LEWISBURG, W.Va. (WVDN) – At the March meeting of the Lewisburg City Council, it was announced that a new opening date for the Greenbrier River Trail was announced as being midsummer 2023. Due to the mild weather during this past winter, the reopening date is now set for more than six months sooner than the original accelerated date of February 2024.
Construction on the water pipeline project under the trail is ahead of schedule, but City Manager Misty Hill stated that there is still much to be done.
Photos of the current water project were shared with the Council; original intake lines that had been replaced were also shown, as well as stonework done along the trail to prevent clogging of the culverts running under the trail.
“Many stones were retrieved from the excavation along the trail,” said Hill, and were placed above grade to mitigate water courses down the hillside.
In other water-related business, installation of water lines running through town are right now at the corner of Lee Street and GMS Avenue, approaching Dwyer. Trees were removed along the route last summer in anticipation of the water project.
Meanwhile, Hill reported, the public works building project is moving along, reaching the target grade.
“A lot of dirt had to be removed,” she said, stating the 750,000-gallon holding tank is so large “that it dwarfs the crane.”
Also, during the meeting, Mayor Beverly White proclaimed March as Social Work Month and lauded the social work industry as being on the “front lines.”
In other business, Hill proposed adopting and order calling for a levy election during the April city election. She said the last levy will expire, and a new 5-year levy proposal has been approved by the state auditor’s office, raising $2,750,165 over the next five years.
This levy will finance the city police, fire and streetlights. State law now requires levies be included in the regular election. The City Council approved her motion.
Councilperson John Little brought to the attention of Council that a dilapidated building is causing concern at the intersection of Walnut Street and Green Lane in downtown Lewisburg. There is a hole in the roof and the porch roof, he said, and windows are broken. Little stated the house appears to be abandoned, and efforts to make repairs have been lacking in results. Patches of odd materials and scraps left lying about makes it appear as if the owner “has not given a good faith effort to make the property livable,” he said.
Because of the safety hazard and the effect on adjacent property values, the Council will use legal consulting to determine the next steps to take.
“The owner of the property,” said Little, “is a lawyer themselves, and should know about legal issues.”
In other planning commission business, a recommendation to the council to approve a conditional use permit was approved for 249 Maple St. allowing the former 2-bedroom Airbnb to become a 3-bedroom facility.
Parks Commission member and Councilperson Sarah Elkins reported to Council that State Electric helped solve the lighting problems at Hollowell Park by ordering from an alternate supplier with a 6-month warranty. The lights should be installed by the end of May, she said.
Also, she said, higher fencing is being considered due to the fly balls from the ballpark raining into the pickleball courts, and divider fencing will be placed between the ball field and the playground.
Also:
• Project Graduation at Greenbrier East High School was awarded a grant from the video lottery of $4,000 for food on that evening.
• New River Community and Technical College was awarded $5,000 from the Arts and Humanities fund for a beautification project and scholarship.
• A contract with Summit Environmental Services for cleaning sedimentation basins was approved for $73,760. This will be for two cleanouts of the two basins over the next year.
• The water department was approved to purchase GPS surveillance, having already made the purchase as an emergency need, for $14,064.
• An emergency need by the police department for a server that preserves body cam and dash cam images was approved for $3,440.
• On the fire station project for Station 1, additional expense for GEO Technical Services to core drill were approved. There had been cores drilled prior to the project start, but now additional ones need to be done where the foundation will be supporting extreme weight.
• Jonathan Spence was appointed to parks crew leader with a pay raise of $1.50 per hour. The finance committee also submitted their recommendations to vote to accept general pay raises for staff. The recommendations were approved by Council, to take place on July.
In financial business, Councilperson Arron Seams reported for the finance committee on the results of their meetings on March 14 and 15 formulating an annual budget for 2024.
The Coal Severance Budget was passed as $10,000 income against $22,000 expense, using $12,000 carry over from 2023. Capital requests for the following were also approved: community development $25,000; City Hall $23,500; fire department fire truck purchase, $400,000; police department $29,770; public works department, $9,000; and parks department, $12,000.
Hill said that amounts expected from the bed tax have been kept very conservative, to ensure that the estimate will cover planned uses in the budget for police, fire and staff pay scale increases.
The total selected for the general fund budget is $9,128,425.00 for 2024. This budget plan will be sent to the state auditor for approval.
