Fairmont City Council still hesitant in BB&T building purchase; public hearing set for the second time
Nov. 23—FAIRMONT — The purchase of the former BB&T bank building on Fairmont Avenue has appeared for the fourth time on a Fairmont City Council Agenda.
Council is still hesitant to move forward in a purchase agreement regarding the property at 120 Fairmont Ave., which used to house BB&T Bank. The measure first appeared on the Sept. 27 agenda and passed without issue.
The Oct. 11 meeting brought complaints from several councilmembers about the potential purchase, and the motion failed in a 4-5 vote. The council held a special work session to discuss the project on Nov. 9 and agreed to hear the motion again. For the second time, the measure had its first reading Tuesday night.
Despite the majority of council seeming confident in the purchase agreement at the Nov. 9 work session, on Tuesday the motion struggled for a second, Mayor Tom Mainella having to second the motion — an unusual but legal occurrence.
The purchase agreement is nonbinding, and would allow the city to access the building to conduct inspections to determine it's a sound investment. If everything comes back OK and there are no complaints, the city will purchase the building for $500,000.
Two Fairmont residents spoke to the council during public comment and expressed concerns about the area surrounding the building and the suitability of the facility for the city's intended use.
If the purchase goes through, the city hopes to move the police department out of the Public Safety Building at 500 Quincy St. due to the department outgrowing the location, as well as structural concerns. The fire department along with other city functions would still inhabit the Quincy Street building under this plan.
While council seemed hesitant Tuesday night, the motion still passed and the second public hearing on the purchase will be held at the Dec. 13 council meeting.
The rest of the agenda was mainly routine. The meeting began with Councilmember Nicky Cinalli being sworn in for the remainder of his term through Dec. 31. Cinalli was appointed to fill his current seat after the resignation of Blair Montgomery in Aug. 2021.
Cinalli was also elected to fill his current seat for the next two years and will be sworn in again along with the rest of the new council in January.
Council also approved two ordinances, updating aspects of the City Planning Commission's code to be in line with statewide guidelines. Currently, the commission meets at specific intervals in addition to the state code which requires such commissions to meet quarterly.
The ordinance change would place the local code in line with state code and avoid doubling up on meetings.
"State code required planning commissions to meet no less than once each quarter, in our code we have additional times listed in January, April, July and September, even if there are not matters to be discussed," Fairmont Director of Planning & Development Shae Strait said.
A second ordinance was also passed which changed a local code that restricted the planning commission's work sessions to a specific day of the month.
Council also set a public hearing for an ordinance which would codify an anti-discrimination law on the city's books. The measure was put forward by the Fairmont Human Right Commission and is similar to an ordinance recently passed by the Town of Monongah. Councilmembers Barry Bledsoe and David Kennedy voted no to set the public hearing.
"On behalf of the Human Right Commission, we're excited about an ordinance to make sure that the people of Fairmont and beyond continue to know that non-discrimination continues to be a part of our friendly city," HRC Chair Larry Buckland said.
The council's next meeting will be Dec. 13 at 7 p.m.
Reach David Kirk at 304-367-2522 or by email at dkirk@timeswv.com.
