Tensions surface on paving in Follansbee
Kocher: Change in plans should have been voted on
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FOLLANSBEE -- Tensions ran high at Monday's city council meeting in Follansbee when a pair of council members demanded to know why allocated road paving funds were taken from the Second Ward.
"The way it was done is not fair (to second ward residents)," said John Casinelli, council-at-large.
During a September meeting, the council voted to allocate funds for pavement to streets that include the 900 and 1000 blocks of Oak Alley; however, those funds have since been re-purposed for paving other streets outside the ward.
"I received the pavement list and I went to people in my ward and said, 'We're on the list for paving,'" said Second Ward Councilwoman Angela Kocher. "Now I have to go back and say, 'We aren't on the list for paving.' They are going to ask why and where the money went."
City Manager John DeStefano said the alleys will still be patched but due to a sewage project the alleys cannot be paved at this time.
DeStefano also argued that he discussed the issue with Kocher over the phone.
"Why wasn't it voted on?" asked Kocher. "If we are here as a council person and making decisions to do things, if there is a change in a decision I want it brought up to the council again, not just a call saying, 'This is what we're doing.' That is not why I sit on the council. I sit on the council to represent my ward."
In response, DeStefano noted in roughly 34 months the sewage project will be completed and both Oak Alley blocks will be paved.
"It is all going to be fixed," said DeStefano.
"The problem is, if we are going to reappropriate funds then we need to come back as a council," said Casinelli.
Mayor David Velegol suggested that funds from the 2019-20 budget go toward paving at least one of the blocks on Oak Alley in the fall.
On a separate issue, Fifth Ward Councilman Scott McMahon asked DeStefano about the status of speed bumps that were voted on in a prior council meeting this year.
DeStefano said he did not know since he was not in the office last week.
"I don't know what the point is," McMahon said to Kocher, referring to casting votes that aren't carried out.
Neither McMahon nor Kocher is running for re-election.
(Linder can be conacted at tlinder@heraldstaronline.com)