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City of New Martinsville Council Holds Special Meeting

By Rick Loy - Staff Writer | Oct 28, 2020

The New Martinsville City Council held a special session at City Hall Council Chambers on October 20. Mayor Sandy Hunt called the meeting to order and turned the floor over to Steve Hunt, representing Wetzel County Civil Service Commission. All council members were present.

Hunt, Jeff Wright, and Earl Yost appeared on behalf of the Civil Service Commission to ask Council to set a standard score for promotional testing. Hunt stated that the score presently is 75 with points added for years of service by the employee to reach their total score. He asked Council to drop the score to 65 and then add the employee years for more points. The points would not be added until a 65 score is achieved. The Commission recently tested for the Captain and Sergeant positions. Previously the points from the employee years of service would be added before testing. Hunt said there needed to be a standard set to follow moving forward. Councilman Steve Palisco made a motion that the current employees that have tested will fall under the old standard but will adopt the new standard for future testing. Council unanimously approved with Councilman Joel Potts opposed.

Council Member Joe Smith brought up for discussion of hiring an Assistant Building Inspector position. It will take two/three years to obtain the six certifications to be a Certified Building Inspector with a cost of $1800 for the certifications. The council unanimously approved with the stipulation that the employee after receiving certification must remain with the city for at least two years or he/she will be required to pay back at a pro-rated rate for their certifications.

Next item given unanimous approval from Council was a request of the Police Department to approach the County Commission regarding funding for the Insync computer system. The system would speed up pulling arrest records, reports, documented chains of command, and be paperless. It would sync the police to the surrounding counties for faster updates on criminal arrests records and if any outstanding warrants from another county. Each officer would have access to the new computer software. The total cost is $36,000 for the new sync system.