City Hall News: Week of Sept. 13, 2021
Meeting this week are council’s Public Safety Committee, ad hoc ARPA Advisory Committee, Municipal Properties Committee, and ad hoc Special Hiring Committee. Also meeting are the Elkins Tree Board and the Elkins Parks and Recreation Commission. Council meets Thursday.
Monday at 10 a.m., the Public Safety Committee will review quotes for demolishing dilapidated structures and discuss proposed laws concerning unauthorized removal of shopping carts from store properties and animal defecation. The committee will also review the vacant properties list.
The ARPA Advisory Committee meets Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. to continue consideration of possible uses for the approximately $3 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds awarded to Elkins. Topics at Tuesday’s meeting include water system improvements, ADA upgrades for city hall, and software upgrades. The committee will also hear results of the online public-input survey available through midnight Sunday at this link: www.surveymonkey.com/r/RBWDQ3P.
Also on Tuesday, at 5:30 p.m., the Tree Board continues work on a grant for additional new downtown trees, discusses the Friends of Trees organization, and plans a tree planting in City Park. The Tree Board meets in the Darden House, next door to city hall.
The agenda for the Municipal Properties Committee’s 9 a.m. Wednesday meeting includes the following items: Elkins Main Street Streetscape discussion, city property report, and city hall parking-lot project update.
The ad hoc Special Hiring Committee continues its consideration of the operations manager’s job description and the city’s organizational chart at its Wednesday 10 a.m. meeting.
Council meets in regular session Thursday at 7 p.m. The agenda may be adjusted through Tuesday. Current items are the final reading of an ordinance officially adopting the name “Phil Gainer Community Center” for use in city code and consideration of the Tree Board’s request to apply for a grant for downtown trees.
All meetings are at city hall unless otherwise stated. Find agendas here.
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Main Street Survey About New Parking Signs and Markings
Elkins is testing new parking signs and parking-space markings on one block of Third Street, and the public is invited to provide feedback through an online survey.
The purpose of this “test block,” which lies on Third Street between Davis Avenue and Kerens Avenue, is to enable city officials, residents, business owners and employees, and other stakeholders to see and comment on proposed new signs and markings before plans are finalized for implementation throughout the downtown area.
Elkins Main Street, a downtown revitalization organization that frequently partners with City of Elkins on improvements in the city’s Central Business District, is coordinating the survey and will collect and report on results.
“We want to hear what people think,” says Madalyn Higgins, the executive director of Elkins Main Street. “If any of the signs are hard to see or confusing, or if the markings on the ground could be tweaked to make them more helpful, that’s exactly the sort of thing we’re hoping to hear. We want any new signs and other visual aids to be as helpful as possible.”
The proposed signage and markings currently on display on the test block are the latest step in the multi-phase Elkins Streetscape Vision created by Elkins Main Street and City of Elkins and adopted by city council in 2016. The overall goals of the parking-related action steps in this plan are to reduce visual clutter, make the downtown even more inviting, and encourage visitors and locals alike to get out of their cars, visit local businesses, and explore the area.
Past steps included the removal of all downtown parking-meter heads and the change from 2-hour paid parking to 3-hour free parking 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
Future steps include removal of all meter posts throughout downtown. The new parking signposts will include brackets for the American Legion’s flag displays on national flag holidays. Meter posts will be temporarily left in place on Davis Avenue and Third Street so that these displays can continue uninterrupted in the meantime.
After the survey responses and other feedback have been analyzed and incorporated, Elkins Main Street and the city will plan for implementation of new signage and markings throughout the downtown.
“This has been a collaborative project all along,” says Higgins. “We’ve had great support from the city’s Street Department, and Randolph WORC students assisted with painting the new markings. Now it’s the public’s turn to weigh in and let us know how we can make the new signage and markings as helpful and successful as possible.”
The survey is here: www.bit.ly/ElkinsParkingSurvey
The Elkins Streetscape Vision is here: www.bit.ly/Elkins-Streetscape
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Read this on our blog: www.cityofelkinswv.com/city-blog.
Week of 9/13: Street Closures
As part of the sewer/stormwater separation project, Bear Contracting will be working on the following streets during the week of September 13:
- Monday-Wednesday: 14th Street from Lavalette Avenue toward Taylor Avenue
- Wednesday-Thursday: Lavalette Avenue from 15th Street toward 16th Street
Sections of 14th Street and and Lavalette Avenue will be closed during the above work as shown on the below map.
Paving on South Davis Avenue, 15th Street, and South Henry Ave is complete.
Water Outage Monday Night in D&E Area
City of Elkins Water System employees will be replacing fire hydrants on the campus of Davis & Elkins College on Monday night, starting at 8 p.m. The fire hydrants being replaced are near Halliehurst and Gribble Hall.
Water will be off or low pressure for customers on the D&E campus, Patricia Avenue, Grandview Avenue, Spruce Street, Sycamore Street, and Harpertown Road.
New Glendale Pollinator Garden Interpretive Sign
If you’re out and about this weekend, why not check out the new Pollinator Garden (with interpretive sign) on the Toumayan Trail (the walking trail that circles Glendale Park)?
The creation of the Glendale Pollinator Garden project was an AFNHA collaborative effort led by recent AmeriCorps member Dayla Woller.
Other key players included the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which assisted in site preparation; the WVU Extension Service, which provided the necessary biochar ); Elkins Parks and Recreation, which provided the site and installed the interpretive sign; and the Elkins Tree Board, which assisted in sign design. This new garden adds more environmental interpretation to the trail, which features several additional interpretive signs and outdoor rock spaces.
It’s on the section of trail closest to the playground. Bring the kids!
9/10 Street Closure: 4th and Randolph
On Friday, Mountaineer Gas plans to repair an underground gas line near the intersection of Randolph Avenue and Fourth Street in Elkins. The company is dividing the work into a daytime and a nighttime phase. Work under Fourth Street will take place during the day on Friday, and work under Randolph Avenue will take place Friday night.
Mountaineer Gas is coordinating with the Elkins Fire Department to avoid obstructing EFD vehicles.
If you have questions about outages or other aspects of this work beyond the road closures, please direct them to Mountaineer Gas.
City Hall News: Week of Sept. 6, 2021
Elkins, W. Va., September 5, 2021: A busy week at Elkins City Hall will see meetings of council’s Special Hiring Committee, Rules & Ordinances Committee, Finance Committee, and Personnel Committee. City hall is closed Monday for Labor Day, but trash will be collected as usual.
On Tuesday at 2:30 p.m., the Special Hiring Committee will review the operations manager job description and the city’s organizational chart for possible restructuring.
Meeting Wednesday at 10:30 a.m., Rules & Ordinances will work on a policy regulating the conversion of single-family to multi-family dwellings and consider whether changes are needed to the city’s vacant-properties registration ordinance.
The Finance Committee meets Thursday at 9 a.m. to consider funding requests from the Randolph County Housing Authority, for YouthBuild North Central WV, and the Elkins Parks and Recreation Commission, for synthetic flooring installation in the Phil Gainer Community Center. The committee will also review vehicle and equipment purchases.
Later Thursday, at noon, the Personnel Committee meets on an agenda including departmental personnel action plans, review of the AlignHR contract, review of city policies concerning officially observed holidays, and the personnel structure of Elkins Municipal Court.
Wednesday is shutoff day for delinquent utility accounts. You may pay your bill online; via U.S. mail; by dropping payment in the secure payment box temporarily located on Fourth Street, next to city hall; or in person at the front counter on the main floor of city hall. Learn more here: www.cityofelkinswv.com/living/utility-billing.
Yard Waste Recycling Closed
City of Elkins must temporarily pause accepting yard-waste at the city recycling drop-off site on Jones Drive.
A high volume of yard waste was received today, and the container is full. We have contacted our contractor and will provide an update once we know when they will be able to come pick it up.
Please don’t leave yard waste on the ground next to the container.
For more information about recycling in Elkins, click here.
RESCHEDULED: 9/2 South Elkins Water Outage
- Livingston Avenue
- 12th St./railroad tracks
- South Gate/South Davis Ave.
- Scott Ford Road
No Parking: sections of S. Davis and 15th
Alerts
10/17: River Street Boil Water Advisory Lifted
River Street boil water advisory has been lifted. More info here.
10/15: Edgewater Boil Water Advisory Lifted
The Edgewater boil water advisory has been lifted. Lab tests detected no contamination in our sample. Thank you for your patience.
10/14: 13th Street Sinkhole Repair
13th St. closed between S. Henry and Cole for repair of a sink hole. Please choose alternate route.
2021 Trick-or-Treating
By council resolution, Halloween trick-or-treating is observed every year on Oct. 31, 6:30-8:00 p.m.
Downtown Halloween activities are coordinated by Elkins Main Street, not City of Elkins.
2021 Street Sweeper Season Ends 10/14
Thursday, Oct. 14 is the final day of the 2021 street-sweeper season. Street-sweeper parking restrictions will not be enforced after this date. The street sweeper will then shift to supporting leaf-pickup operations, but it will no longer be necessary to move vehicles. Watch for announcements in the spring for the start date of the 2022 street-sweeper season.
Fall Leaf Pickup
Fall leaf pickup begins Monday, Oct. 4 and continues throughout fall. More information here.
Payment drop box location change
Due to the City Hall Parking Lot Project work, the payment drop box has been moved to Fourth Street. The box is located at the yellow curb line just beyond the handicap parking spot next to City Hall on Fourth Street.
2021 Street Sweeper Schedule
Street sweeping began 4/19. More info here.
Coronavirus Information
For information about coronavirus response and precautions in Elkins, click here.
