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City Officials Talk User Fee, Public Safety Building

Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott, right, speaks to a crowd of Ward 1 residents at a town hall meeting held Monday evening at the Warwood United Methodist Church.

WHEELING — The city’s mayor and vice mayor spoke about city issues and answered questions from Ward 1 residents at a town hall meeting held Monday evening in Warwood.

Mayor Glenn Elliott and Vice Mayor Chad Thalman talked with residents about topics such as the upcoming user fee and Wheeling’s proposed public safety building at the meeting, hosted by the Warwood Lions Club at the Warwood United Methodist Church. The town hall meeting served as the first of a series of meetings Elliott and Thalman plan to hold across the city’s wards in the future.

Part of the conversation at the meeting centered on Wheeling’s user fee, a $2 weekly tax on people who work within the city limits that is set to go into effect on Jan. 1. Earlier in October, the city announced that its regulations and guides for the fee are available for residents to access either online at wheelingwv.gov or in-person at the City-County Building.

Wheeling City Council passed an ordinance enacting the fee, also referred to as a city service fee, on Aug. 20. Elliott said he has observed a false perception that council passed the ordinance despite voters saying no to the fee in the November 2018 election.

In reality, Elliott said, voters said no to a property tax levy for a proposed $21 million public safety building, which 54 percent of voters supported. The city then went back to the drawing board and considered other funding options, ultimately deciding on the user fee.

When asked by a resident if the user fee would apply to all Ohio County Schools employees, for example, Elliott confirmed that only those who work within city limits would have to pay it.

Those who work multiple jobs in the city would only have to pay the fee once, Elliott said. Employers will take the fee out of people’s paychecks, and self-employed individuals will have to give quarterly payments. In addition, $1 of the fee would go toward the public safety building, while the other $1 would go toward infrastructure. City Council’s Public Works Committee plans to meet at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday in the City-County Building to discuss Wheeling’s infrastructure priorities for the next 10-15 years, Elliott said.

Another major topic of discussion was the city’s proposed public safety building. In July, City Council heard a proposal to construct a $14.5 million structure which would combine the city’s police and fire department facilities at a property on 19th and Jacob streets in East Wheeling.

Elliott said he hopes for City Council to make a decision on the building before the user fee goes into effect in January. Such a matter would likely appear on the body’s agenda in November or December, he said.

Elliott and Thalman noted that the city’s police and fire headquarters are in poor condition and lack space needed to perform essential duties.

“In 2016, (City Council) took the option to tour all the fire stations around town and police headquarters. I was absolutely shocked and disappointed that it had gotten to this point,” Elliott said. “It’s not a physical space that’s conducive to 21st century law.”

The 19th Street property, owned by Wheeling resident Frank Calabrese, is the main option that the city is considering for the combined building. City Council does not intend to accept the initial $534,000 asking price for the site, Elliott said, and the city is working on negotiating purchasing the property.

The city recently conducted an appraisal and is in talks with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regarding environmental abatement of the site, Elliott said. The site contains a vacant factory building with asbestos, and the city aims to obtain a grant through the EPA’s Brownfields Program, he said.

Thalman said he expects the city could try to use eminent domain on the 19th Street property if Calabrese doesn’t accept a counter offer. That would likely go to court and then a judge would decide what the property is worth, he said. Elliott said he is skeptical of the city utilizing eminent domain for a private property but said it is an option Wheeling should consider.

When asked for a timeline on the project, Elliott said construction of the building would take 18 months on top of the demolition and environmental cleanup process. If it’s determined that the cleanup would take two years, for instance, then the site wouldn’t be a viable option, Elliott said.

Also at the meeting, Elliott said he rejects the notion that City Council has only focused on downtown Wheeling.

“If you look at where we spend our money as a City Council, it’s been on paving, parks and playgrounds,” Elliott said. “I didn’t realize until I started knocking on doors how bad our playgrounds are. These playgrounds are very expensive, but for almost 30 years they weren’t a priority of the city.”

Since 2016, the city has replaced roughly a third of the city’s playgrounds and plans to continue the improvements, he added.

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