The New Martinsville City Council announced March 5 it would soon be taking action to clean up the Brooklyn area of town by tearing down and removing dilapidated trailers and other eye-sore properties, including some junk vehicles. Iris Isaccs said the street department had been busy working on sewer projects and still has some work to do; however, Street Superintendent Gary Willey will be using a crew to take down the trailers and do clean-up work. Willey said his department should be able to start on the project in the next week or two.

Councilman Jeff Wright also made a motion to proceed with the old Thomas Drug Store project. The project has been a topic of discussion for several years, and the council now has a plan in place and voted unanimously on Monday to proceed and complete the project. No timeline was discussed as there are still details to work out. Wright also expressed his gratitude to all city employees and volunteers for their efforts in helping during the recent flood warnings.

Councilwoman Holly Grandstaff also expressed her appreciation for those helping with the flood cleanup; she mentioned she was glad to see the trailer removal in Brooklyn started.

Under special agenda items, council moved on a motion from the water and sewer board to hire Bryan Wilson as a waste water operator, effective March 6. The motion passed unanimously.

Council also unanimously approved a resolution for a land and water conservation fund grant to be used at the Lewis-Wetzel Center for a roof. The grant is for $20,000 and is a 50-50 matching grant.

Also approved unanimously was a resolution for a Division of Culture and History grant to provide funding for renovations to the back wall of the Lincoln Theater.

Issacs noted it was time for budget meetings to get underway; she said meetings were set for the police department and electric department. Councilman Steve Pallisco, chairman of the committee for the electric department, said the electric department is in good shape, and during the recent storms there were only a few widespread outages.

Joel Potts, chairman of committee #4, moved to go into executive session to discuss personnel matters. Upon returning from the session, Potts made a motion to hire Leslie Williamson and Keith Nelson as part-time dispatchers, effective March 12. The motion was approved unanimously.

Also approved at the meeting was the minutes from February, and the regular city invoices, which are available upon request.

Present at Monday’s meeting were some special quests from the local Cub Scouts group, Arrow of Lights (AOL). Six members of the scouts were at the meeting and got to experience setting in the council members and mayor’s chamber seats, prior to the meeting. Attending the meeting gave them the opportunity to meet training requirements and experience how business is conducted by elected officials. Those present included Alex Yeager, Finn Loy, Killion Billeter, Nicholas Matheny, Matthew Burgey and Camden Bordenkicher.

Mayor Steve Bohrer asked each scout to stand and introduce themselves; he then told them about his experience as a scout when he had to make a whistle out of a piece of tree limb. Bohrer thanked them for coming, and the council members applauded them as well.