TOP STORIES OF 2024: A New City Council Takes the Reins in Wheeling

photo by: Eric Ayres (file)
New Wheeling City Council members pose on the steps of the Capitol Theatre on July 1. In front, from left, are Jerry Sklavounakis, Mayor Denny Magruder and Ben Seidler. In back, from left, are Dave Palmer, Connie Cain, Ty Thorngate and Tony Assaro.
WHEELING — A new chapter in Wheeling’s history opened in 2024 when members of the new city council took their seats this past summer.
In July, new Mayor Denny Magruder and six other council members took the oath of office. Four incumbent council members retained their seats, while Magruder and two other newcomers to council — Ward 1 representative Tony Assaro and Ward 3 representative Connie Cain — took their seats for the first time this past summer.
All council posts — including the mayor’s seat — are up for grabs at the same time every four years. Only the mayor’s seat has a term limit – of two four-year terms.
The 2024-28 Wheeling City Council includes Magruder, a familiar face in the city who for decades served as executive director of WesBanco Arena and the Capitol Theatre. He said this council moving forward will be focused on building strong relationships – with the community, with officials from the state and Ohio County, and with each other. Both Assaro and Cain won contested races for positions in which previous incumbents did not seek reelection – instead their predecessors ran mayoral bids that fell short.
Cain became the first Black woman to be elected to Wheeling City Council and the first Black council member to take office since the 1970s.
Veteran Councilmen Ben Seidler of Ward 2, Jerry Sklavounakis of Ward 4, Ty Thorngate of Ward 5 and Dave Palmer of Ward 6 also won contested races earlier this year to earn their next four-year terms. Magruder named Sklavounakis his vice mayor.
This year’s council comes to the helm as major, multimillion-dollar investments from both the public and private sectors continue to pour into the Friendly City. From the state’s Downtown Streetscape Project to WVU Medicine’s planned regional cancer center at the site of the former Ohio Valley Medical Center, Wheeling’s landscape is changing dramatically.
While the new Wheeling City Council inherited momentum from a flurry of investments and new projects, members also took charge of city finances at a time when post-COVID windfalls of federal pandemic relief funds have dwindled. The spending rituals that had become routine when city coffers were brimming with Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds are expected to be reined in during this term. City finances have been reported to be strong but much tighter than in recent years.
In 2024, the city’s new camping ban went into effect, and the homeless population was located to an exempted area along Wheeling Creek. This new council is expected to continue addressing issues with the homeless community. Beginning in 2025, a new pedestrian-motorist ordinance takes effect that will essentially ban panhandling along city streets.
Looking ahead, this council is expected to adopt the city’s new 10-year Comprehensive Plan update and continue major infrastructure improvements – including water and sewer projects. In the coming months, council is expected to look at potential rate hikes for water and sewer services in order to generate funds for major improvement projects that are on tap.
Council is also expected to continue to work with WVU Medicine on the development of the new cancer center and help shepherd major projects in downtown Wheeling to fruition – including the proposed development of a new Wheeling Gateway and Visitors Center near the Suspension Bridge, various private investments in new downtown housing opportunities and the proposed $63 million downtown hotel, dining, retail and events center near WesBanco Arena.