accounting, council, council member, economics, employee, finance, jim nunez, john boyd, law, mike burk, ordinance, police
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, 2022-11-24 07:00:00,
On Monday, November 21, Winchester City Council held their normally scheduled meeting addressing a wide range of topics.
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barb bogart, council, dan hawkins, economics, kingsley, mayor, nate alger, politics, rob bogart, rod bogart
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, 2022-11-04 07:00:00,
KINGSLEY — In 1972 the Vietnam War was in full swing, Roberta Flack was crooning her way to the top of the charts, and the VW Beetle had kids slugging each other whenever they saw one on the road.
It was also the year Rod Bogart, who was 24, was appointed to the Kingsley Village Council. This month marks his 51st year, making him the longest currently-serving elected official in the state, according to the Michigan Municipal League.
Mary Lajko, who is now president pro-tempore of Kingsley, is running unopposed for the top post.
Bogart, 74, was appointed to the council after a trustee had a heart attack. A few years later he was appointed mayor after the village mayor died.
There were a couple years when he was so busy with his construction business that he didn’t run. People wrote his name on the ballot and elected him anyway.
Bogart said the time just kind of rolled along.
“I didn’t one day say, ‘I’ve been doing this for 25 years,’” Bogart said. “The 25 years just came and went and became 26 years.”
He jokes that he sure didn’t do it for the money. He was paid $2,500 a year.
Village Manager Dan Hawkins said Bogart is an example for others to follow.
“There are a lot of people who want to complain, but when it comes time to step up to the plate they don’t want to do that,” Hawkins said. “So it’s really encouraging when someone serves that long. It’s an encouragement for others to serve.”
Putting in sewers, replacing an old wooden water tank and adding sidewalks to the village were some of the improvements Bogart pushed for during the last 50 years.
The village did not have garbage pick-up and residents used to take it to a hole in a 40-acre parcel that was deeded to the village years ago by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
The oil industry was hot and heavy back then and the village staked an oil well on the site. The village had a 3/16th interest in the well and Bogart convinced the council to sell part of that interest. They got $16,000 and put in more sidewalks, he said.
The well was successful and earned the village about $1 million in royalties. He convinced the council to put the money in a trust fund and only spend the interest.
“We only spend it on what we call civic betterment,” Bogart said. “We don’t put it in the…
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branco construction enterprises, commerce, council, council member, economics, finance, hotel, justin branham, motel, neosho, neosho city council, politics, revenue, sport, struggle, tax, touristic facilities, tournament
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NEOSHO, Mo. — The struggle over approving a grant for an annual basketball tournament has the Neosho City Council taking a fresh look at how it spends revenue from its hotel-motel tax.
Future expenditures could be prioritized toward events that have the potential to generate more regular visits to the city, according to council members. Though no vote was taken, council members on April 5 generally agreed with the principle and vowed to formalize it in the budget for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
That direction may lead to some unintended comparisons between organizers pursuing money for future events.
“If you read the actual chapter and verse in Neosho’s books, the tax doesn’t say anything about an event being around a certain number of years,” said Justin Branham, president of Branco Construction Enterprises. “It should be made to the most appropriate use of the funds.”
The tax was established by Neosho voters in 2006. The city assesses a 4% tax on anyone seeking sleeping accommodations at a hotel, motel or tourist court, according to the city’s code of ordinances.
The code offers plenty of leeway on how that money can be spent, as long as it is connected to expenditures that “publicize, advertise and promote tourism and conventions, lodging and other related activities in the city.”
Of about $80,000 in revenues budgeted for the city’s current fiscal year, expenditures include a marketing agreement with the Neosho Area Chamber of Commerce worth about $20,000, $15,000 for management of city-run events and advertising on area billboards.
The expenditures also include grants to area groups putting on events that draw people to the city. Recipients of funds this year, decided before the budget was approved last September, include the Neosho Arts Council for its ArtCon event and the Neosho Disc Golf Club for its Little Big Show Disc Golf Tournament.
That list included a $15,000 grant for an annual basketball tournament — until November, when council members pulled it off the table.
A proposal to give revenues of the tax to Branco Construction Enterprises for its Neosho Holiday Classic has been a regular discussion item on almost every council agenda since the middle of November. Since Nov. 16, the issue has struggled to get four votes over two meetings.
Council members voiced criticisms that Branco invested too much money in Joplin and not enough in Neosho by accommodating the tournament’s teams in Joplin hotels. After months of discussions, council members on Tuesday gave unanimous initial approval to a reduced grant of $7,500. The measure needs another vote before the expenditure is authorized.
Council members felt on April 5 that the basketball tournament, established in 1954, has become self-sustaining and is not in need of extra development, while newer events, such as ArtCon and the disc golf tournament, could benefit more from the city’s funding.
“The classic has gone on for years and years, and it should be self-sustaining,” said Tyler DeWitt, then a council member and now mayor, on April 5. “I think that our funds are best served bringing new events to town and supporting new ideas, growing the community that way.”
Branham has attended several of those meetings to address concerns. In March he reported that the company spent $79,737.14 to produce the event in December. Of that, $43,911.34 was spent locally for food, workers, T-shirts, travel expenses, broadcasting and lodging for players.
The company received $40,186.38 in sponsorships and ticket sales, he said. Revenue from sales of concessions is collected by Neosho student organizations that staff the stands.
Branham said the tournament operates at a loss every year because it is intended to be an investment in the community. Branco began underwriting the tournament in the late ’90s.
Although the tournament tries to spend money with local businesses as much as possible, it can be difficult finding hotels in Neosho that meet the tournament’s needs, Branham said. The tournament books rooms in blocks, separating boys from girls, he said. Security concerns voiced last year led the tournament’s organizers to use Joplin hotels completely, he said.
The rejection of the grant shocked Branham.
“The city supported a good thing for 10 years, so why it didn’t support an 11th year makes no sense to me,” Branham said. “We see this as an economic impact driver for the city.”
In discussions about the basketball tournament, the council championed the efforts of the Neosho Disc Golf Club and its leader, Frank Hebert. In 2021, the council allocated $4,786 to the group from money originally budgeted to Branco for the 2020 tournament, which was canceled because of the pandemic. That money was used to expand the event from one to two days, and enabled organizers to award bigger cash prizes for winners.
Hebert said that grant was critical for the expansion.
“We had our largest field of players we have ever had, 159,” Hebert said. “Usually the first time a tournament goes to two days, they lose players. Disc golfers are frugal people and won’t travel unless there is value.”
Council members noted that while attendees of the basketball tournament were financially active during their stay, those out-of-state attendees don’t return to Neosho like the participants of the disc golf tournament.
Council members stressed during the April 5 discussion that organizers interested in receiving money from the hotel-motel tax for the upcoming 2023 fiscal year must make their cases before the city concludes its budget procedure. According to the city code, city staff members must present to the council a list of recommended expenditures for the tax revenues by Aug. 31 of each year.
“My goal is not to compete with anyone or take money from anyone,” Hebert said. “Just to improve our offerings the best way I know how, and disc golf is what I have knowledge about and a passion for.”
Branham said the tournament will continue regardless of how much it receives from the city. He said the roster of teams for 2022’s tournament is nearly set.
“We have a great event that is good for the city, its students and its schools,” Branham said. “It is rooted in tradition, and we are going to continue to do it. If the city does not want to be a part of it, that’s fine, because we’ll keep running this the right way, and let the chips fall where they may.”
bill hannabass, building industry, city council, city manager, council, economics, facilities, highway, local, oak hill city park, politics, sidewalk, william hannabass
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OAK HILL — City Council has given the green light to a consulting firm for three improvement projects in the city.
At Monday’s meeting, a committee recommended that council select the Charleston-based The Thrasher Group as the consulting firm to oversee the projects in the coming months.
The projects will include a planned overhaul of Oak Hill City Park, which will feature a new professionally-designed skate park, some new playground equipment, a pavilion and other amenities. Emphasis in the park project will be on “heavy community participation,” City Manager Bill Hannabass said. “Involving the community is part of the consultant’s job.”
A second endeavor will include an addition to the Oak Hill Fire Department to include another bay for equipment. That will feature administrative space, laundry facilities and a weight room. Hannabass said the cleaning facilities will help as departments increasingly run into situations in which they handle contaminants while fighting fires.
Finally, a long-in-planning (more than a decade) sidewalk project on Virginia Street will be undertaken. It will cover about a half-mile from Jones Avenue to the former Southern States.
In the past, the project has encountered “a lot of problems with utilities, a lot of problems with keeping it ADA-compliant” and other scenarios, leading to delays, the city manager noted.
About $500,000 — grant funding through the West Virginia Division of Highways and also including some federal dollars — was allotted back in the day, Hannabass said. Inflation has cut into that funding package in the meantime, he said.
Hannabass is glad to see the sidewalk project ready to commence.
“In December 2008, (current city councilman) Tom Oxley was outgoing city manager and I came here to work for one month to work with him, and that was our big project – the Virginia Street sidewalk grant application,” he said. “(As brand new city manager) the first thing I did was drive down Virginia Street and go door to door and say, ‘You’re going to get a new sidewalk.’ So, yeah, I’m glad to see it.”
Council/city notes:
• Work continues on Needleseye Park.
An Oak Hill public works crew was on site this week building a pavilion to be used as a gathering place for people utilizing the park, which is geared at offering rock climbing, hiking and mountain biking for locals and visitors to Fayette County.
About $500,000 in improvements will be undertaken in the coming months that, besides the pavilion, is also targeted to include trails work, a restroom facility, picnic benches and a disc golf course. Improved park signage is also planned. The money for the work came through U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s office, said Hannabass.
According to public works employee Shaun Coleman, the trail will eventually extend from the top of Needleseye to Minden, a distance of more than 2 miles. If all goes as planned, the road will eventually be graveled, and it could be used eventually as a maintenance road for residents in the Minden community to use as an exit in case of flooding.
Crews will be working on both ends of the area in the coming months, Coleman said.
“By fall, we should have it up and people walking on it,” he said.
In May 2019, the city officially christened Needleseye Park. The West Virginia Land Trust partnered with Oak Hill to buy 283 acres of land from Berwind Land Co. for the purpose of public recreational use.
• A public hearing geared at simplifying the city tax fee structure is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. April 11 in city council chambers. The purpose will be to discuss proposed implementation of changes in the city’s B&O tax and municipal license fees, according to Hannabass. The first reading of the proposed changes was at the March 14 council meeting.
The proposal is available for public inspection from 7 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, at the front entry of Oak Hill City Hall.
Interested citizens are invited to attend the public hearing and present written or oral comments concerning the proposed changes. Written comments may be addressed to: City Manager William Hannabass, 100 Kelly Ave., Oak Hill, WV 25901.
If implemented, the result will be a flat $15 base municipal license fee, as opposed to the various levels currently in effect. Handyman and contractors’ licenses won’t deviate from the current $75 level. Businesses selling alcohol have additional fees.
According to city clerk Damita Johnson, under the proposed change, all license fees will be the same except for contractors and alcohol sales. “It’s just going to make it easier, and it’s going to help a lot of people,” she said. “It’s going to be cheaper for a lot of people. For some, it will be more expensive.”
The move will also make concessions to some “archaic language” in state code, such as restaurants taxed depending on how many seats or tables they operate.
Hannabass also said a loophole in the B&O tax system relating to rentals will be eliminated under the proposal. When first enacted about five years ago, for licenses for rental units, dwelling units and commercial, council recognized at the time there were situations where families might have a separate, smaller dwelling beside their home, and council didn’t want to penalize families in that situation, he said. Back then, city council decided to exempt one unit from B&O taxes, Hannabass said.
“If you owned three rental units, you take your most expensive one, exempt it and pay B&O tax on the other two.”
That created a loophole of which some property owners took advantage, he said.
“People that owned many rental units, they would form separate corporations, they would form multiple corporations. Then, because we didn’t have it defined well, they would take an apartment building (under one corporation) and then they would put multiple dwelling units in another corporate name and exempt another expensive building or unit. It’s not fair.”
• As of a second reading at the recent meeting, Oak Hill will dedicate significant funding to Fayette County Teen Court, Hannabass said. Going forward, $5 from any fines in municipal court will be targeted specifically to Teen Court operation.
• Council approved a location for a future veterans memorial site, on the corner across from Baptist Church on Main Street, next to Davis Tire and Mufflers. That is the site once occupied by the Pure Oil Station made famous by a visit by legendary country music singer Hank Williams Sr. at the time of his death.
The project will be enabled “through the generosity and the graciousness of the Jones family,” the city manager said. The family is in the process of donating the property to the city.
The memorial — for veterans of all wars — is in the design phase.
• Oak Hill has committed a $2,500 match to HubCAP, the Communities of Achievement Program promoted by the West Virginia Community Development Hub.
According to Hannabass, it is a three-year program that assists with community involvement, community engagement and capacity building, drawing out people in the communities as leaders. Locally, that could boost involvement in such projects as Oak Hill City Park and Needleseye Park, allowing city leaders to get input and see more people involved. “And we need it desperately right now,” said Hannabass.
Council thought the financial outlay was “money wisely spent,” he said.
• Consideration of one-way parking on assigned streets in the city will occur in coming months.
“We have several narrow streets in Oak Hill, several in which it’s not wide enough to park two cars in the street,” said Hannabass.
While drivers normally drive in zig-zag fashion to get past parked cars along the route, the situation causes particular problems for the fire department and snow plows. So, the aim is to help alleviate the situation in some fashion.
“Nobody knows the nuances of particular street parking better than the resident does, so they’ll have heavy input,” Hannabass said. “At the end of the day, nothing may be done, or there may be some things we can do to help.
“Everybody that’s going to be affected will have input.”
• The city earlier this week was notified it received honorable mention status for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund’s 2021 George F. Ames PISCES Recognition for performance and innovation in the SRF Creating Environmental Success.
The recognition was for the city’s wastewater system upgrade and infiltration/inflow rehabilitation project, a $25 million project that is just wrapping up.
“The extensive project taken on by the City of Oak Hill will greatly reduce the adverse impacts on the local community,” a letter from Katheryn D. Emery, P.E., director of the DEP’s Division of Water and Waste Management, read in part.
• The city is still planning a community playground park near the post office in Minden, to be located on a site donated by ACE Adventure Resort. A water problem there is being addressed.
• Council decided unanimously there are three options for the future of city hall: purchase another structure to refurbish for city offices (the former BB&T building has been among sites mentioned), construct a new city hall from the ground up, possibly near the police station on Virginia Street, or refurbish the current city hall.
Financing wasn’t discussed, said Hannabass.
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