on rental equipment, and we need to move forward so that we can save money in the long term by having these bonds passed.

So this is just a necessary evil of government, and I appreciate everyone in the community understanding that.

Thank you.

One addition to Vice Mayor Slavbox's comments.

I think if you've been watching the media over the last couple of months, there have been a number of water and sewer issues all around us.

And I think one of the things that we're doing to stay ahead of that is is to do these bond issues to make sure that we do deliver clean water and sewerage that's able to be put back into the Iowa River.

So uh Vice Mayor, thank you.

I have very vital point.

Uh with that, we do have two sets of minutes that have been held over the public works committee minutes of August 12, 2025, and a development committee meeting uh minutes from August 12, 2025.

So a motion to hold those over.

So moved.

Second.

Any discussion, changes, comments?

If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Those opposed.

The motion's approved.

And now we have the report of the city manager, Mr.

Heron.

Thank you, Mayor.

Uh the fire uh department headquarters project is moving along to the point where we're down to punch list items.

And uh we've tentatively scheduled a public open house uh for September Saturday, September 13th.

Uh we anticipate the fire department should be able to move into the uh building within the next uh couple of weeks.

Um, but we're getting very, very close to having that project completed, and we do want to show it off to the public.

Uh and again, tentatively, it's uh scheduled for September 13th.

Also, uh the Clay School asbestos abatement project, the contract that has been authorized and signed, authorized city council signed by the uh by myself.

And uh we do anticipate reclaim um beginning uh that work uh next week.

I don't know uh how long it would take.

I think the contract is in that is a 90-day contract, uh, but we do anticipate uh activity around the clay school uh for the next uh several weeks beginning next week.

And that's my report.

Thank you.

Any further questions with city manager?

Thank you, Mr.

Hare.

Report of other officers.

There are none this evening.

There are none.

Petitions of all other kinds, there are none.

Original propositions.

An ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds in the amount of 22,500 with James White Construction Company of Weirton, West Virginia for valve replacement at Grandview Station to be charged to water.

An ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds in the amount of 27,000 with Centrus of Kenosha, Wisconsin for purchase of rental services for centrifuge to be charged to water pollution control, an ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds and amount of 27,504 and eighty five cents with Jim Shorty Auto Group of Irwin, Pennsylvania for a 2026 Trailblazer LS for crisis response unit to be charged to West Virginia First Foundation grant.

An ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds in the amount of 22,506 and two cents with Colossus Inc.

of Chicago, Illinois for the purchase of caliber mobile software annual subscription to be charged to the police department, an ordinance of the council of the city of Wheeling, vacating and abandoning that portion of the alley designated on a map of Elmwood lying between lots 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and the southwestly one half of lot nine on the plat of Elmwood and a 7.108 acre tract and authorizing the city manager to execute such quit claim deeds to implement this abandonment.

An ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds and the amount of 284,871 dollars with Jim Shorey Auto Group of Irwin, Pennsylvania for seven police vehicles to be charged to the police department, an ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds and the amount of 133,000 and six dollars and fifty-five cents with Aircom of Dallas, Texas for equipment to outfit police vehicles to be charged to the police department, an ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds in the amount of 33,350 and one cent with Motorola Solutions of Coralopolis, Pennsylvania for the purchase of police cruiser radios to be charged to the police department, an ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds in the amount of $38,506 with Northside Chrysler Dodge Gram of Summersville, West Virginia for a 2024 Dodge Durango to be charged to assign police to be charged to the police department.

A resolution of the council of the city of Wheeling authorizing the city manager to execute a lease with Mario and Patricia de Grasparis for a portion of municipal-owned property located adjacent to 114 Main Street and 121 Kenny Street.

I'll move to adopt the resolution.

Oh, second.

Is there any discussion?

Yeah, just a quick explanation on this.

Uh what we talked about last week.

Well, this this is just a small chunk of land um that is attached to that property.

It's city owned today.

It's um it's uh they take good care of it.

It's not useful to us.

We sure as heck don't want to cut it ourselves.

So this makes a lot of sense to get it to put it back in their hands.

Uh yes, uh plus it's been uh leased to this property or to the property owners of the house adjacent to it since the early 1950s.

So this is just an updating of that lease.

Yep.

Any further questions or discussion?

If not, I'd ask all those uh in favor to please record your votes.

That resolution is approved.

A resolution of the council of the city wheeling approving the fiscal year 2025-2026 general fund budget revision number two.

That resolution's approved a resolution of the council of the city appealing approving the fiscal year 2025-2026 general fund budget revision number two second any discussion or questions if not please record your vote that resolution is also approved that concludes original propositions thank you uh that brings us to that point in the meeting where we ask those wishing to be heard we have one person sign up tonight uh no stranger to us Carly Dipmore would you come up early please and tell us your uh name address and you will have three minutes to address the council a set of hand you did now okay this is I this is my I didn't have I came up with the land why I heard I share that shares yeah now this girl's act to the exact the dogs done situation and ended up at the eighth of the scan I didn't ask uh your her neighborhood the choice