As we make to discuss decisions that will expect all residents.

Sorry.

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

I want to America.

We now call the wheeling city council meeting of February 3, 2026 to order, please.

I would ask the clerk to please call the roll.

Mr.

Osara?

Here.

Ms.

Kane?

Here.

Mayor Magruder?

Here.

Mr.

Palmer?

Here.

Mr.

Siler.

Mr.

Sklavanakis?

Here.

And Mr.

Thorngate.

Here.

Quorum is present.

Thank you.

We do have the January 20 and 26 council minutes in front of us.

Is there a motion to accept those as received?

So moved.

Second.

Any changes or discussion?

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

Aye.

And those opposed.

And we will uh approve those minutes as received.

At this point, we've got the mayor's report, a couple of comments.

One, uh, I think we all know that the state of the city address is scheduled for February 10 next Tuesday at noon.

Uh last chance, this is a ticketed event, and you have to acquire tickets before five o'clock this Friday because we have to cut off the count at that point.

So we'd ask anybody that please that wants to attend, uh, make sure you either call the office here or get in touch with the people at the arena on e-ticks uh to purchase tickets.

They are $15 and includes lunch.

Uh also want to mention tonight that councillor siders ill this evening.

That's why he's not with us.

Uh also want to take a minute to congratulate one of our fellow council members here, uh Ty Thorngate.

Fabulous job.

I I think many of you saw with the media coverage, uh, the West Virginia State hockey tournament that took place this past weekend.

And and Ty, I know you were a major part of that.

You have some comments, you want to wait to your remarks.

I'll wait till I have Mars.

Gotcha.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Uh I think that's probably going to conclude uh the mayor's report.

Uh so we'll go to the clerk's report.

There's a notice of application to operate a private club for Los Fajitos Mexican restaurant and grail wheeling located at 26 Elm Terrace.

And that concludes the clerk's report.

Thank you.

Unfinished business.

An ordinance of the council of the city of Wheeling to create a two-hour parking zone on National Road in between Cole Avenue and Junior Avenue Bridge.

An ordinance of the Council of the City of Wheeling relocating the bus stop on National Road across from Junior Avenue Bridge to the west, closer to Cole Avenue.

And both of those uh both of those issues die since there's no motion or second on the table.

An ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds in the amount of 139,935 dollars to pedicord and son of Wheeling, West Virginia for exterior steel and metal painting of the intermodal parking garage to be charged to intermodal R and R.

I'll move to adopt the resolution.

Second.

Are there any questions or is there any discussion?

Hearing none, I'd ask the clerk to please call the roll.

Mr.

Osaro?

Yes.

Ms.

Kane?

Yes.

Mayor Magruder?

Yes.

Mr.

Sklavanakis?

Yes.

Mr.

Thorngate?

Yes.

Mr.

Palmer.

Yes.

And that motion is approved.

An ordinance authorizing the city manager to transfer funds in the amount of 415,000 to Ohio Valley Area Development Corporation for economic development purposes to be charged as follows.

200,000 to regular RCIP and 215,000 to project fund.

I would move to adopt the ordinance.

Again, hearing none, I ask Clerk, please call the vote.

Ms.

Kane?

Yes.

Mayor Magruder?

Yes.

Mr.

Sklavonakis?

Yes.

Mr.

Thorngate?

Yes.

Mr.

Palmer?

Yes.

Mr.

Asaro.

Yes.

That motion is approved.

An ordinance of the council of the city of Wheeling to install two stop signs on Hildreth Avenue at the intersection of North 15th Street.

I move to adopt a resolution.

Second.

Is there any discussion?

Hearing none again.

I'd ask the clerk to please call the vote.

Mr.

Palmer?

Yes.

Mr.

Osara?

Yes.

Ms.

Kane.

Yes.

Mayor Magruder?

Yes.

Mr.

Sklavanakis?

Yes.

And Mr.

Thorngate.

Yes.

That motion's approved.

An ordinance of the Council of the City of Wheeling to create compact car only parking at meters 2135 and 2133 on Market Street.

Move for adoption of the ordinance.

As second.

Is there any discussion?

Once again, hearing none, I ask the clerk to please call the vote.

Mr.

Sklavonakis?

Yes.

Mr.

Thorngate?

Yes.

Mr.

Palmer?

Yes.

Mr.

Osaro.

Yes.

Ms.

Kane.

Yes.

Mayor Magruder.

Yes.

And that motion's approved.

An ordinance authorizing the city manager to enter into an agreement and to expend funds in the amount of 40,050 dollars with Perry and Associates of Wheeling, West Virginia for audit services for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025, to be allocated in accord with the findings of the audit to be charged to the general fund, water department, water pollution control division, and parking.

I would move to adopt the ordinance.

Second.

Do we have any discussion?

Once again, hearing none, I'd ask the clerk to please call the vote.

Mr.

Thorngate?

Yes.

Mr.

Palmer?

Yes.

Mr.

Asaro?

Yes.

Ms.

Kane.

Yes.

Mayor McGreater?

Yes.

Mr.

Sklavonakis.

Yes.

And that ordinance is approved.

And at this time, I believe we have uh a few people from Easter Seals that wanted to make a statement before the next ordinance.

Good evening, everyone.

Thank you for having us.

My name is Eric Tilberto.

I'm the president and CEO of Easter Seals, Miss Betsy Bethel McFarland.

She's our marketing director.

We would just like to very briefly tell you a little bit about Easter Seals, the services we provide, the patients we serve, and how we all might work together to continue improving our community.

So Easter Seals is a national organization made up of about 70 affiliates.

Hopefully, you all know about Easter Seals and know that we do something charitable.

And that's true.

We never turn anyone away due to their family's inability to pay.

So this results in almost 400,000 in free health care right here in the Ohio Valley every year.

And that is without any support from National Easter Seals.

So while there are 70 affiliates, we're all totally independent.

We're all self-sustained.

So that wouldn't be possible without municipal organizations and the philanthropy of the community at large.

Some of the services that we provide are pediatric outpatient medical rehabilitation.

So these are medical services where a patient will go see a doctor or a physician assistant or a nurse practitioner for autism, ADHD, and behavioral issues, and then therapy, so including speech therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy.

What we've seen over the last several years is a very very sharp rise and uptick in the need for autism services, ADHD, and behavior, specifically those which are related to the opioid epidemic.

So the way that we might work together, we're requesting some of the opioid funding here, is we brought on Dr.

David Mossman and Amanda Mossman, who's a physician assistant, and in conjunction with WBU Medicine, solely to focus on those patients with autism, ADHD, and behavior.

And that is for very easily quantifiable diagnoses like neonatal abstinence syndrome and those that are a bit more nebulous, like societal and familial problems that are brought on by the opioid epidemic.

So we do humbly request some funds from the city of Wheeling.

Um you can rest assured that those funds will be very judiciously used.

We've made tremendous strides towards securing internal funding and approaching other organizations and entities to make sure that this program will be self-sustain for years and years in the future.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Eric.

Thanks, Betsy.

Uh Easter Seals Office is great program.

We're really brought up.

So thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thanks again for having us.

Any ordinance of the council of the city of Wheeling, West Virginia authorizing the city manager to allocate a portion of the West Virginia opioid settlement funds to assist Easter Seals of Wheeling, West Virginia for its health record system expansion and coordination of such with medical providers to assist in the treatment of infants and children affected by opioids and providing opioid related abatement.

Move for adoption of the ordinance.

Second.

Any discussion or questions?

Once again, hearing none, I'd ask the clerk to please call the vote.

Mr.

Palmer?

Yes.

Mr.

Osaro?

Yes.

Miss Kane?

Yes.

Mayor Magruder?

Yes.

Mr.

Sklavinakis?

Yes.

And Mr.

Thorngate?

Yes.

And that motion's approved.

An ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds in the amount of $5,872,220 with for Dantis of Wheeling, West Virginia for engineering services for wastewater treatment plan and the collection system for sanitary and storm sewer improvements to be charged to the 2025 bond.

I move to adopt the O ordinance.

Second.

Do we have any discussion?

Once again, hearing none, I've asked the clerk to please call the vote.

Mr.

Osaro?

Yes.

Ms.

Kane?

Yes.

Mayor McGruder?

Yes.

Mr.

Sklavonakis?

Yes.

Mr.

Thorngate?

Yes.

Mr.

Palmer.

Yes.

That motion is also approved.

And that concludes unfinished business.

Thank you.

We do have traffic commission minutes from December 11, 2025.

Is there a motion to accept those?

So moved.

Second.

Any discussion or questions?

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

Aye.

Those opposed.

Those minutes are approved as received.

Uh, just want to commend our city workers.

Uh the weather's a bit horrible, and they have done a wonderful job keeping everything going.

Um last week, not below zero.

I was amazed to see the garbage truck pull up.

Those guys are still on the back of the trucks working on that horrible weather.

Um, all the departments have been just doing a fantastic job.

I just wanted to give them a shout out.

Thank you.

Councilor King.

Um, just want to let everyone know that tomorrow at 5 30 at the Willing Police Department, we will have a downtown business crime watch meeting.

Hopefully, everyone can show up.

Thank you.

Vice Mayor.

Well, I've also wanted to thank our city workers, just like Tony Osaro.

Uh I've witnessed them firsthand during this cold spell uh perform admirably.

Um, there were some guys at the water department working like 12 hours in that frigid cold and then going back the next day to do the same.

Uh, I don't know how they did that, but they did it.

And and Bob, those guys they do deserve some pats on the back.

Um, they were amazing.

I know that 16th Street had a water line right, and they kept going until it was fixed, and and they take their job seriously, and I find them be very courteous to everyone.

I mean, they don't know who I was, and and they've I think they've done just a great job.

Um, and I know that I I wanted to have see if the chief might give us a little public service announcement concerning what to do with the pipes.

I don't know if you want to do this now, or you want to wait till this thing I think we don't know.

You want to do it now?

Um, so I asked the fire chief if maybe he could give us a sort of a public service announcement in light of what's you know the freezing weather, and I know that a lot of gutters and downspouts and pipes and bursted.

So if you could give just a little bit of a reminder to our community, what can we do to deal with these freezing weathers and how it's affecting our pipes downspouts?

For the past couple weeks, it's been below 20 degrees uh night and day.

Uh so uh we do have a lot of frozen pipes throughout our city.

Uh some of them we might not discover until later this week or in the next week when it starts to get even warmer.

Uh, usually once it gets up in the high 30s, um, anybody's pipes that are frozen are gonna thaw and you're gonna have issues.

Um prevention.

Uh if you have drafty areas, try to block those areas so outside air is not coming in.

A lot of our like kitchen sinks and uh uh bathroom sinks and stuff are on the outside wall, you might have a window by them.

Um one thing that you can do is one stuff uh towels and stuff behind your pipes so that there's a buffer between that and the walls.

Also leave your cabinet doors open so that the warm air from the room gets into the cabinet.

Um please don't put space heaters inside those cabinets because that can that's a fire hazard.

Um know where your water shut off is in your home so that if you do discover a frozen pipe that you can shut your water off and get that taken care of without having a flooding situation as a service.

The if you call the fire department, we can come out and help you find your shutoff, get your water shut off so that you can prevent that damage from occurring.

If you have frozen pipes, don't use any open flame devices to try and thaw your pipes out.

Uh one is the obvious reason why you don't want to do that because uh in our careers we've had several fires over the years where they resulted from someone thawing pipes.

Uh also it can damage your plumbing.

Maybe your your pipe isn't broken, but by putting the heat on it too much, it makes steam inside the pipe, swells the pipe, and then causes the burst.

So uh don't use any kind of plumbers' torches, anything like that to try and thaw your pipes up.

Wrap warm towels around them, uh, shut your water off, uh, get some uh space heaters in the room to warm the room up, things like that.

Don't leave space heaters unattended uh because um you know that that could create a uh a fire hazard as well.

Uh you're gonna see a lot of now, there's gonna a lot of people are starting to develop icycles on their home.

Um if you can safely knock those down, you can do that.

Um but if you don't want to really pull on them because you can actually do damage to whatever they're attached to, whether it's gutters, siding, things like that.

So uh, you know, just be alert that they're there, and um if you can safely knock them down if they're uh loose and things like that, but if they're really attached, don't get a sledgehammer and try to knock them down because you can you can do damage to your home and create further problems.

Any other questions?

What about keeping the water right?

Yeah, trickle of water is also a good prevention.

If you know you've had issues with frozen pipes in the past, a lot of people already know that.

Um they you can just leave a little stream of water run.

That moving water will prevent it from freezing.

Thank you, Chief.

Thanks, and I appreciate that.

I would just ask members of the media, please uh to take note of that.

I mean, the chief's been here.

We're all hearing these great ideas, but the people out there in viewer land need to hear it.

So maybe if you can help us out a bit, and uh I know the chief will be here for remarks after if somebody wants to do that.

Um that's it.

Thank you.

Council Forngate.

Uh yeah, as the mayor stated this past weekend, West Bank Arena was home to the 2026 West Virginia State Hockey Championships.

Um this year in high school featured six teams.

We had Wheeling Park, Wheeling Central, Lindsley, the Morgantown Mohawks, the West Virginia Vipers from the Eastern Panhandle and the Charleston Chiefs.

Our middle school division was five teams.

It was uh Wheeling Park Middle School, Wheeling Central Middle School, the Morgantown Mohawks, West Virginia Vipers, and the West Virginia Wild from Charleston.

Over those three days, we hosted 12 high school and middle school hockey games along with one college game, which was WBU versus Slippery Rock.

And the WU team actually had four kids that either played or coached that were from Wheeling, which was fantastic.

The event drew more than 2,500 fans of West Banco Arena.

It generated over 5,000 unique views on our YouTube stream, and our Facebook rage reached over 95,000 people throughout the weekend with score updates and pictures and things like that for the teams.

Um but I'm also happy to report that our streak here on City Council will be welcoming two champions back to city council chambers as Wheeling Central Middle School and Wheeling Park High School both won their second consecutive state championships.

Um to me, and most important, the event continues to highlight the growth of hockey throughout West Virginia, but most importantly that uh Wheeling plays a huge role in hosting successful high impact sporting events.

So appreciative of everyone that helped and volunteered over the weekend, and uh special shout out to city manager who lent his voice for the uh public address announcements for a couple of games there.

So thank you, Bob.

Councilor Palmer, yes, thank you, Mayor.

I just wanted to clarify on uh ordinances one and two that were tabled at the last meeting and then not brought off the table today.

I I brought them forward uh with what which what I thought was a good idea, and as we learn, there's always more to come.

So getting with the uh people from Alberta and getting with business people in the area, I think it needs to re-evaluated.

So we want to take a step back and when weather permits, again, we'll get back out there and take some measurements and see if we can't do something that's beneficial to both the businesses and the uh bus stop.

So that's my reasoning, and I appreciate your uh counsel support.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh that brings us down to report of committees, and we do have finance committee minutes from January 2026.

Is there a motion?

So moved second.

Any discussion or questions?

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

Aye.

Those opposed, and those minutes will be uh accepted as received.

Uh report of the city manager, Mr.

Harry.

Okay, thank you, Mayor.

Um, currently on uh Glenwood Road, there are two uh slips uh that need addressed uh by the city.

Uh one is larger than the other, but one was created uh during the uh a flood of a rain event of 2024 where a federal disaster area was declared for city for the city of Wheeling.

It's the slip near the stack yard uh road area.

And I want to announce that uh FEMA has approved funding for that project, and utility relocation will begin on Monday, February 9th, between the hours of 10 a.m.

and 2 p.m.

And that's coordinated for bus schedules, etc.

And residents will see flaggers up there.

So in the event that uh they need to come and go, there will be flaggers that will enable them to get through that area.

Uh it'll take at least a couple of weeks for that work to be done, but at least that uh that part of the project is beginning.

We hope to have the uh specifications and bidding for that slip out here in the next uh six weeks or so.

So we're moving forward with that project.

Uh council will recall that over the last couple of meetings there's several ordinances that dealt with cybersecurity uh expenditures, and I'm happy to report that last week we did receive word that the state cybersecurity grant came through, uh, which will cover 100% of the cost of those ordinances at 230,000.

So we're uh very pleased about that.

Um, also we are uh beginning our budget schedule uh uh process.

I do have a budget schedule for council.

Um couple of uh key dates on that.

Um there's a budget work session scheduled for uh March 3rd at 445, uh a council work session on the budget for March 10th at 5 o'clock, and then city council consideration of the uh general fund budget for approval on the uh at the March 17, 2026 meeting.

I will uh distribute the budget to council on February 27th.

So that uh process is uh is coming up.

Um and then I'm also uh pleased to to announce that uh this afternoon I received uh an email from uh Senator Capito regarding uh action uh taken on the budget in uh Washington 11 of 12 uh budget appropriation bills for fiscal year 2026 were approved.

The uh president, if he hasn't already signed them, is expected to sign them today.

And uh, you know, once again, our federal legislators uh really came through uh for the city of Wheeling led by a Senator Capito included in the uh appropriations bill are congressionally directed spending uh allocations and uh it included in the bill are two million dollars for the Northern Parkway Improvement Project, and that was sponsored by uh Congressman Moore and Senators Capito and Justice.

The Gateway Center Trail Connector, which is the elevator down to the um to the heritage trail uh for the gateway project uh at the old uh Wheeling Insight, two million dollars.

That was uh sponsored by Congressman Moore and Senator Capito, the Wheeling Police Department for 250,000 for neighborhood resource units, that was sponsored by Senator Capito, and then the Wheeling Park Commission at 5.6 million dollars for uh historic building renovations, uh which also was uh sponsored by Senator Capito.

So I'd like to thank uh Congressman Moore, uh Congressman Justice or uh I'm sorry, Senator Justice was also a sponsor on the uh Northern Parkway Improvement Project to thank Congressman Moore, Senators Capito, and Justice for their hard work on behalf of the city and the state as a whole, and and uh you know they did a very very nice job of coming through with the congressionally directed spending.

We've had a lot of success with that.

This year has been a very successful year, and we've already started planning for next year.

So again, uh thank you to them, and that's my report, Mayor.

Thank you, Mr.

Heron.

Are there any questions of the city manager?

Again, thank you, Mr.

Aaron.

Data on the bridge.

That brings us down to uh report of other officers.

We have none tonight.

Petitions of redress or grievance.

There are none.

Petitions of all of their kinds, there are none.

Original propositions, an ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds in the amount of 114,15 with calc roof groofing and sheet metal inc of Wheeling, West Virginia for 36th Street and Bridge Park Pool Roof replacements to be charged to fiscal year at 25 CDBG.

An ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds in the amount of 73,915 with Yawn Electric Company Inc.

of Wheeling, West Virginia for EV chargers at Intermodal Transportation Center and Center Market to be charged to EECBG, an ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds and the amount of $54,712.35 cents with game time of Charlotte, North Carolina for Mozart Park Shelter and Recreation Equipment to be charged to the project fund, an ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds and amount of $15,190 with Atlas Environmental Management of Youngstown, Ohio for the rental of two temporary fractanks to be charged to water pollution control division, an ordinance authorizing the city manager to enter into negotiations and execute the appropriate documents to extend the service for dantis for 12 months to continue providing flow monitoring, data management, equipment operations, and maintenance in accord with the city's phase two status and phase three wastewater system improvements.

An ordinance of the council of the city of Wheeling authorizing the conveyance of certain real property located at 129 15th Street to the Ohio Valley ADC and further authorizing the city manager to execute and deliver such deeds and other documents to effectuate this conveyance.

A resolution of the council of the city of Wheeling approving invoices relating to the cleanup and remediation of 5819th Street property located in the city of Wheeling, West Virginia, and authorizing payment thereof.

I move to adopt the ordinance.

I would second any questions or discussion.

If Mob hearing none, I would ask the clerk to please call the vote.

Ms.

Caton?

Yes.

May I McGreater?

Yes.

Mr.

Sklavonakis.

Yes.

Mr.

Thorngate.

Yes.

Mr.

Palmer.

Yes.

Mr.

Asaro.

Yes.

That resolution's approved.

And that concludes original propositions.

Okay.

Those wishing to be heard.

We have one tonight.

Carly Dipmar.

Carly, you know uh name address in three minutes.