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WHEELING -- Purchases for the city's police and fire departments and a year-end budget review are on tap this evening when Wheeling City Council members meet.
The second regular city council meeting of the month is scheduled to take place at 5:30 p.m. tonight in council chambers inside the City-County Building on Chapline Street downtown. Prior to the council meeting, members of the Finance Committee of Council are slated to meet at 4:45 p.m. to review the June financial report and the end-of-year budget. The city's fiscal year 2022-23 ended on June 30.
City leaders enter the new fiscal year without an abundance of federal pandemic relief funds at their disposal. Council members are poised to distribute the last of the city's American Rescue Plan Act funding to a handful of unfunded projects in the coming weeks.
Among those final ARPA distributions is a $350,000 purchase of a new ambulance for the Wheeling Fire Department. A resolution for this purchase is up for approval during tonight's regular council meeting. Officials have noted that even if the city approves the purchase, a new ambulance is not expected to be delivered for at least two years because emergency response vehicles are on a lengthy backorder.
An ordinance for emergency demolition of 116-14th St. using ARPA funds is also on tonight's agenda. The legislation would authorize a demolition contract in the amount of $34,000 with Edgco Inc. of Lansing to perform the work.
Two new ordinances for additional fire department expenditures are also scheduled to be introduced during this evening's council meeting. An ordinance to spend $50,390 with Wheeling Heating and Cooling Inc. of Martins Ferry and another ordinance for $39,500 with Yahn Electric Company Inc. of Wheeling are up for first readings. Both contractors submitted the lowest bids for the jobs.
These upgrades are for heating, air conditioning and electrical upgrades for Station 4 in South Wheeling. Officials plan to use funds generated by the City Service Fee or User Fee to pay for the improvements.
Another significant purchase for emergency services in the city is also up for a first reading tonight. An ordinance to spend $185,694 with Jim Shorkey Auto Group of Irwin, Pa., is set to be introduced during the regular council meeting. The general fund purchase will be for five 2023 Dodge Chargers with police packages for the Wheeling Police Department. The unit price for each vehicle is $37,138, and the purchase -- if approved -- will be financed through WesBanco, according to the ordinance.
City leaders in recent years approved a proposed program to increase the police department's fleet to allow each officer to have their own vehicle. The department's fleet of vehicles had for years been on a constant rotation through different shifts of officers sharing the cruisers, which quickly racked up mileage, surpassed warranty thresholds and were subject to relentless wear and tear -- shortening each vehicle's lifespan in service.
City council is also expected to hear a first reading of an ordinance authorizing the city manager to expend funds in the amount of $22,126 with Glessner Wharton & Andrews Insurance LLC of Wheeling for cyber insurance, with portions of the total to be charged to the city's general fund, the Water Department and the Water Pollution Control Division.
Council will also consider a resolution to relocate the next upcoming Wheeling City Council meeting on Aug. 1 to Wilson Lodge at Oglebay Park. The meeting will still commence at 5:30 p.m. as previously scheduled.
Officials are relocating the meeting to Oglebay, where the city will be hosting the West Virginia Municipal League conference that week.