By Leigh C. Merrifield
Shinnston City Council met on Monday, February 9 th in Council Chambers.Executive Reports from both the Mayor and City Manager were the first order of business.
Mayor Pat Kovalck noted that the severe winter weather has brought attention to some needed repairs and renovations at the Police Station and some aspiring plans for a few changes at the City Building as well.
This was further discussed later in the meeting.
City Manager Tori Drainer has been working on next year’s budget and has met with Union representatives to negotiate their three-year contract proposal.
This too was discussed further later as an action item.
Stantec engineer Richard Gaines stated that the timeline is nearing to begin movement on Phase 3 (the final stage) of Shinnston’s water project that was initiated many years ago. The estimated expenses will be gathered as to how much this will cost and will be submitted to Council when it is prepared.
Councilman Rodney Strait reiterated that one resident is still upset about not being able to move freely in and out of his driveway during Food Pantry pickups.While Council members sympathized with the complaint, it was also noted that weather related effects had a lot to do with it. Strait stated, “The most efficient place to quickly load cars with food and other necessities is in the alley, and our volunteers work as quickly as they possibly can to prevent long delays.
Unfortunately, due to the fact that clearing roads brings about pushing large amounts of snow, that has prohibited two-way traffic in that alley.” It was suggested that since Food Pantry pickup only takes place for three hours, one day per week, perhaps from 9 a.m. until noon on that ONE DAY per week, the alley could be declared a “loading zone”. The City Manager said she would check into the legality of doing that.
Mrs. Drainer stated that she had already consulted with the Public Works Director and they had focused on a project list for the upcoming months.
While they are anxious to repair pot holes, this will depend on the snow melting so they can better determine how much damage was done during the winter.
Other Spring projects to be addressed include: painting the fire hydrants and updating the flow color coding that indicates the size of the lines running into them; this is scheduled to be done in March. In April, street sweeping will begin along with painting traffic lines and curbs. Hydrant flushing with the Fire Department will take place in May – with section locations to be named at a later date.
Action items included:
*After noting the hard work put forth by the City’s workforce, Council voted to authorize the City Manager to negotiate with the Union based on reasonable contract recommendations that she had presented to Council.
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It was noted that well over a year ago, the Police Chief had asked that some renovations be considered at the Police Station. Recently a gutter has come off, a roof leak has been detected, and some black mold has been spotted. Considering that the latter is unhealthy, Council decided that this was more of a priority and that it should be addressed first, before considering any upgrades to the City Administrative Building. Approximate costs will be estimated.
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Discussion of the current Levy that will expire in 2027 was tabled for a future meeting.
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Council once again reviewed code enforcement of nuisance properties. Duane Vincent, who has served as the city’s Code Enforcement Officer for around two years, said letters to negligent property owners had been sent when he first started in this position and have since been sent again and once again ignored. Vincent added, “These property owners need to be held responsible, and if they don’t respond to mailed letters, I think it is part of my job to get their attention and I will just go knock on doors if these owners live locally.” The City Manager commented that since Home Rule has now given the City the authority to enforce the rules, they hope this will more effectively impose the message they are trying to convey.