MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It was a busy Committee of the Whole for Morgantown City Council as they convened Tuesday night in front of a standing room only crowd to discuss two resolutions and an ordinance regarding the Human Rights Commission.
Those items moved to Council agenda at the next regularly scheduled meeting, among multiple ordinances that were also addressed.
The first item brought up in Council Chambers was the resolution supporting the Roads to Prosperity Amendment, also known as the road bond referendum. In a presentation by Don Williams of the Department of Highways, the benefits for the road bond were presented along with details regarding how the money for the projects planned are being handled, how it’s being used, and how long the projects will take.
Morgantown City Council Member Jenny Selin thought the benefits were worth supporting the referendum.
“The road bond is positive becuase it has some realy good projects in our area, and people have been pushing for improvements in our area for a long time so this is our opportunity,” Selin said.
The second resolution that was moved to agenda unanimously was the opposition of the FirstEnergy Transfer of Pleasant Power Plant. Some concerns that were addressed included the potential cost the average rate payer could receive due to the the power plant’s aging status and the environmental effects of the continued running of a coal power plant. Selin felt the reasons were justified.
“People who pay their bills regularly and use power realize that they’re going to need power into the future and that it’s going to come from multiple sources,” she said. “But once a power plant is past it’s prime, that that’s not the time to dump the plant on rate payers.”
The ordinance receiving the most discussion was the ordinance regarding changes to the Human Rights Commission, which which would add sexual orientation, gender identity, and veteran status to the existing anti-discrimination language. Over twenty people spoke in favor of the ordinance during the public portion of the Committee of the Whole, along with over twenty-five people outside of the chambers and in some parts of the sidewalk outside of City Hall. Council unanimously spoke in very similar sentiments.
“I feel very gratified at how many people, people who are not gay, who spoke in favor of,” Barry Wendell said. “This is very gratifying to me personally.”
The resolutions and the ordinance are expected to be addressed at next week’s City Council meeting, scheduled October 3.