Grantsville’s Town Council met on Monday, December 5th, 2022 with all council present, excluding recorder, Tosh Shock.
Following approval of the November minutes, citizens concerns were considered where Silver Marks mentioned bags of trash on the the corner of River and Court that were not picked by Waste Management. The trash had been there for some time and there was concern it would be torn and strewn by animals. Mayor Robert Petrovsky said that he would have city staff remove it.
City Officer Kayla Ware has been accepted to Fairmont State College Police Academy for Chief Certification. Following her successful completion the town will owe a fee of $1,500.00 to the Academy. Ware will be hired full time as Grantsville City Chief on December 16, 2022, Monday through Friday doing administrative work until the Academy. Her pay rate will be at $10.00 an hour until certification at which time she’ll receive a raise.
The traffic Island in town has had the flag poles removed and will soon have a new 25 foot flag pole installed with new American and WV State flags. It was determined to that the custom made County flag was too expensive and would not be replaced. Mon Power will finish the project by adding electric to the island once the pole is installed.
Grantsville’s Employee Christmas Dinner will be on December 14th in the kitchen area of city building at 12:30 p.m. All staff and employees to bring a pair of gloves of their own for an activity and a meal will be provided.
Fred Hypes, of Dunn Engineering updated the Town on the continuing water project. A progress meeting was held on Monday with the Mayor, City Staff, Engineers and the Construction Company advising that the new generator will be started on Tuesday, the clarifier will be installed in January, as well as the meter and telemetry system. The pumps could be installed in February with the project on schedule for a March completion when the plant will be back to full production.
Luke Peters of the Mid Ohio Valley Regional Council reported to the Mayor that they were currently looking at funding through the Army Corp of Engineers to assist in the replacement of 50% of the waterlines in the city. A project estimated at 4 million dollars to complete according to Fred Hypes of Dunn Engineering. Army Corp 571 Project Partnership Agreements, (PPA), is a legally binding agreement between the Government and a non-Federal sponsor (state, municipal government, flood control district, port authority, etc.) for construction of a water resources project. With costs paid up front by the city, a reimbursement of 75% would be paid by the Army Corp of Engineers allowing the town to get the water system at a sustainable level.
A discussion between Peters and Hypes on a possible suspicion and testing of lead in the homeowners lines from the meter to the house , and whether or not it would be covered by the grant. Grant funding would be sought to cover the cost of the testing and replacement of the lines from the meter to the house, at which time the line responsibility would become the home owners once again. Lead was outlawed in the late 70’s, brass fittings were outlawed in the late 80’s.
Mayor Petrovsky reported that the auditor was recently in and discovered a “large chunk” of surplus money in the water project account. It was determined that the money had been set aside for a bond withdrawal that was never made. It was not stated how much the surplus was.
Jake Frady of the Mid Ohio Valley Regional Council requested draw down for the current water project in the amount of $298028.43 to Orders Construction, $4300.00 Interest payment to the USDA adn $6352.07 to Dunn Engineering for a total of $308,608.50, which was approved by the council for payment.
The long awaited progress announcement on the Rainbow Hotel Demolition Project finally came from Luke Peters, MOVRC. The first advertisement for bids was ran in newspapers last week and invitations were sent out to multiple contractors to bid on the project. Sealed bids must be received by noon on December 22nd to be considered. A pre-bid meeting will be held at the Town office on December 12th at 10 a.m. where a representative from the bidding companies must be present to be eligible. A site inspection will be done that day. Each contractor will be required to have a $1 million dollar insurance policy in case of liability damages. The bids will be open on December 22, 2022 at which time the low bid will be awarded with 60 days to complete the demolition. Once the building is down the ground will be cleaned of debris and reseeded.
The Council entered into executive session, with payment of bills and adjournment to follow. Next meeting will be held January 3, 2023.
Those present at the meeting was Mayor Robert Petrovsky, Council Members Judy Powell, Linda Staton, Cheryl Sturm, Dorothy McCauley, and William Villers. Others attending were, Fred Hypes, Luke Peters, Jake Frady, Kayla Ware, Silver Marks, Lee and Emily Morgan, Trooper J. D. Richards, Garnet Husk, Gaylord Ford, Shari Johnson, Newton Nichols, Eric Cain, Jesse Davis, and Michael Plato.
