Parsons City Council held a special meeting on Tuesday, February 25, 2014 with reduced numbers. Unable to attend the meeting were councilmen Fansler, Gidley and Greenlief, howere a quorum was present.
Chief of Police Jon Jones addressed council regarding the schedule he is working and proposed changes. The changes are in response to a Public Safety Meeting that city representatives attended which recommended a schedule of an eight hour day, five days a week. Chief Jones currently works four 10 hour shifts. Chief Jones stated, “the ten hours allows the law enforcement officer sufficient time to answer complaints and do the required reports. For example, the handling of the complaint could take 15 minutes and the subsequent paper work (reports) could take 45 minutes.” Jones while explaining the pros and cons of each, proposed two varying schedules to the council which would comply with the recommendation. At this time, Chief Jones added, “I have been contacted by an individual who is interested in working part-time as an officer in Parsons. He already has his West Virginia certification and is currently not obligated full time in another position.” Council agreed to bring the schedule and the part-time suggestion before the Police committee for a recommendation.
Following Chief Jones presentation, a sometimes heated discussion occurred when council was made aware that going forward no federal or state funding could be used for the Corrick’s Ford Battlefield project due to it being a wetland. Council was understandably upset by this news and wondered how the area had been determined to be a wetland by the EPA. The grant monies that had previously been obtained for trails in this area would have to be used elsewhere for trails or streetscaping. Council voted to use the remaining funds for a streetscape project in the downtown area and to construct handicap accessible bathrooms and install trail lighting in the Mill Race Park, with Councilman Pete Roy being the only dissenting vote. Council will be required to use an on-call engineering firm, selected from a list of three, to handle these projects. Council chose to use E L Robinson Engineering.
At one hour and four minutes into the meeting Councilman Roy stated he had to leave. Following Roy’s departure, a quorum was no longer present. To be able to complete the business at hand, Councilman Greenlief joined the meeting by telephone.
The meeting continued and the following items were decided.
Council voted to submit an application for a Hazard Mitigation Grant to complete a Storm Water Management Project in the Pulp Mill Bottom and to designate City Administrator, Jason Myers as the city’s authorized agent for this grant.
Council voted unanimously to hire Toby Lane Hebb for the Water Distribution and Wastewater Collection System Technician Position at a wage of nine dollars per hour. Hebb was chosen based on recommendation of the Personnel Committee who stated that they had a number of excellant applicants, but Hebb had prior training and possessed some certification.
The next Parsons city council meeting will be on March 11, 2014 at 6 p.m. in the council chambers of the Charles W. (Bill) Rosenau Municipal Building.
