“You know, that’s another private meeting, having a meeting and nobody is aware of it. There was nothing posted,” Quattro said.
By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
Davis resident Lori Quattro confronted the Davis Town Council over the procedures used during the Council’s meetings. The confrontation came as a part of the Regular Town of Davis Council meeting on July 10th.
During her presentation to the council, Quattro presented each member with a packet of State Codes with sections pertinent to her presentation highlighted. “I handed you the West Virginia State Code Chapter 8a, Article 7, Section 7,” Quattro said. “I promised last time I was here last month when I was here in June, I was going to read you this section about the zoning ordinance issue.”
Quatrro also said Town of Davis Mayor Al Tomson had said that the zoning ordinance would be passed. “My first question to you is, when was this decision to pass this ordinance by council made?” Quattro said. “You said, ‘We are going to pass it,’ was the statement you made. I never heard a vote taken by anybody. There’s not a vote in the minutes of the planning commission to pass it. So where did that statement come from?”
Tomson said the statement was made based on a survey of the Town Council members, with most supporting the passage of a zoning ordinance. “The statement came from me based on feedback that I had individually from different council members and their opinions, but as far as to actually put it into effect, we would actually take a vote,” Tomson said. “But that was just based on opinion and what ahead I thought the way ahead would actually look like. But whatever we ended up doing or would end up doing would follow this code, as you pointed out, and it would be subject to proper procedures.”
Quattro said that per West Virginia Code, the zoning ordinance would need to be brought before a vote at the next general or primary election since it had been rejected by the voters of the town. “So, I’m looking at West Virginia Code Chapter 8a, Article 7, Section 7, letter f, it says, ‘If a zoning ordinance is rejected, which it was, the governing body may submit the zoning ordinance to the voters again at the next primary or general election, which is in November. This doesn’t say that another petition is required to be filed,” Quattro said.
Tomson said that Quattro was correct and that he had not recently reviewed the proper procedure. “You’re correct,” Tomson said. “I hadn’t read this lately. So, when I made me statement, it was based on thinking that the process would replicate the initial process, as opposed to there’s a twist to it.”
Quattro said that the meeting minutes for the June 11th meeting were not posted online until July 2nd and were posted unapproved by the Council. “The unapproved minutes for you June 11th meeting, because they have not been approved, was posted July 2nd online,” Quattro said. “And that is where I am getting that the minutes did not record a vote to pass the zoning ordinance after the citizens of Davis rejected that ordinance.”
Quattro also said that there was a Planning Commission meeting held in May that was not posted. “My next question: May 13 Planning Commission minutes had been posted on June 18 and it was signed June the 11th,” Quattro said. “No meeting agenda posted for that meeting. There’s nothing online, there’s nothing out there on the board. There was no agenda posted for that Planning Commission meeting and there was no meeting scheduled during the May Planning Commission meeting.”
Tomson said he was not sure where the break down for the meeting occurred, but that there was currently an Acting President of the Commission. “I don’t know what happened,” Tomson said. “As far as where the break down is. I’m not the head of the Planning Commission.”
Quatro accused the Town had been holding private meetings without the knowledge of the citizens or public. “I don’t know,” Quattro said. “You know, that’s another private meeting, having a meeting and nobody is aware of it. There was nothing posted.”
Quattro also said the current meeting had not been posted with enough notice, as it had been posted Monday for the Wednesday evening meeting. City office staff said that the delay in posting was due to the late announcement by Governor Justice on Friday as a State observed holiday and that Monday was the first opportunity the staff had to post the notice. According to Quattro, the three day notice window for the notice could not include holidays or weekends, but three working days. “The meeting tonight was not posted timely,” Quattro said. “It should have been posted last Wednesday. You did not give three days notice.”
In her last statement to the Council, Quattro said that she also supplied the Council with information on the law as it related to the media and recordings during meetings. “I put on here about citizens and media recordings of the meetings,” Quattro said. “Because there had been a question of last time when Channel 12 was brought in. Whether it was legal to have them here. And it is legal. You cannot keep the press out.”