CHAPMANVILLE — The Chapmanville Town Council voted to rescind their previous action to donate $2,000 to the town’s athletic association during a meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 14.
The issue came to the forefront after Jackie Ferrell, a town resident and former councilman, addressed the council over what he called a “repugnant act” by Mayor Joel McNeely and recorder Phillip Williamson at the council’s January meeting.
During that meeting, the action to approve the $2,000 passed with a tie-breaking vote by Mayor McNeely.
Williamson was one of the individuals to vote ‘nay’ on the matter.
Ferrell said West Virginia Code 8-9-2, which outlines tie-breaking votes and votes by mayor and recorder, does not apply to Chapmanville’s form of government.
“Under the different types of town government, they list three,” Ferrell said. “They list the mayor and council plan, strong mayor plan, and manager plan. In two of these three, the council and the mayor are the same — in other words, the council elects the mayor to preside over the meetings. They have a, what is called, an administrator and I noticed that with the county commission, but the mayor is just another councilperson — it could be anybody that the group elects. Under plan two, is the strong mayor plan. This is our plan. It has been since 1947 … the council shall be the ‘governing body’; the mayor shall be the ‘administrative authority’ — the mayor and the recorder does not have authority to vote under this form of government.”
Ferrell further stated that the duty of the recorder only includes keeping records of the municipality. He said the recorder gets no vote.
After Ferrell’s remarks, the council took up the issue. Mayor McNeely revealed that the Chapmanville Athletic Association has since disbanded and instead had received a suggestion to donate the $2,000 to non-revenue sports at Chapmanville Regional High School.
“By non-revenue, numerous sports — tennis, golf, a few others — they do not charge an entrance fee to watch the game,” McNeely said.
McNeely said the suggestion came from CRHS Principal Rob Dial.
Councilman Harry Freeman said that if the town starts giving away donations to sports, then it would only be fair to donate to academic and extracurricular programs as well. Councilman Gary Neil, who asked for the donation during the January meeting, then asked to strike his motion from the record.
“As the record shows, I made the comment to ask for the donation,” Neil said. “I request that that be stricken from the record. I don’t want it. Forget it. That’ll settle all of it. Let the record show that, too.”
Recorder Phillip Williamson then advised Neil that he can’t strike it from the record, but a motion can be made to rescind the action. Neil then made that motion, which was seconded by Freeman and the remainder of the council except councilwoman Robin Adams Mutters.
During his remarks prior to that motion, Ferrell also accused the town council of not following state code regarding pay raises for council members or town employees.
“Every time that you all raised your hands in that kneejerk to give a raise to whoever, whoever, it’s repugnant,” Ferrell said. “Same way with employees. Every year, it seems like the council will put forth the provision to have a pay raise for the next year council that comes in — it’s common. The only problem? They don’t do it by ordinance, which is repugnant.”
Ferrell then took issue with a project to fix a retaining wall at the Chapman Cemetery last year.
“A council member, on his own volition, went out to fix a wall,” Ferrell said. “He went out and found a contractor. He had the contractor fix the wall, and then he had the recorder to pay the contractor from the information that I’m aware of. There was no bids on that job, which is required if it costs more than $2,500.”
According to prior meeting minutes, councilman Gary Neil presented the project during the June 14, 2022 meeting. Neil submitted a proposal for construction, labor, and materials from Gutter King of Harts for $9,750.
Subsequent meeting minutes from July, August, and September 2022 show that Neil continuously updated council on the project and sought bids for other wall repair projects — one on the Corridor G ramp and one in the Fowler Branch area. The council agreed with the need to repair the walls each time the issues were brought forth.
Mayor Joel McNeely then interrupted and said that bids were indeed sought. Ferrell said the bidding process was not followed properly.
At the end of the meeting, Neil addressed Ferrell about the wall, which led to an exchange between the two.
“Hey Gary, you know what you can kiss, don’t you?” Ferrell said. “You’re out of order … make a motion. A motion’s got to be on the table before you can open your mouth. That’s a rule.”
“Why won’t you let me speak and defend myself?” Neil responded. “We had a dangerous situation down there … everybody agreed to it. It was an emergency situation and they agreed that I could replace it under an emergency situation. It was on city property. We did it to protect the public. It ain’t nothing to me.”
Neil noted that during the August 16, 2022 council meeting, three separate surveys were presented that showed the wall to be within city limits. Neil said nobody personally gained from the project as it was a safety improvement for town residents.
Mayor McNeely then interjected.
“You have succeeded in doing what you do best — in causing confusion and starting arguments,” McNeely said. “Now, you have succeeded. Congratulations to you.”
“You’re welcome,” Ferrell responded.
