Wheeling Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger - File photo

WHEELING — City Council heard from the chiefs of Wheeling’s police and fire departments on Tuesday, who spoke of the limitations of their current facilities and the need for a public safety building or other alternatives.

Fire Chief Larry Helms and Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger both addressed council at its meeting Tuesday evening about their ongoing need for more space after a tax levy to fund a $22 million Public Safety Building failed to gain the 60 percent of votes it needed to pass last November.

“I have never been involved in a project that is more justifiable than this. Hands down,” Schwertfeger said. “I ask that council make every effort to fund this because it’s the right thing to do.”

In the months since the election, city officials have discussed enacting a user fee to fund the proposed public safety building based on the fact that a majority of voters, 54 percent, were in favor of the facility. A user fee would tax people who work in Wheeling.

At council’s previous meeting Feb. 5, Councilman Dave Palmer suggested the city drop the current plan for the building, which would be built on a city-owned lot on Market Street, and consider other options. City Manager Robert Herron said the city is now looking to reopen the process of considering other sites.

Helms said the fire department still has the same needs it had before the election, including more space, more storage, better training and updated technology. The department’s headquarters also needs to be relocated within the next couple years, he said.

“This problem isn’t going to go away. All the issues are still there,” Helms said. “They are things that either this council or the next council are going to have to figure out a way to address.”

Helms also said the department has a total of $1.3 million in needs, adding that he requested $500,000 for the department’s budget to address immediate needs.

“Before the election, we had 4,650 square feet,” Schwertfeger said of Wheeling’s police department. “I’ve been a police officer for 28 years, and I can tell you that in order for us to be functional, we need (25,000) to 30,000 square feet. Today, we still have 4,650 square feet.”

Schwertfeger said his department lacks space to store equipment, store evidence, train officers and hold meetings.

Vice Mayor Chad Thalman thanked the chiefs for speaking and said he believes raising taxes is the only way to pay for new facilities.

During the public comment period of the meeting, two people spoke against the city’s idea to enact a user fee to fund a public safety building. Ed Calvert of Wellsburg and Sarah Stupak of Martins Ferry both said they believe it’s unethical and illegal to tax people who work in Wheeling but aren’t residents of the city. In response, Mayor Glenn Elliott cited the six other cities in West Virginia with user fees and City Solicitor Rosemary Humway-Warmuth said the state Supreme Court has already ruled in favor of user fees legality. Those cities are Charleston, Huntington, Morgantown, Parkersburg, Weirton and Fairmont.

Also at the meeting, council unanimously voted in favor of a proposition to temporarily lease land it owns on Wheeling Island to aid construction by the House of the Carpenter on a $2 million Youth Center. Elliott said the city will make an announcement regarding a planned park on that land, the Wheeling Island Gateway Park, today at 2:30 p.m. at the City-County Building, 1500 Chapline St.

Council also unanimously voted to approve transferring properties it owns on 1107 and 1109 Main Street to the Ohio Valley Area Development Corporation.

The move will allow the city to discuss renovating the structures with interested developers, Elliott said.

In addition, council approved spending for three water distribution projects, totaling about $440,000.