MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Morgantown City Council elected new leadership for the coming year, welcomed a fine imposed on Republic Services, and approved the first reading of a new ordinance regulating gun and ammo retail stores.
Incumbent Mayor Jenny Selin and Deputy Mayor Danielle Trumble were both nominated to serve as mayor. Selin voted for herself, along with First Ward Councilor Joe Abu-Ghannam, Second Ward Councilor Bill Kawecki, Sixth Ward Councilor Dave Harshbarger, and Seventh Ward Councilor Brian Butcher, to secure the office of mayor for another term. Current Deputy Mayor and representative from the Fifth Ward, Danielle Trumble, earned her own vote and that of new council member Weezie Michael in her unsuccessful bid for mayor.
“I feel as though I would provide steady leadership,” Selin said. “I may not be as exciting, but I am very hardworking and very interested in making sure we all work together.”
After the vote for mayor was settled, Joe Abu-Ghannam was nominated to serve as deputy mayor by Bill Kawecki, and Danielle Trumble was nominated by Weezie Michael. Trumble declined the nomination for the post, and in a subsequent vote, Abu-Ghannam was elected to the post by votes from Kawecki, Abu-Ghannam, Harshbarger, Butcher, and Selin.
“I do believe in a change in leadership, and I have served as deputy mayor for two years,” Trumble said. “I do think it is time for someone else to fill those roles and get their chance.”
A new representative in the Third Ward, Weezie Michael, said she has been working with residents on new signage and hopes to receive that soon. She also has additional plans to share in the near future.
“I’ve already started some initiatives to get some things done in my ward,” Michael said. “I’m really looking forward to it; it’s going to be an exciting year, actually.”
Councilor Trumble reported receiving correspondence from a resident stating they did not feel safe coming to downtown Morgantown during the day.
Another resident, Morgantown native Maryann Folz, echoed the same concerns. Foles recently moved back to the area after a 35-year work career and drove downtown to the Farmer’s Market. When she decided to explore High Street and the Arts Walk, she saw an unknown male waving his arms in the air with no police in the area, making her feel unsafe during the day.
Folz provided three suggestions for the council to improve the downtown area. She wants the city ambassadors to be more involved in what’s happening in downtown, conduct graffiti removal, enforce the laws already on the books, and most of all, repair the relationship between first responders and city officials.
“Try to get law enforcement back operating on your side and on the side of all of the residents in the town in the next year,” Folz advised.
For the first time, Morgantown City Manager Kim Haws announced two $100 fines have been imposed on Republic Services for violating the early morning pick-up time provision. Republic Services is not allowed to operate trucks to collect trash and recycling before 6 a.m., however, on several occasions, trucks have been reported in the 4 a.m. hour. Haws said he expects more compliance from Republic Services in the wake of the sanction.
“I appreciate Kim taking some action to fine Republic for their early morning trash pick-up,” Butcher said. “I don’t experience that on my street, but in my ward it does as well as the Fifth Ward.”
An ordinance that would limit new firearm retail establishments to two commercial property zones was passed by the Morgantown City Council on first reading.
The ordinance was approved unanimously by council and will directly impact any incoming business that engages in the sale, manufacture for sale, rent or lease, purchase, or repair of firearms, ammunition, or ammunition components. Any incoming business that provides those services in any capacity will be required to open in a designated shopping district, with conditional approval allowed to open in a service business district.
“This is in line with our land use table that we already have,” said Morgantown City Councilor Danielle Trumble. “We regulate a lot of things that most people don’t even know that we regulate, like where you can have a fast food restaurant or where you can have a greenhouse, so this is simply adding to that,” she said.
Any potential firearm retailer that would move to Morgantown would be limited to B-5-zoned commercial property (shopping center districts) as part of the ordinance. B-2 zoned property (service business district) will be permitted to have firearm establishments on their premises on conditional approval that would be granted by the City Board of Zoning Appeals. With the locations of both zones focused strictly in areas where residential properties are less condensed, the ordinance is considered fair by members of council that work to keep residential neighborhoods safe while firearm-related businesses can still do business in commercially heavy parts of town.
“The proposed new use would be permitted by conditional use in a B-2 service business district and, by right, in the B-5 shopping center district,” said Morgantown Director of Development Services Rickie Yeager. “In doing so, three sections of the city’s planning and zoning code will be modified,” he said.
Businesses such as pawn shops, outdoor stores, and gun shops that are already involved in firearm sales within Morgantown will be grandfathered in.
As part of the selection of board members for the opioid settlement fund at the WV First Foundation, Deputy Mayor M. Joe Abu-Ghannam was unanimously chosen to represent the city in Region 4. Abu-Ghannam will join fellow representatives from thirteen other counties in the vote hosted by the Monongalia County Commission to determine who will represent Region 4 on the eleven-person board that will appropriate over $1 billion in opioid settlement funds.