By Adam Pack
The Lewisburg City Council met this month to discuss a full agenda, including what action the city can take on the stalled plans for work on the sidewalks on Lafayette Street.
The work on Lafayette Street, encompassing only about 40 yards, has been in some sort of planning stage since 2011, but City Manager Misty Hill explained that most of the hold up has been related to the first bid. “The first bid we held only produced one bidder and no comparable bids were proposed. Since we did not get any other bids, we were allowed by law to throw out the bid, which we did, because we felt it was honestly just ridiculous.” As a result, the city was able to hold a second bid process and received a bid for $410,561.10. With the city having to pay a 13 percent contingency fee, the total bid for work amounts to $463,934.04. The city plans to pay this sum in installments with the first payment totaling roughly $63,000. Councilmembers were quizzical as to whether to proceed. While Hill explained that, “the city bears no liability for injuries on Lafayette,” as the sidewalk is owned in parts, by each of the respective businesses owners, she went on to say that, “someone recently broke their ankle there and had to go to the hospital, and it’s growing worse and worse every day.” All totaled, Hill advocated that the council begin the process and spend the funds required to repair the street to deal with the problem once and for all. Given that the other option was to simply abandon the idea of repairing the street and the hazard it does pose to Lewisburg citizens, the city did vote to approve moving forward the work on Lafayette Street.
The city also moved on whether or not to continue retaining the Mills Group, LLC as consulting engineers on the City’s Historic Landmark Commission. Hill voiced support for the group, stating, “Mills have done such great work with us and for us and I’m happy to propose a continuation of this relationship.” The city council agreed and did approve this motion.
In other news, the council approved a conditional use permit for Byron and Julia Black to operate an AirBnB at 372 Dwyer Lane. This was on the recommendation of the Planning Commission, however City Councilman and member of the Planning Commission John Little spoke at some length to discuss what a member of the public brought up during the public hearing on the conditional use permit. “We heard a very interesting caller at the Planning Commission meeting, who gave us a very well spoken and well researched discussion on the dangers of Airbnbs,” said Little. “In summary, the proliferation of short term rental properties in any city does create a problem for those in lower income brackets, as it raises home values and rents and can cause people to be priced out.” He explained that the issue is compounded by difficulty with dealing with the issue from above. “These companies that do short term rentals, as lots of companies and industries do, have people in Charleston who lobby. And in a word, they’re good at their job. Just about anything we could do to deal with the issue isn’t legally available to us. This is a problem that every city faces where people want to come and stay in, and so we want to help Lewisburg grow and see tourism here grow, but we also want to just be aware of this kind of thing.” Because of that aforementioned preclusion, the planning commission was unable to recommend anything but the approval of the permit, which the city council did.
The city also reviewed and approved Resolution 512, pertaining to invoices relating to engineering services for the stormwater assessment and management study. With the approval of this resolution the city authorized the payment of $10,216.51. These funds were drawn from the Community Block Development Grant. The city also approved a payment for the new public works building to the amount of $130,414.41, for invoices relating to the water systems improvement project in the amount of $2,097,338.85, and for the interest on the aforementioned water system improvement project at $131,310. The city also signed onto a five year note for a 2023 Dodge Durango for the city police department. The cost of $64,745 will be paid in $1,302.15 installments at an interest rate of 6.15 percent and is financed through Country Roads Leasing. The cost covers both the cost of the vehicle, as well as duty-specific outfitting and equipping.
The city was also happy to proclaim Jun. 15, 2023 as Elder Abuse Awareness Day in the city of Lewisburg. Mayor Beverly White stated that this proclamation comes as part of the city’s effort and commitment to “treat seniors with respect and dignity [and] build safer communities for Lewisburg,” further adding that seniors, “serve as leaders, mentors, volunteers and important active of members of the community [and] add to the wellbeing of all West Virginia communities.”
The Lewisburg City Council meets again on Jul. 11 at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers of City Hall. Interested parties should call 304-645-2080 ahead of time, as times and dates are subject to change.
