Grant coordinator for the city of Ronceverte, Doug Hylton, reporting to the city council at the Monday night meeting, advised the mayor and council that the expected costs to complete the downtown streetscape project would be around $425,000. The project, which has been ongoing for roughly 13 years, will finally see completion with the aid of the Department of Highways agreeing to combine two grants previously issued to the city. Hylton said a grant received in 2011 turned out to not be adequate to complete the sidewalks project. A second grant received in 2013, which was initially ear-marked for another aspect of Ronceverte’s streetscape, gave the project the needed funding when the DOH allowed the two grants to be combined, per council’s “change of scope” approval. The funds will come to approximately $418,000 to $420,000, bringing the needed funding within range of successful completion for the Edgar, Cedar, Maple and Frankford sidewalks upgrade.
Hylton also presented the mayor and council with two large folders of typewritten Minutes recording 75 years of the River City’s council meetings from 1882 to 1957, running to 2,135 pages and covering 1,650 meetings. He said the entire volume of interesting historic information will soon be available online.
In other business:
• City Administrator, Reba Mohler reported that the Community Garden, located at Island Park, will hold its official opening this Saturday, June 7, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with plenty of food, music and festivities. Council member Barbara Morgan added that the gardens are even now exploding with growth projecting an overflow of vegetables expected this summer. Mayor David Smith credited F & F Market in Fairlea for providing the hanging flower baskets on display around town. He also lauded Sally Baker and Sharon Schaefer for their hard work in getting the Community Gardens up and running. Baker said currently all garden plots are taken, but more beds will be added after the Ronceverte River Festival event.
• Freshly minted graduate, Melanie McIntire of Ronceverte was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by Mayor Smith for services rendered to the community as Youth Advisor to Ronceverte’s Parks and Recreation Committee. For the past two years Melanie has been helpful in providing programming and input services as the youth member of the committee. She will be leaving the area soon to attend West Virginia University in the fall.
