The
Common Council of the City of Point Pleasant, a Municipal Corporation in
Mason County, West Virginia, met in Regular Session at City Hall, 400
Viand Street at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, August 11, 2008.
The
meeting was called to order by Mayor Leonard F. Riffle who led Council
in the Pledge of Allegiance.
OUTSIDE
DELEGATION
Ronnie
Lively – Spoke to council on a right of way at 205 Poplar Street.
Shared with council pictures of his property and brought a copy of his
deed showing ownership of (205 Poplar Street). He advised that he
feels the area in question belongs to him. Robert Doeffinger asked
Mr. Lively if he had the property surveyed. Council suggested Mr.
Lively should check with the Assessor’s office at the courthouse.
Mayor Riffle then advised he would ask the street committee to look at
the issue.
PUBLIC
COMMENT
Dennis
Rayburn – Presented council with a hand out and spoke on the actions of
council on the discussions of service for the Public Service District of
Mason County. He said that the public
has not been involved in the discussion of the project.
Rayburn
stated that council has not addressed the issue only discussed. He
requested that the council reject this project and dismiss it from any
future agenda.
Keith
Biggs – Spoke
on the recent heavy rains and blowout from rain on August 4 and 5 behind
the Thompson property at Roseberry and 28th Street. He
presented Mayor Riffle with a picture of a man hole.
MONTHLY
BUSINESS
Marshall
Bonecutter made the motion to approve the minutes of the regular council
meeting on Monday, July 7, 2008, and a second was given by Barbara Ann
Brown and the motion passed. A motion by M. Leota Sang and seconded by
Linda Smith to approve the financial statements of the General, Coal
Severance, Water and Sewer Funds for the month of July 2008, was
approved by council. M. Leota Sang made a motion to approve the
outstanding obligations for the month of July 2008, and Marshall
Bonecutter gave the second and the motion was approved.
CITY
ATTORNEY
Councilman
Robert Doeffinger asked the city attorney about the Yeager property.
Stein advised that he is drafting the lawsuit and that it has not been
filed. He will bring the draft before council for approval once he
has it finished.
ACCOUNTANT
CITY
CLERK
City
Clerk Brian Billings read the second and final reading of the new curfew
ordinance 501.10. Mayor Riffle advised that the public hearing
was held prior to the council meeting and that there were no comments
made. After a brief discussion Linda Smith made a motion to accept
the second and final reading. M. Leota Sang added the second and
the motion passed (8 – 2) with Gary Cotton and Marshall Bonecutter
opposing. Billings then shared with council that he had just
received a letter by fax prior to the meeting from Lisa Thornburg CPA.
The clerk was prepared to advise council that the audit process would
begin with the Thornburg firm within the month. The city clerk
read the
letter to council which stated that the Thornburg CPA firm deeply
regrets that they will not be allowed to complete any further audit work
for the city. This is not our choice, but rather a mandate from
the West Virginia Board of Accountancy and the West Virginia State
Auditor’s Office. The city clerk told council that he would
contact Stuart Stickel of the State Auditor’s Office and find out what
options the city has on obtaining a new CPA firm to handle the upcoming
audit for the FYE June 30, 2008.
MAYOR
Mayor
Leonard F. Riffle spoke to council on the Lakin - Camp Conley
- Sandhill Road Wastewater Plan. He asked council to decide
what direction they want to pursue with the project. Council
decided after a brief discussion to have the Planning, Sewer and Finance
Committee to meet and discuss the options. Sam Juniper made the
motion to have the various committees to meet and it was seconded by
Robert Doeffinger and the motion passed. Mayor Riffle advised
council on the DEP inspection report and response. Each
council member had a copy of the report and Mayor Riffle advised the
response was on the last page of the hand out. The mayor asked
Robert Doeffinger to speak with the street department on the replacement
mowers that are needed in the street department. Riffle told
council members about the scheduled meeting on Wednesday, August 13th at
10:00 a.m. with the Department of Highways at city hall.
The meeting is to discuss the replacement of the bridge on Jefferson
Blvd. Also council was informed of the meeting with URS on
Tuesday, August 19th at 9:00 a.m. to discuss the city water wells.
Mayor Riffle had a request made to restrict the parking on the south
side of Camden Ave. Council took no action on the matter.
City Council members were then advised that Patriotic Foods Inc. will be
collecting donations on Saturday, August 16, 2008, for the Make a
Wish Foundation. Joe Doeffinger manager of the city pool asked
that half of the admissions to the pool on August 16th be donated to the
Make a Wish Foundation. Activities are planned at the pool in
conjunction with the Saturday event. A motion by Elaine Hunt to
allow the donation was seconded by Linda Smith and the motion passed
unanimously. Robert Doeffinger then made a motion at 8:33 p.m. to
go into executive session to discuss personnel and salary. M.
Leota Sang gave the second and the motion passed. Robert
Doeffinger made a motion
at 8:51 p.m. to come out of executive session. Joe Supple
added the second and the motion passed.
COUNCIL
CONCERNS
Gary
Cotton – Shared with council that he had asked the city clerk
for an active list of businesses in the city. He shared that
roughly 1,500 people work within the city limits. He said that
other cities have a user fee (Charleston/Huntington) and collect a
dollar amount possibly ($2.00) per week. This would not be charged
to the unemployed or those that were retired. The income from this
could possibly generate up to $150,000.00 per year. These dollars
could then be used toward much needed street repair throughout the city
as well as equipment purchases.
Joe
Supple – Spoke on Gary Cotton’s idea of the user fee and how the
city would approach doing this. He also advised that a speed limit
sign was laying in the yard of his office.
M.
Leota Sang – Asked about the property on Ohio Street and if the
lawsuit had been filed. She asked about the (6) water shut offs in
the city inspectors report and if the Health Department should be
notified.
Linda
Smith – Shared that she had complaints on smoking at the
Riverfront Park. She asked that an area be designated for smoking.
Smith also spoke on the great job that the summer employees have done at
the pool and that she was not able to have her letter to the editor in
the Point Pleasant Register published that dealt with a recent front
page article on the city.
Sam
Juniper – Advised council that someone is still living in the
camper on the weekends around Ohio Street in the alley. Juniper
spoke on the broken concrete on McNeil Ave, and a pot hole at the
intersection of Lincoln Ave, 28th Street and Chandler Drive. In
the Bellmead area the need for more police patrol and to have the city
inspector to see Charles Heib on the house that is vacant at 3210 Howard
Ave that Mr. Heib had asked to have looked into at the July city council
meeting. Also Juniper wanted to know about trash pick up at the
Pat Brown residence that he had spoke on at the July meeting and when
the street department will be cleaning up the area where the former
miniature golf course was located at Krodel Park.
ADJOURNMENT
Being
no other business, Marshall Bonecutter made a motion to adjourn.
Linda Smith added the second and being unanimously approved, the meeting
adjourned at 9:14 p.m.
_______________________________
Leonard F. Riffle, Mayor
______________________________
Brian Billings,
City
Clerk
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