Huntington City Council commenced for a regular meeting Monday. The reason I didn't blog beforehand was I didn't know I was going to till about 5 this afternoon and didn't have time to post about it. Two citizens talked during the Good and Welfare. the first one held up an ad and promised to attend every meeting holding the sign. The second man was mad because the City Council didn't inform him when one of the city's board meetings was.
Councilman Ritter mentioned the city's final budget was passed Thursday and the council has done a good job coming up with the members.
One of the ordinances brought to the floor concerned police cameras dispersed across the city. 4 new HD cameras were bought The police want the cameras so they can detect the crime, even when the personnel are not able to be present. Huntington Police Chief Skip Holbrook expressed his gratitude to the council in being able to continue fighting crime in Huntington with the cameras aid. The second citizen had a differing opinion. He said they were spying on the citizens by putting these cameras in. He's against the drug dealers and the like, but the police don't have a right to invade privacy. The man then went on a tangent that somehow lead to him talking about evolution in schools. He concludes his rant by calling Councilman Ritter a their and a liar. Ritter gets irritated but then the man left the room.
Afterward, I interviewed Deron Runyon, Finance Director and Skip Holbrook, Police Chief.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
I'm going to Parkersburg's City Council meeting tomorrow night. The minutes are on the city council website:
http://www.parkersburg-wv.com/meetings/meeting_23mar10_citycouncil.pdf
Parkersburg just passed a user fee similar to Huntington's in March. It's 2.50 a month to cover city costs. This is nowhere near as steep as Huntington's, which just passed a 1 percent occupational tax. Still, citizens are complaining. The agenda allows time for public forum so maybe someone will bring up the issue again.
http://www.parkersburg-wv.com/meetings/meeting_23mar10_citycouncil.pdf
Parkersburg just passed a user fee similar to Huntington's in March. It's 2.50 a month to cover city costs. This is nowhere near as steep as Huntington's, which just passed a 1 percent occupational tax. Still, citizens are complaining. The agenda allows time for public forum so maybe someone will bring up the issue again.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Faculty Senate Meeting
Part of the Faculty Senate meeting today was spent arguing over wording about when a candidate files for tenure or a promotion. Almost a half hour was spent arguing about the wording in this section of Faculty Senate agenda. After awhile, even the senators involved with the debate got tired of discussing the issue. One senator from COLA called the motion "tiresome" and even the woman leading the meeting said she had never been so relieved to have a motion be moved from the floor. A few minutes later, another senator said the schools and the Senate needed to be more in communication with each other to prevent such mis communications in the future.
The second part of the meeting contained president Stephen Kopp presenting a power point about professor's salaries and how Marshall University compares in relation to other schools with professors salary. He said a pay raise of $1,227 was granted to faculty this year. This raise did not include the medical school because those employees most likely have other income sources. The School of Journalism and Mass Communications was the lowest in payouts given to faculty.
The second part of the meeting contained president Stephen Kopp presenting a power point about professor's salaries and how Marshall University compares in relation to other schools with professors salary. He said a pay raise of $1,227 was granted to faculty this year. This raise did not include the medical school because those employees most likely have other income sources. The School of Journalism and Mass Communications was the lowest in payouts given to faculty.
To: Burnis Morris
From: Kristen Hainkel
Re: Major assignment 5
Date: 3.17.2011
Subject: Huntington’s proposed 2012 fiscal year budget
Scope: I will analyze three years worth of Huntington’s fiscal year budgets. Along with the overall budget, I will analyze the changes in the Police and Fire Department.
Need: This budget affects everyone working in the city of Huntington. Their department could face layoffs, which causes someone to lose their job. Or a department could not have as much funding, which causes the agency to possibly not be able to serve the public as well as they did before.
Methods: I will be analyzing the 2011, 2010, and 2009 fiscal year budgets of Huntington. I will be compare and contrasting how the budget changed. How much percentage increase or decrease did it change over these years? Did any department receive any significant cuts?
Sources: The main source will be the 2012 fiscal year budget. Also I will interview city council members to about the features of this budget.
Presentation: A main story about the budget. This will focus on what the budget contains and how much a change it is from the previous year. The story will be accompanied by a sidebar depicting how the budget affects one particular department.
Follow Up: The mayor will adopt a budget before the end of this month. It would be timely to follow up with a story explaining the differences between the proposed budget and what the mayor officially adopted.
From: Kristen Hainkel
Re: Major assignment 5
Date: 3.17.2011
Subject: Huntington’s proposed 2012 fiscal year budget
Scope: I will analyze three years worth of Huntington’s fiscal year budgets. Along with the overall budget, I will analyze the changes in the Police and Fire Department.
Need: This budget affects everyone working in the city of Huntington. Their department could face layoffs, which causes someone to lose their job. Or a department could not have as much funding, which causes the agency to possibly not be able to serve the public as well as they did before.
Methods: I will be analyzing the 2011, 2010, and 2009 fiscal year budgets of Huntington. I will be compare and contrasting how the budget changed. How much percentage increase or decrease did it change over these years? Did any department receive any significant cuts?
Sources: The main source will be the 2012 fiscal year budget. Also I will interview city council members to about the features of this budget.
Presentation: A main story about the budget. This will focus on what the budget contains and how much a change it is from the previous year. The story will be accompanied by a sidebar depicting how the budget affects one particular department.
Follow Up: The mayor will adopt a budget before the end of this month. It would be timely to follow up with a story explaining the differences between the proposed budget and what the mayor officially adopted.
Faculty Senate Meeting
Thursday, March 10, 2011
City Council Meeting 3.10.2011
The last city council budget meeting of the 2011-2012 fiscal year took place Thursday. Many elements of the proposed budget were brought forward including: funding a new grad position to help the city in its day to day functioning, the Parking Board, and the Fire Department. Huntington's mayor Kim Wolfe and all 11 City Council members were present, although two arrived late. The members asked the boards presenting many questions to get more information or clarification on a topic. Mark Bates of District 6 lead the meeting.
The first topic was a the creation of a new graduate student position within the Planning and Zoning Appeals board. James Baldwin, head of the board, proposed a need for the position. The city is under a state mandate to update their comprehensive plan. It's a plan that outlines how the city plans to grow within the next ten years. Huntington's hasn't been updated since 1998. Currently Baldwin uses interns to help him with this task, but it isn't enough manpower or experience. Russell Houck from District 8 said he was not opposed to adding the position, but he didn't want to cut someone else's job in the process. The council voted to take the 6000 salary from money set aside to tile the downstairs floor.
Mike Wilson of the Parking Board sat before the council in the middle of the meeting. He said he didn't want to sound like a broken record because not much had changed with the board over the past few years. He said the board was able to save $42,000 without any action last year. They also completed all the projects set out in 2010. The one project going on with the Parking Board is replacing the city's meters. The meters are outdated and also get vandalized frequently. Mark Bates mentioned a constituent wrote and asked him recently why Huntington couldn't do away the Parking Board altogether. Wilson replied the board's job was to "make sure people have adequate parking downtown."
The Fire Department was the final section analyzed in the budget. Fire Cheif C. Creig Moore told the council his budget was "bare bones". He has a five year plan in place for the department to improve. He noted the department is short 8 positions total. Three officers are going to retire this calendar year in September and November. After a involved discussion between councilman Steve Williams and Moore abouthow the fire department could better manage their personnel, city attorney Scott McClure broke out a law book to cite a state law.He said the city can't require a firefighter to work more than 112 hours in 14 days.
The first topic was a the creation of a new graduate student position within the Planning and Zoning Appeals board. James Baldwin, head of the board, proposed a need for the position. The city is under a state mandate to update their comprehensive plan. It's a plan that outlines how the city plans to grow within the next ten years. Huntington's hasn't been updated since 1998. Currently Baldwin uses interns to help him with this task, but it isn't enough manpower or experience. Russell Houck from District 8 said he was not opposed to adding the position, but he didn't want to cut someone else's job in the process. The council voted to take the 6000 salary from money set aside to tile the downstairs floor.
Mike Wilson of the Parking Board sat before the council in the middle of the meeting. He said he didn't want to sound like a broken record because not much had changed with the board over the past few years. He said the board was able to save $42,000 without any action last year. They also completed all the projects set out in 2010. The one project going on with the Parking Board is replacing the city's meters. The meters are outdated and also get vandalized frequently. Mark Bates mentioned a constituent wrote and asked him recently why Huntington couldn't do away the Parking Board altogether. Wilson replied the board's job was to "make sure people have adequate parking downtown."
The Fire Department was the final section analyzed in the budget. Fire Cheif C. Creig Moore told the council his budget was "bare bones". He has a five year plan in place for the department to improve. He noted the department is short 8 positions total. Three officers are going to retire this calendar year in September and November. After a involved discussion between councilman Steve Williams and Moore abouthow the fire department could better manage their personnel, city attorney Scott McClure broke out a law book to cite a state law.He said the city can't require a firefighter to work more than 112 hours in 14 days.
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