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Council tables bond increase motion

CHESTER — Chester City Council still has not decided over whether or not it should increase its current bond for certain city officials.

During Monday’s meeting, council tabled a motion to increase bonds for city employees, which currently stands at $10,000 each on the mayor and the city clerk and $20,000 on the assistant city clerk but is being suggested by code to be at $85,000 per person.

City Clerk Marlene Fleming said that the city is paying $357 for three years for its current bonds, but said, from what she had researched, council has to determine the bond amount. Fleming said that if the bonds be increased to the suggested $85,000, the city would have to pay $2,359.91 for a three-year period, 10 times higher than what they are currently paying.

“Council has to decide whatever they want the bonds to be,” Fleming said. “Whatever you want is what my office will purchase.”

Mayor Rex Cowey–who resigned after Monday’s meeting–said he had seen the bond issue in the charter, although Fleming said “the charter said ‘whatever council deems appropriate’.”

“If it’s in the charter, that’s not going to be able to change unless they change the charter,” Cowey said.

With the acknowledgement that the employees in question are covered, councilman Ken Morris recommended that council continue to review the matter.

In other business:

— Council approved the receipts and bills for the general and building funds for business conducted between Nov. 4 and Dec. 1 The general fund’s receipts amounted to $101,401.78, while its bills were $70,793.64. The building fund had receipts of $3,252, with bills of $6,790.39. On a related matter, city clerk Marlene Fleming said that the clerk’s office will review the receipts and bills of the general fund read at the November meeting, to which Fleming stated was incorrect and was actually the amount recorded for October.

— Council approved the 2019 holiday schedule to be recognized by the city, which falls in line with state code. The 13 holidays to be observed in 2019 are New Year’s Day (Jan. 1), Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Jan. 21), Presidents Day (Feb. 18), Memorial Day (May 27), West Virginia Day (June 20), Fourth of July, Labor Day (Sept. 2), Columbus Day (Oct. 14), Veterans Day (Nov. 11), Thanksgiving (Nov. 28), Lincoln’s Day (Nov. 29), Christmas Eve (Dec. 24) and Christmas Day (Dec. 25). This matter was approved with a 4-0 vote, with councilman Steve Shuman abstaining his vote.

— Council approved the lease agreements for eight renters/businesses at the Chester Municipal Building for 2018-2019. Those eight are for Milner Law Office, Old School Shirts, Mary Thorn, School House Collectables, the Chester Water Department, Ohio Valley Home Health, Tri-State Community Church and Hedges and Jones Law. All businesses are on a yearly contract except for Thorn, who will be on a month-to-month agreement.

The next regular meeting will be 5 p.m. Jan. 7 inside council chambers at the Chester Municipal Building.

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