Evans Tosses Felinton Sling

At Council Meeting

Bill Evans

 In an otherwise quiet council meeting, former councilman Bill Evans tossed Mayor Felinton a sling and told him to "slay the giant," as David slew the giant Goliath. The gesture of support drew strong applause from the audience.

The most contentious issue of the evening proved to be an ordinance allowing the parking board to purchase 55 electronic parking meters. Several council members, including Daniels, Dick Thompson, Polan and Patterson voiced concerns that the bidding process had been written so specifically that only one company could win the contract. Under advisement of city attorney Ted Morgan, council voted the ordinance down, which will allow the city to seek further bids.

Another ordinance, granting Fibernet a non-exclusive franchise agreement, was tabled earlier in the meeting to allow Public Works Director George McClennen the chance to answer questions. The ordinance was addressed at the end of the meeting and it was passed without opposition.

There were first readings on several ordinances:
1. A measure appointing the Mayor and Vice Mayor to the Huntington Municipal Development Authority.
2. An ordinance regarding yard sales and pawnshops.
3. Two ordinance changing zoning to allow fueling depots to purchase ABC licenses in order to operate West Virginia lottery's Keno game.
4. An ordinance to allow an increase in the municipal fee. This was sent to the Finance Committee. Councilman McCallister suggested that council vote the proposal down outright, suggesting that an increase wasn't warrant. Councilman Polan asked the mayor why the fee increase was necessary if the city's budget is balanced by 2002 without it, and asked if the budget was still balanced? Mayor Felinton assured Polan that the budget would be balanced, but the fee increase was necessary to hedge against the uncertainty of B & O collections, etc.

A resolution, sponsored by Tom McCallister to begin the redistricting process failed. Oddly, McCallister ended up voting against his own resolution.

Council meeting regular D. Everett Fullerton was unanimously appointed to the Board of Zoning Appeals.

In the good and welfare portion of the meeting, John Cooney addressed the council regarding an incident that occurred in November. He claims that he called 911 to report a crime and was told that the police couldn't respond because the officer had gone home early. Cooney also alleged that he'd been unfairly charged with a moving violation and the victim of police harassment since complaining to authorities about the 911 incidents. Cooney also complained about a confrontation with Internal affairs officer, Lt. Eplion.

Several council members attempted to address Cooney's concerns and Chief of Police Ramey pledged to look into his allegations.