By JONAY CORLEY

Editor

In honor of area veterans, the Sistersville Planning Commission has elected to add to the mural located on the side of the old fire department building, adjacent to W.Va. 2.

Harold Dally presented the plan to the Sistersville City Council on Monday evening, explaining that two emblems would be added to the mural of the railroad depot – one to represent the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the other to represent the American Legion.

“The emblems will be somewhere around four-foot square and will be painted on each side of the existing mural,” he said.

Matt Kinnard will be employed to paint the logos for the city.

A formal dedication ceremony is in the works, Dally explained, though a date has not been set.

“People can look forward to a ceremony, hopefully soon,” Dally concluded.

Also on the agenda was the second reading of an ordinance setting forth an offense for failure to remove and dispose of animal feces deposited on private and public property and the penalties for violation of the same.

The council voted to accept and adopt the ordinance, making it illegal for a pet owners to leave feces on a sidewalk or yard within the city limits.

Council also voted to accept and adopt two ordinances closing and vacating undeveloped property owned by the city. The first ordinance will close an alley known as Sugar Alley in the Temperance and Martha T. Wells Addition; the second will close an undeveloped portion of Bancroft Street.

City Attorney Ryan Morgan gave an update to the council on the urban renewal project.

“The Urban Renewal Authority is considering setting up some new, targeted areas. There are a lot of steps we have to go through, but the first is to designate certain areas in the town as target areas for redevelopment,” explained Morgan. “In that, you can target certain houses and other buildings that you feel should be rehabilitated or demolished.”

Morgan stated vacant buildings that are dilapidated and may be hazardous to neighbors should be targeted and reported.

As part of the urban renewal project, council members will be surveying properties within their respective wards to target areas and homes to rehabilitate or demolish.

Mayor Dave Fox echoed Morgan’s sentiments, adding, “We need to target an area where there are several concerns. We can’t just take the entire City of Sistersville and pick out random houses.”

In other business, the ferryboat will be closing for the season on Nov. 21.

Additionally, Vance Ash and Allan Maxwell were named to the ferry board.

The meeting closed with an executive session to discuss the Hubbard property behind the post office where the new park was recently constructed.

The next council meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Dec. 14.