Let us pray that we all may work together for the better of our city, respecting each other's perspective, striving for fairness, let us seek wisdom and understanding as we make decisions that will impact all residents.

Let us pray for a city to have compassion and unity for our well-being.

Amen.

We now call the Wheeling City Council meeting of November 4, 2025 to order.

And I would ask the clerk to please call the role.

Mr.

Asaro.

Here.

Ms.

King?

Here.

Mayor McGruder?

Here.

Mr.

Palmer.

Here.

Mr.

Seidler.

Mr.

Slavonakis.

Here.

Mr.

Thorngate.

Corum is present.

Thank you.

That brings us down here to the uh to the minutes.

We have the October 21, 25 minutes before us.

Is there a motion to accept those as submitted?

So moved.

Second.

Any discussion, changes?

Hearing none, I ask all those in favor to signify by saying aye.

Aye.

And those opposed.

And those minutes are approved as received.

Uh now we have the mayor's report, a couple quick comments.

Uh number one, you know, the veterans uh memorial banner program has been an absolute hit in the city.

It's been wonderful.

Uh a dynamic program.

And we have another chance to honor our veterans coming up next Tuesday, November the 11th, Veterans Day, 11 o'clock in the lobby at West Bank Arena.

The American Legion has their Veterans Day ceremony.

And so we would ask as many people as possible to please turn out for that so that we can continue to honor our veterans.

The other thing I want to say this looks like kind of a championship meeting.

Number one today, uh, we have four varsity soccer teams from the city of Wheeling.

The Wheeling Park High School, boys and girls teams, and the Wheeling Central Catholic High School boys and girls teams are all on the way to Beckley to play in the state tournament.

So that's an amazing achievement.

And hopefully we have to make the cheap.

But tonight, we have some real champions have already won our championship here.

So we're going to read a proclamation, guys, and I'm going to ask you if you would to stand up, all right?

If you could.

Here's the proclamation for you.

Whereas the city of Wheeling takes great pride in recognizing the outstanding achievements of our local youth athletes who exemplify dedication, teamwork, and sportsmanship both on and off the field.

And whereas the Wheeling Little Patriots are proud participants in the Ohio Valley Youth Football League, the OBYFL, a competitive league which spans across three states, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, and it's composed of 12 teams representing both large and small schools from communities ranging all the way from Wheeling to East Liverpool, Oak Glenn, Steubenville, Indian Creek, Cornell, and Quaker Valley.

And whereas the Wheeling Little Patriots demonstrated incredible, incredible perseverance and teamwork through the 2025 season, with all the age groups competing at the highest level.

The varsity team secured a second place finish in a hard-fought 20 to 16 game against Toronto and the junior varsity team finishing strong in third place after they advanced to the semifinals.

And whereas the Banham team, composed of seven and eight-year-old athletes, displayed remarkable resilience and heart by defeating an undefeated Oak Glen team 26 to 18 in the championship game.

A powerful comeback after losing to Oakland earlier in the season and following last year's championship loss in a thrilling six overtime battle against Dubanville.

And whereas under the leadership of head coach Nolby Banks, who has guided the Bannham team now for four consecutive seasons, achieving two first place and two second place finishes, and with the invaluable support of assistant coaches Joey Schau, Noah Littman, Tucker Brown, RJ Siselberger, and Dayson Scott.

And whereas the Banham Championship team includes Maxwell McKinney, Clayton Nice, Schilling Rodocker, Colton Hicksenbaugh, Isaiah Bruce, Cashton Lee, River Rajanis, Tripp Brown, Homer Zitzelberger, Kayan Neal, Ramar Butler, Colt Maynard, Logan Gardil, Jack Porter, Jay Sean Flannery, Axel Doyle, Knowledge Morgan, Shane Nisnik, Matdock Spatt, William Littman, and Keegan Speavogle.

And whereas the Wheeling Little Patriots organization was further honored to receive the league's Commissioner's Cup, awarded the new organization with the most combined wins across all the age groups.