Wheeling City Council Meeting Summary - November 19, 2025
Wheeling City Council Meeting - November 19, 2025
The Wheeling City Council convened to address the impending closure of the homeless camp on December 1st, approve emergency water tank repairs, and discuss major infrastructure projects. A significant portion of the meeting focused on approving opioid settlement funds for the Life Hub and Salvation Army to operate a temporary housing shelter, with Council members insisting on strict performance benchmarks before releasing full funds. The Vice Mayor and City Manager also provided updates on leaf collection schedules, the Washington Avenue Bridge closure, and downtown lighting improvements.
Consent Calendar
- Approved minutes of the Traffic Commission from September 11, 2025.
- Approved ordinance creating a 30-minute parking zone at 2518 Chaplin Street (Mon-Fri, 6 a.m. to 1 p.m.).
- Unanimously approved an ordinance authorizing the expenditure of $93,943 with Southern Corrosion Engineer Tank Care for emergency repairs to the Ogilby Park water tank, following two readings.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Councilor King: Expressed full support for directing resources toward current residents at the Life Hub rather than the camp, noting that the camp served only as a "paycheck for someone to babysit" without providing the necessary social skills training to maintain permanent housing. He warned that without alternative solutions, the city would face a crisis similar to California's situation. He emphasized that while the city cannot help everyone, there are demonstrable success stories of individuals moving into recovery and maintaining housing.
- Vice Mayor: Acknowledged that while the city is responsible for allocating funds and writing rules, it is not a social work agency. He expressed openness to solutions from service providers but highlighted the lack of a third-party manager for the camp, which necessitated the current emergency response. He noted the improved community tone compared to two years prior and called for collaborative short-term and long-term solutions.
- Lisa Leach (Life Hub Shelter Director): Stated that the Life Hub's primary goal is housing placement and that they provide extensive assistance with obtaining IDs, birth certificates, and Social Security cards. She clarified that the facility is a temporary emergency shelter, not a permanent residence, and employs residents with lived experience in recovery to mentor guests. She reported a recent success rate of placing two individuals into housing and one into rehab. She expressed concern that funding the shelter for only eight weeks was insufficient given the six-month agreement with the Salvation Army and the complexity of housing barriers.
- Councilor Sadow: Expressed skepticism regarding the efficacy of previous funding, citing the increase in the homeless population from 15 to 70 people. He demanded proof of progress, specifically certifications that half the individuals have initiated the process for IDs and Section 8 housing vouchers, rather than accepting generic progress reports. He emphasized that he would not approve a blanket check without accountability measures, stating he was "sick of hearing promises" while the population numbers rise.
Discussion Items
- Life Hub and Salvation Army Funding: The Council debated the allocation of $75,000 from opioid settlement funds. Councilor Sadow and Vice Mayor Clavanakis led a discussion on creating a "milestone-based" funding structure. After debate with the Life Hub representative regarding overhead costs (rent, utilities, insurance) and the feasibility of an eight-week funding window, an amendment was proposed to release the $75,000 in three installments of $25,000. This structure requires the Life Hub to submit progress reports verifying they have met specific benchmarks (e.g., applications started for IDs and housing) before releasing each subsequent payment.
- Ogilby Park Water Tank: The City Manager reported that the fill pipe corrosion was an emergency issue requiring immediate repair. The Council reviewed the contract details and moved to adopt the ordinance authorizing the $93,943 expenditure.
- Clay School and EPA Funds: The City Manager reported that asbestos abatement at the Clay School was completed under budget with no change orders. An engineering report confirmed the building's retaining wall is sufficient, reducing demolition costs. The demolition is scheduled to be bid on December 1st, pending the anticipated award of a West Virginia DLAP grant.
- AEP Lighting Projects: The City Manager praised AEP for their diligent work installing LED overhead lights on Market Street ahead of the Christmas parade and for replacing decorative lights in Market Plaza. Issues with freeway lights and exit sign illumination are currently being addressed.
- Washington Avenue Bridge: The City Manager warned that the bridge will be closed for construction from December 2nd until an anticipated reopening in October 2026. He noted that AEP has already begun line relocation work requiring temporary traffic control.
Key Outcomes
- Approved (Unanimous): The ordinance to allocate up to $75,000 in opioid settlement funds to the Life Hub and Salvation Army for temporary housing was amended and approved. The funds are structured as three payments of $25,000, contingent upon the submission of verification that milestones (specifically, half the residents starting applications for IDs and housing) have been met.
- Approved (Unanimous): The ordinance for the Ogilby Park water tank repair ($93,943) was adopted.
- Approved (Unanimous): The Traffic Commission minutes from September 11, 2025, were approved.
- Noted: The City Council acknowledged the appointment of Terry Walls as the new Deputy Police Chief for the Patrol Division.
- Noted: A resource fair is scheduled for November 24th at 6:00 p.m. at the shelter to connect residents with external nonprofit services.
Meeting Transcript
I could go on all day. I'll leave it at that. But if we're going to invest this kind of money, which I think is not a bad investment, I think we need to make sure that we put the right guardrails around it to ensure that people are actually getting help and not just funding new jobs by Katie City. Thanks, Mayor. Thank you. Councilor King. I would like to penny back off of what Ben, Mr. Saddler said today. This is an opportunity for the city and all the organizations that came out against us at the last meeting regarding the camp. There's people out here who actually has gotten housing and they've been put back out because they don't have the social skills or the information how to keep their apartments and clean and stuff. So some people are getting in there, but they're back out here. And we need some services to teach them how to maintain their apartment. And I'm with then, you know, we have to see movement to come in here and may have because we closed the camp up on December 1st, but there's no other alternative because nobody is helping, you know, and we keep taking taking more people in and more people in. We have to worry about what we have now because if we don't, we're gonna be like California where nobody can get around nowhere because there's gonna be too many people. And at this point, we need to focus on what's out there now, what's at the Life Hub now, and get that moving forward. We're willing to work with anyone, but we have to see that not just come here at a meeting to say we're doing the wrong thing or we're mean or non-godly, but that you're willing to move forward to help these people move forward. And like Ben said, it's it's just a paycheck for someone to babysit. That's not helping people. We need to help them get back on their feet. Now you can't help everybody, and we understand that. But there is people out here that can get help and will maintain as seen on street moms, two people to sleep are in recovery and bought new cars. So it is possible to get people help and get them going. So we have to work together, and that's all I have to say. Thank you. Uh next on the agenda, we have the court of the city manager. Oh, got the vice mayor. One jury, it's okay. We didn't already have a new chair. Uh thank you, uh, mayor. Um, I'm uh gonna change the subject to leaves. I've been getting a lot of phone calls and my ward and people stopping me. Uh the city is is going to be picking up the leaves in Woodsdale. We don't have to worry, it'll start tomorrow and it'll go into Thursday. So if you have any leaves that need to be picked up in Woodsville, it the truck will be there on tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday for two days. Uh, thank you very much. And um, you know, I the homeless issue is just one of these situations where no matter what we do, people are not gonna be happy with us. It it's one of the it's an unfortunate um circumstance that wheeling and the rest of the country is going through. Uh and you know, whatever we can do as a city council to alleviate the problem, we will do that. But please remember we're city council members, we're not social workers, we're not on the ground floor. The only thing we can do is is write basically the rules, allocate funds in ways that we think is appropriate. Um that's all we can do. I mean, we we're trying our best here, and we're open to any solutions that these service providers have. We provided that exempted area with the hopes that someone would step up and manage the camp numerous times. The city and service providers spoke about managing the camp, but for whatever reason it never happened, and now here we are. There's a lot of blame that we could um I think go around for everyone, and I understand that, but we as we are not um the only player in this. Uh we need to come together as a community and offer some solutions short-term and long term. Uh but we're in this together, and I gotta say the last time we were here, it the tone was a lot better than two years ago. So I appreciate that very much. It's not something that I could that went on that did not go unnoticed. Um, but you know, I think we need to do hopefully take a step forward together.
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