photo by: Emma Delk

Moundsville Councilwoman Ginger DeWitt did not recommend bringing a discussion to amend the city charter to the full city council during Tuesday’s Policy Subcommittee meeting.

Moundsville City Council Policy Subcommittee members did not recommend revising the city charter to implement term limits for council members and to allow the mayor to be elected by public vote during Tuesday’s meeting.

Councilman Denny Hall, who is not a member of the policy subcommittee, brought the charter revision discussion to policy subcommittee members Councilman Randy Chamberlain and Councilwoman Ginger DeWitt. Policy subcommittee Chair Vice Mayor Sara Wood-Shaw was absent from Tuesday’s meeting.

Hall decided to bring the charter revision to council because he had previously discussed the charter revision with council members when he was not on council during the public input portion of council meetings. Hall added that “several people” had also discussed revising the charter with him when he ran for city council last year.

“Nothing against any council person here today, but I believe we need to set the term limits to two terms and then the council member has to sit out one (term),” he said.

Regarding the mayor’s election, the charter states that council members will elect council members to serve as mayor and vice mayor, each for a term of one year, during the last regular council meeting held in December of each year. The charter states the mayor’s duty to preside over council meetings and be “recognized as head of the city government for all ceremonial and military purposes” but have “no regular administrative duties.”

The charter does not limit council members’ terms.

City Attorney Thomas White outlined the three ways the charter could be amended during the meeting. The first option is for two-thirds of the council to vote to pass an ordinance to amend the charter. The second option is for the council to send whether to amend the charter “straight to a special election.” The third option is for 10% of qualified voters in Moundsville to sign a petition to hold a special election to decide whether to amend the charter.

Chamberlain did not recommend taking the charter amendments to council, as he would prefer residents to create a petition to amend the charter.

Chamberlain noted he did not like having to select among his colleagues who should serve as mayor if more than one council member “wants to be in the chair.” Regarding term limits for council members, Chamberlain said two consecutive terms was a “fine number,” but should be “left to the voters to decide.”

DeWitt also did not recommend taking the charter amendments to council. She said the mayor was “just a regular council person” that “still had one vote,” as their only duty was to run council meetings.

“All our mayor does is conduct the meeting. The Marshall County Board of Education operates the same way as city council. The board comes together and decides who they think would do the best job (as president), and that’s who is appointed as president, same as mayor.”

Mayor David Wood stressed the importance of residents being informed about what they were seeking to change when petitioning to amend the charter.

“I think it’s very easy to get the amount (of signatures) that is needed, but many people may not understand what is involved when we talk about (revising the charter),” Wood said. “It’s easy to go up to a resident and say, ‘Would you please sign this? It’s to elect a mayor.’ They may not understand that there is a lot more to it than that.”