The Town of Grantsville Council Meeting was once again a hotbed of contentious conversations as the room filled with city and county residents came to voice their opinions on the upcoming rate hike and City 1% sales tax addition.
Mayor Robert Petrovsky and councilmembers, Emily Collins, Emilee Morgan, and Cheryl Sturms, with Recorder Judy Powell fielded questions and concerns for the nearly two hour meeting.
Opening up with Citizens Concerns, Gaylord Ford protested his $40 fee for setting up merchandise sales alongside the road in city limits stating vehemenently that he should not pay for his sales spot if the City was going to continue letting others operate for free. The Mayor denied knowing anything about others operating but other council members and office staff noted that they were aware of two such sales people occurring on a regular basis. The Mayor said that he would look into it and make sure it was fair across the board.
Mr. Ford continued with a noise complaint for barking dogs in the area and the towns inability to enforce the noise ordinance. Mayor Petrovsky noted that they’d sent law enforcement out on several occasions but the dogs had stopped by the time the police appeared. Ford also mentioned that there was a dog on High street that was tied up but put people in fear, to which the Mayor said as long as it was on a leash there was nothing that could be done.
The conversation became heated even further when cats became a part of the conversation. The issue with strays has gotten extremely serious with several residents complaining about property damage and the stench. WAG, the Welfare of Animals Group has attempted to assist the city with their spay and neutering of the animals but the issues continue due to multiple people feeding the strays and encouraging them to stay. The Mayor said there was little that could be done about this issue without a shelter or another method to get rid of the cats. Larry Whited suggested to the Mayor that he contact the WV Department of Agriculture for assistance.
Teresa Overton addressed the council as to the need to appoint another councilmember to replace Councilwoman Kimberly Sweat who stopped attending meetings several months ago. Teresa informed the Mayor and council that she would be throwing her hat back into the ring once again to which the Mayor responded by saying they weren’t going to appoint anyone at the present time and the municipal league had informed them they had no time constraints. Ms. Overton suggested that the council was dragging it’s feet and it was a little too obvious and unprofessionally so that the council did not feel the need to fill the position.
Questions arose about the City Service fee that was intended for the purpose paying for law enforcement. The Mayor informed those raising the question that the money was being used for street projects being that there was no way they could currently hire due to the unavailability of qualified officers to apply. The Mayor was also questioned as to how many people were currently being paid out of the water funds to which the Mayor responded that there were currently 3 and 1/3 staff paid out of the water department funding.
Crystal Mersh was the last to address the council under concerned citizens telling the Mayor and Council that she had delivered a petition opposing the current 60% rate increase for water to the WV Public Service Commission with 205 signatures, more than meeting the required 25% of the 375 residents. She stated that only three people in the city had refused to sign the petition and that the businesses were very concerned as to the effect this would have on them. There is a meeting being scheduled with the WV PSC, Charlotte Lane and the businesses to share their concern for economic development and the damage a rate increase might due. Mrs. Mersh shared her concern that the Town was failing to understand the effect their previous 60% sewer increase, the current request of a 60% water increase and a 1% sales tax addition would have on the revitalization that was happening in Calhoun County.
The offer to assist the Town in putting together a financial plan for sustainability was met with more resistance with Mrs. Mersh suggesting that the Mayor follow up on his offer to resign if he couldn’t get the job done.
In an argumentative state the Mayor said that they did have conversations about the City needing resources but accused Mrs. Mersh of “wanting everyone to do for her, and suggested that that her asking them to accept the lights had nothing to do with helping the infrastructure of the town and that she asked them to fill her pool up, which they did and that she hadn’t presented anything that was good for the infrastructure of the city.” Mayor Petrovsky continues to ignore the fact that The 1982 Foundation has invested Millions of dollars into their City through Foundation projects, but rather chose to focus on the fact that Grantsville was one of the few towns in the state that didn’t have a b&o tax or a sales tax and that people were willing to pay Parkersburg 6% more to shop in their city. “The water increase is much needed” and he suggested that Grantsville’s rates were no where near the comparison of outfits like WV American Water.
When the suggestion of consolidation came into the conversation the Mayor said that the city had worked for eight months putting together a proposal for consolidation that was ignored by the county government and state, costing the city a lot of money for attorney fees and that they would no longer invest their funds in that opportunity. In the midst of this conversation the Mayor announced that Chief Operator Craig Gherke would be resigning in May leaving the town once again without a certified Operator. The Mayor believes that the Town can get a waiver from the State of West Virginia to allow an uncertified operator to run the plant, being that he has passed his Class I and is soon to take the Class II test. This operator does not however have the required in plant hours to justify his licensing. To which the Mayor quipped that Operator Craig Gherke was unclear on how many hours he would say that the operator had.
Certified water Plant Operators are few and far between in the State of West Virginia to the level of crisis, and yet the State continues to ignore the need for additional methods of obtaining certified operators.
Businessman and County Commission Candidate Eric Lupardus asked the Mayor if he would return to those negotiations if the County Cooperated under the current new leadership. The Mayor said that he would consider it.
Larry Whited asked the Mayor if they Town had a full time grant writer. The question was met with more contention over the fact that the councils current method of writing their own grants didn’t enough. Mr. Whited suggested that a successful grant writer would more than pay for themselves.
After several more outbursts of personalities, the meeting ended with little resolved on any matter.
The conclusion of the meeting was the first reading of the 1% sales tax and the payment of bills.
The entire meeting can be viewed on Ridgeview News Facebook Page.
