FAIRMONT, W.Va. (WBOY) — The Fairmont City Council held its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday night where it discussed several items and appointed Julie Sole to the vacant seventh district council seat.
The District Seven council seat had been left vacant by Nicholas Cinalli since last year. The term for the seat will expire in November and Sole stated she hopes to work hard the next eight months to earn the support of her community to be elected to fill the seat in the fall.
“I feel that my position as the director of a nonprofit really positions me in a great way to help the council lead when it comes to budgeting and financial management, grant management all of those types of things,” Sole said.
Anne Bolyard, the mayor of Fairmont said that the city had a good problem by having many outstanding candidates who applied to fill the vacancy.
“With Miss Sole’s experience, not only as a professional at the Disability Action Center as well as her career, she has outstanding involvement, commitment, and love for her community and for the city,” Bolyard said.
Also during the meeting, city officials said that they’re moving forward with interviewing potential candidates for the open city manager position and that they hope to announce who will be filling that position soon.
Electric vehicles were also discussed at the meeting. Specifically, the idea of installing electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in the downtown area. To move this forward, the council approved a resolution that will allow it to submit an application to the United States Department of Energy for an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block grant through the state and Community Energy Program. If approved, the grant will be valued at more than $75,000.
“Based on the cost estimates provided to us by a local company who has already reviewed this at several sites that the city owns. We estimate four level two chargers to be installed in downtown which will be good enough to supplement for the downtown businesses and civic uses,” said Shaw Strait, Director of Planning and Development for the City of Fairmont. “It is likely to not be completed any earlier than very late fall or early winter later this year. We still have to bid out all the work, we have to have all the parking ready before we can install the EV chargers.”
Two resolutions were also discussed for the city to approve and amend the rules and regulations relating to the Police Civil Service Commission to help facilitate the hiring of officers with current active law enforcement certifications.
