Wheeling Splash Pad Plans Spring a Leak
Eric Ayres/File WHEELING -- Most public swimming pools in the Ohio Valley are now officially open, but plans to bring new splash pads to various neighborhoods in Wheeling seem to have sprung a leak.
In fact, one member of Wheeling City Council recently called out his fellow council members publicly, questioning the legality of procedures used to bring proposed splash pad purchases to the floor for a full-council vote.
Councilman Dave Palmer during the most recent meeting of Wheeling City Council asked City Solicitor Rosemary Humway-Warmuth for her legal opinion about a vote on the splash pad issue during a committee meeting that was held on a Friday afternoon in May -- a time when some council members apparently were unavailable.
"On Friday, May 12, there was a Health and Recreation Committee meeting held, at which time splash pads were voted on and passed to be sent to council," Palmer said before a packed house during the public council meeting last month. "This was not on the agenda. Is that a proper thing to do or is that a legal thing to do? Can they take that action when it's not on the agenda?"
The city solicitor indicated that it was not proper procedure.
"Any items that are not on the agenda are not subject to official votes of business of the body, whatever the topic or the subject matter is," Humway-Warmuth said.
"Thank you," Palmer said. "I recommend that this action taken by the Health and Recreation Committee be termed null and void since it was not a legal action."
Mayor Glenn Elliott questioned whether or not the item was listed in the announcement about the meeting or on the schedule of topics for discussion.
"Was the topic of splash pads on the agenda or was it not?" he asked.
"It was not," said City Clerk Jessica Zalenski. "It was discussed under the general playground updates."
Palmer subsequently noted that a funding source for the splash pads in question -- one for the area of Heritage Port and another for the Warwood Pool -- has never been identified.
"No discussion regarding splash pads has ever been presented before the Finance Committee," said Palmer, who chairs that committee.
Councilwoman Rosemary Ketchum, who chairs the Health and Recreation Committee, said the fact that the topic of splash pads was not specifically listed on the agenda was simply an oversight.
"It was a technicality," Ketchum said. "I was intended to be on the agenda, but mistakenly not added."
Ketchum added that she expected the issue to come up in the near future, indicating that it was unclear whether or not the topic would be discussed during another Health and Recreation Committee meeting - which may not take place again until July.
"I believe there may be an attempt to bring it to council sometime in the future," she said.
Late Friday, the City Clerk's office released the agenda for Tuesday's Wheeling City Council meeting. Among the many items scheduled to be introduced during the meeting -- one in which Palmer is expected to be unavailable -- is an ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds in the amount of $66,000 with CT Consultants of Mentor, Ohio, for professional engineering services for WesBanco Arena and Warwood splash pads, to be charged to the city's federal pandemic relief funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.
In January, council unanimously approved a similar ordinance for engineering services by CT Consultants in the amount of $15,420 for design work that included plans for a number of splash pads in the city, as well as the requirements for utility access to electricity sources and water lines.
Design work aside, Palmer noted that the initial estimates to install the splash pads in Warwood and at Heritage Port range from up to $375,000 to as much as $400,000 or more.