City Council Monday night at Huntington City Hall asked many questions as water and sewer issues were re-codified. Bryan Bracey, the water board chief, introduced and expounded on many pertinent topics including swimming pool’s and rose garden’s water meter exemptions, waste grease impacts and enforcement and current Mercury levels, under detailed questioning by Tia Rumbaugh and Patrick Jones.
Fifty seven Huntington swimming pools with (5,000 gallon) annual fill-up exemptions will be “grandfathered” into the new ordinance, but no new sewer rate offsets will be offered to builders or purchasers of pools. Eighteen garden water exemptions are also protected. Rumbaugh asked if any commercial industries had waste water exemptions and Racey said no companies were exempt and that no new exemptions had been approved in many years, emphasizing that the state Public Service Commission has encouraged Huntington to end all water and sewer rate exemptions in City code.
Council member Patrick Jones asked questions about penalties for improper waste grease disposal and the impact of grease in the waste water facilities. Racey explained that grease didn’t directly corrode pipes but fats trap solid particles and organic materials underground. In a detailed reading of the many new amendments council member Rumbaugh sought clarification about Mercury, which is removed and closely monitored. Apparently the recent cleaning and flushing of lines has raised Mercury baselines slightly, Racey said.
In a related unanimous vote, the sewer “bond anticipation note” was extended — as the water quality board attempts to gain standing to issue a standard municipal bond for approved sewer upgrades. The current, now extended, “anticipation bond” has paid for major overdue pump station rehabilitation at 11th Street and the Ohio River, Bracey said. (In a comical interlude, Rumbaugh and Racey clarified the meaning of homonyms “Haulers” and “Hollers” — in relation to the disposal of grease.) Eventually Mayor Williams requested that council members meet privately with Bracey, as the detailed questions and byplay on the first reading of the water quality amendments left him “flummoxed;” and the meeting agenda moved on.
In other business, Dave Traube, the chief marketing officer at Marshall, was appointed to the board of directors of the Huntington Convention Bureau by unanimous vote of council. Council also approved a grant from the West Virginia jobs development council to fund extending sewer service to the Sunset Drive district in Huntington.
Cathy Burns addressed the podium to confirm Huntington’s federal American rescue plan (Home ARP) funding grant of $2,437,000, primarily for the homeless and at risk of homeless in Cabell and Wayne counties. One point eight million dollars in the new HUD funding can go to new construction or rehabilitation. Mr. Jones expressed an interest in funding “Tiny Housing” as a contemporary adjunct to standard multi-family and single renter housing models. City planner Kathy Keifer informed the Council that the money, 1.8 million dollars, would probably build only eight housing units, at an expected cost of roughly $234,000 per new housing unit.
Resolution 2023 R-26 was the major legislation agenda item passed Monday, as they approved the annual Budget. Mayor Williams thanked the City department heads and Council members for the six weeks of collaboration on the budget.
In public comments Josh Keck, of Staunton Road, protested the $100,000 for sidewalks, saying he was irked that only one dollar out of every 700 (0.014%) was intended for city sidewalks. “Sidewalks are crumbling … I have scars on my arms from falling on these crumbling sidewalks when I’m out for a run.” Keck strongly criticized the City policy that homeowners are responsible for their own frontage sidewalks, saying “it doesn’t work, it doesn’t make sense, let’s get rid of that, sidewalks are for the community.”
Finally, about $30,000 was earmarked to Arcade Construction for drainage work on Memorial Drive as requested by Public Works director Mark Bates. InstaTurf was preferred for this work, although a member of the public, Matt Kazee, lobbied council for solid rock, despite a four to one cost difference.
In the closing general remarks, Council member Tia Rumbaugh again advocated for public restrooms in Pullman Square.