Belle Town Council Meeting

I attended the Belle Town Council meeting this evening, where they discussed the issue of a new mayor. Larry Conley was the town's mayor, but he died in February, leaving more than three years left in his term. Last week, the council voted to appoint Kim Holmes, the town's recorder, as mayor for the remainder of the term. Holmes is serving as interim mayor, as in Belle, the recorder serves as lieutenant mayor.

However, the council voted in a closed meeting, and the agenda of the meeting was not posted. This angered many residents, and it was also a violation of West Virginia State Code.

So, tonight's open meeting was a "do-over," the town's attorney said. He guided the meeting and explained to the residents in attendance. The council heard comments from multiple residents who wanted an election for mayor to be held as soon as possible. Kim Holmes said that she no longer wanted the appointment of mayor because of the stress of trying to act as mayor for the next three years while also working full-time.

The council originally voted to appoint another councilperson as mayor, which angered many of the residents at the meeting. Then, one of the councilmen withdrew his vote and said he thought an election would be best. The councilman who made the motion for an appointment withdrew his motion, and a councilwoman motioned for an election. The council then voted for an election. The meeting was adjourned after the attorney explained that election dates and other matters would be settled at the next town council meeting in three weeks.

It was an interesting and emotional meeting (the councilman who withdrew his vote started crying as he talked about wanting to do what was best for his town), and it also tied into conversations we've had in class about the necessity for open meetings. About 40 of Belle's 1,100 residents showed up to the meeting, and nearly every one of them said they had signed a petition for an election because it was the democratic approach. It was great to see a small town care so much about its government.

Belle Council Meeting

The Council of Belle will meet tomorrow evening to vote on what to do about a new mayor, and I will be attending the meeting. Their elected mayor died last month.

Zoning Appeals Board Meeting

I will be attending the Zoning Appeals Board Meeting tomorrow morning in Kanawha County.

I have not been to a zoning board meeting before, and I was unable to get a copy of the agenda. I am curious to see what the board will discuss.

UPDATE: This meeting was continued.

Huntington Budget Proposal

To: Burnis Morris

From: Samantha Turley

Re: Story Outline: Major Story no. 5

Date: March 17, 2011

Subject: Huntington’s austere proposed FY 2011-2012 budget

Scope: I will research the 2012 budget and examine where cuts have taken place. Mayor Kim Wolfe said economic troubles for the city will continue into the 2012 fiscal year, and I will detail for readers how the economy has impacted the budget, what parts of the budget have been affected and how it will affect different major departments. I will compare Huntington’s budget to budgets in similar cities (such as size and location) to see if Huntington’s budget and budget cuts are comparable to those cities. In a sidebar, I will examine the budget allocation to the Huntington Police Department and how funding cuts will affect the department.

Need: Cuts to the city budget affect city services, including fire and police departments. The public needs to know where cuts are taking place and how it will affect them.

Methods: This story can be documented by a thorough analysis of the 2012 budget and a comparison to budgets from the three previous fiscal years. I can research it further by obtaining other city budgets from similar cities and comparing them to Huntington’s budget.

Sources: I already have the FY 2012 budget as proposed by Wolfe. I will obtain the city budgets from other city websites. I will obtain the budgets for the past three fiscal years from the City of Huntington’s website, and if it is not available online I will contact the city clerk for access. I will interview Wolfe and multiple city council members. If possible, I would also like to find a person who is an expert in city budget to get their viewpoint on the city budget for Huntington, how it compares to other cities and if they think it is a reasonable budget plan.

Presentation: This story can be presented as an overview of the city budget and budget cuts, a sidebar study examining the cuts to the Huntington Police Department in further detail and a follow-up story after the Huntington City Council finalizes the budget.

Follow-up: A follow-up can be written once the Huntington City Council finalizes the budget. In the follow-up, I will compare the FY 2012 budget as proposed by Wolfe with the budget finalized by the city council.

Huntington's Budget Process

Covering the city's budget process is difficult but interesting. It's a daunting task with a lot of quantitative information to understand, but the budget process and subsequent decisions has a major impact on life in Huntington.

A recent example was the city's decision to cut $100,000 in funding to the local animal shelter. The shelter learned of their funding cut through a Herald-Dispatch article.

I am interested in hearing about how the city chooses where to cut funding, and how the city chooses how much to cut from each area.

Ebenezer Medical Outreach

Ebenezer Medical Outreach, Inc. is a charitable organization in Huntington, W.Va., that provides medical care to those without health insurance. Over the next few weeks, I will be researching and writing a story about the impact the recession has had on the organization. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of uninsured Americans has been on the rise since the recession began. As an organization that provides services to the uninsured, I expect Ebenezer Medical Outreach has had an increase in the number of people seeking their services.

I obtained the following information from the 2009 IRS 990 form:

Yvonne Jones is the executive director of Ebenezer Medical Outreach. She received a salary of $65,035. The organization did not list salary information for other employees. Ebenezer Medical Outreach had total revenue of $731,618 and total functional expenses of $881,568. At the beginning of the year, it had $1.1 million in total assets. At the end of the year, it had $974,288 in total assets.

Contact information:

Ebenezer Medical Outreach, Inc.

1448 10th Ave.

Suite 100

Huntington, WV 25701

304-329-0753

emohealth.org