The appointment of Deputy Chief of Police was made at the Tuesday night Lewisburg City Council meeting with the installation of Jeffrey Vance to the position.

Chief Chris Teubert, who was appointed only last month as the chief of police, pinned on Vance’s insignia during the ceremony. Teubert said the department will be conducting testing for the sergeant position vacated by Vance. Later in the meeting, when giving his police report, Teubert credited Vance as being the state’s expert on law concerning domestic violence.

In other business:

• City Attorney Tim Stranko came from Morgantown to describe an ordinance to amend the city code, which, he said, is subordinate to the city’s charter. The amendment fixes all typos and deletes certain code sections that will be inserted into the city’s charter, so that the code mirrors the charter. “The Charter,” Stranko said, “is the city’s constitution.” The ordinance was approved on first reading during the meeting.
• The city will have a new planning and zoning officer with Chuck Smith’s retirement from city service at the end of the month. The mayor thanked Smith for his guidance in planning and zoning efforts. Smith, he said, “has a good way with people.” The zoning officer is often considered the “bad guy,” but Smith has handled the job with “grace, dignity and professionalism.” Gary Ford will take over the position in April.
• Ashley Barton presented a petition with 500 signatures in support of a ban on pesticides, including Round Up on all parks and green spaces in the city. She said cities and states around the country have joined together to ban pesticides. She asked that the City say, “Yes, we will work on this plan to establish a maintenance regime plan to ban pesticides in a one year initiative.” If completed, Lewisburg can apply to become a Bee City U.S.A., Barton said. Mayor John Manchester said the city will contact Barton for how to move forward on the initiative.
• Linda Terek Ball spoke on behalf of an elderly neighbor whose property sits beneath the limbs of large Maple trees planted on another neighbor’s property. The elderly woman, who, at 95 years of age, labors every fall raking the heavy load of leaves that blanket her yard. They clog the drains as well, Ball said. She asked for assistance from the city to consider expanding the language of a nuisance clause, which states a nuisance is interference with the enjoyment of property, and to include property damages with regard to health and sanitation issues.

“This is not cool!” Ball exclaimed. “We have a need here.”

Manchester said, “We’ll take this issue under consideration, and research into it to see if there is anything we can do. There are legal issues here to address.”