City Hall News: Week of Sept. 12, 2022

Meeting this week are council’s Public Safety Committee, Finance Committee, ad hoc Special Hiring Committee, and Rules & Ordinances Committee. Also meeting are the Elkins Sanitary Board and the Elkins Tree Board. Council meets Thursday.

The Public Safety Committee meets Monday at 10 a.m. to hear reports from public safety officials.

On Monday at 1:30 p.m., the Finance Committee meets to discuss funding for the streetscape-design project and for asbestos abatement in a building on River Street slated for demolition. The committee will also take up the matter of waiving payments for use of the downtown sound system.

The Special Hiring Committee, which was formed to search for a new operations manager, meets Monday at 7 p.m. to plan next steps in the search process.

The Sanitary Board, which cancelled its August meeting, meets on Tuesday at 11 a.m. On the agenda are various personnel actions, discussion of an engineering needs assessment for the water and sewer systems, and discussion of policies for check valve installation and stormwater downspout connections. The board will also discuss the foam-filled sewer line under Randolph Avenue.

The Tree Board, which postponed last week’s meeting due to lack of a quorum, meets Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. The board will plan for a workshop with a representative of the West Virginia Department of Forestry, consider projects for spring of 2023, and discuss potential changes to the board’s structure.

Meeting Wednesday at 9 a.m., the Rules & Ordinances Committee will discuss nuisance dogs, free-roaming cats, and protocols and fees associated with enforcement of the new zoning code.

Council meets Thursday at 7 p.m. The agenda will be posted Monday and may be adjusted through Tuesday. Current agenda items include final readings of ordinances implementing recently granted home-rule authorities: raising the maximum age for new civil-service firefighters from 35 to 40; implementing a Municipal Court Administrative Fee of $45; and implementing a Municipal Court Technology Fee of $10. This meeting will also see the final reading of an ordinance that would raise water rates for all customers. Read more about the proposed water-rate increase here: www.cityofelkinswv.com/2022-water-rate-increase.

All meetings are open to the public and, unless otherwise stated, held at Elkins City Call (401 Davis Avenue). Find agendas and other meeting information here: www.cityofelkinswv.com/council-and-committee-meetings.