By Dakota Baker
Ronceverte City Council held its monthly meeting on Monday, June 3, at 7 p.m. The meeting opened with a public discussion regarding the City’s application for the Home Rule Program and the issues that would be addressed in the Home Rule application.
According to the West Virginia Department of Revenue website, “The West Virginia Legislature created the Municipal Home Rule Pilot Program in 2007. The enabling statute empowered municipalities participating in the program to be creative in addressing local problems by implementing ordinances, rules, and regulations not otherwise available because of the various one-size-fits-all statutes that apply to all municipalities. Bridgeport, Charleston, Huntington, and Wheeling were accepted as the first participants in the program.”
The Home Rule program would allow the City of Ronceverte to resolve certain issues in a timelier manner with fewer legal barriers. Examples include a Municipal Sales and Use Tax; the City of Ronceverte seeks to enact an ordinance that imposes a 1% municipal sales and use tax that would be administered, collected, and enforced by the State Tax Commissioner. This 1% tax would be used to fix things such as lighting, sidewalks, and roads within the City of Ronceverte.
“On the Spot” citations are another issue highlighted in the Home Rule application; building and zoning inspectors must currently follow an onerous process of first posting public notice 10 days prior (warnings) and then apply for approval from the City’s municipal court before a citation may be issued. Home Rule would allow the City of Ronceverte the authority to enact an ordinance providing its code enforcement officers the authority to issue “on the spot” citations for certain violations. This citation power would extend to sanitation, drainage, sidewalks in disrepair, high weeds, grass, or both, graffiti, exterior garbage accumulation, and open storage in residential districts.
The City of Ronceverte also proposes that it be permitted to convey real and/or personal property with a value in excess of $1,000 for fair market value without having to follow the auction procedure outlined in WV Code §8-12-18(b). Avoiding costly and time-consuming auction procedures and the possibility that the City would be precluded from conveying property for the desired use in a situation where the primary goal is to facilitate growth and/or to make available necessary and convenient resources for the benefit of Ronceverte and its residents.
Also proposed is a shortened period of time for forfeiture of structures when owners of properties that have been dilapidated or uninhabitable refuse to address code violations; the City of Ronceverte seeks to shorten the period of waiting after noncompliance from two years to a period of 12 months (together with the initial 120 days of property owner protections this change would allow the City to address dilapidated properties in 16 months instead of 28 months). The City also seeks to enact a policy where someone purchasing property at a tax lien auction must satisfy the municipality’s demo lien to obtain the title to the property. This means the highest bidder present at the sale must bid and pay the amount of taxes, interest, and charges for which the lien on any real estate is offered for sale, in addition to paying the City’s demolition lien before the sheriff can issue a Certificate of Sale for the purchase money.
City Council is required to have one public hearing which will be held on July 1. The public discussion held this past Monday was held as a courtesy by the council to inform the public and answer any questions. General information regarding the Home Rule Programcan be found at https://revenue.wv.gov/HomeRule/Documents/HomeRule.Guidelines.pdf. Anyone with further questions can call City Hall and schedule a meeting with Pam Mentz between now and the July 1 public hearing.
The rest of the meeting consisted of approval of minutes from the May 6 Council meeting, followed by old business items, including discussing an ordinance that the City of Ronceverte is required to pass in order to apply for the Home Rule Program. This Ordinance requires two readings; the first was done during the June 3 meeting, with the second reading occurring on July 1. Council members approved the first reading of ordinance 2024-03. Present for this reading were council members Mark Trent, Gail White, Tonya Hazelwood, Leah Smith, Ashley Guet, and Mayor Deena Pack.
The wastewater-related business was next on the agenda with a discussion of resolution #2024-04; this was for the review and approval related to the purchase and installation of new Ultraviolet Disinfection equipment in the sewer treatment plant, which was approved by the council. Additionally, for water-related business, there was a budget amendment for the project. This was due to the removal of project administration fees from the CDBG budget, as the IJDC Grant will pay those fees. The budget amendment was approved by the council. The CSX 1011161 Facility Encroachment Agreement, which will allow the City of Ronceverte to go under the railroad for the water project, was also approved by council members.
For new business, Sally Parker was approved by council members to be reappointed to another 5-year term on the Public Library Board of Trustees. Finally, resolution # 2024-05, which is a revision to the 2023-2024 budget, was approved by council members. According to Pam Mentz, this was revenue being dispersed around to level things out for the year.