FAIRMONT — City Council honored Fire Chief Ed Simmons Tuesday night for having served almost 30 years with the department.
Simmons is retiring June 23 and attended his last city council meeting this week. Simmons has been working with the City of Fairmont since October 6, 1993 and served 29 years and eight months.
He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 2003, to fire prevention training officer in 2007, to the rank of captain in 2011 and finally to the rank of chief, which he has has held since March, 28 2016.
Mayor Anne Bolyard presented Simmons a plaque and thanked him for his hard work.
“This plaque is just one small token of our appreciation,” Bolyard said. “This is heartfelt but it’s also sad, this is his last city council meeting with us.”
The send off was a surprise to Simmons, but he knew exactly what was coming as soon as the mayor said the next item for discussion was not on the agenda.
Usually, Simmons opts to shine a light on his fellow firefighters and works behind the scenes, but Tuesday night he was the center of attention.
“It’s been an awesome, awesome career. I still remember starting out when Janet [Keller] pinned my badge on me almost 30 years ago,” Simmons said. “We’ve got a great group of guys here that have made the last seven years as chief really easy. They’re out there on the front lines and it’s because of them that we have a great department. I can’t thank the city enough for everything they’ve done.”
Councilors also recognized the Fairmont Senior Lacrosse Team for their West Virginia State Championship victory and a perfect 20-0 season. Three girls were First Team All State recipients — Georgia Gonzales, Aubrey Harrison and Liz Amos. Harrison and Amos were also named Lacrosse All Americans.
Into the regular agenda items, council approved a request to rezone several parcels along Linda Lane that were recently purchased by a resident who owned land neighboring the property.
The request was actually considered a “downzone” which means that the parcels are being rezoned to a less permissible use class as opposed to the more common request to “upzone” a piece of property, which allows for more uses on a lot.
The property owner, Rodney Richards, said that downzoning his property from neighborhood residential to general residential will allow for greater flexibility in his plans for the parcels when it comes to restrictions such as setback requirements.
Shae Strait, Fairmont’s director of planning, said that while this was a resident’s request, the planning commission forwarded it favorably to city council because of the benefits this rezoning will bring to the neighborhood as a whole.
“We don’t ever [rezone] for the benefit of a single citizen or a single entity. We look at this and saw that it is in the best interest of the neighborhood,” Strait said. “The members of the planning commission unanimously agreed that this would not have a negative impact on the adjacent neighbors or neighborhood.”
Council also unanimously adopted a resolution to form an ad hoc committee to oversee the creation of a policy to govern the sale of city-owned properties that have been acquired as part of the demolition program.
The committee would be filled by three, full-time city employees, a member of the community with business ties to Fairmont, and a member of city council who is chosen by the council.
Council raised concerns that there would be three city employees seated on the committee saying that will have a major impact on the community. Strait said that the idea behind that was to have the committee led by professionals intimately familiar with the demolition program.
Council approved a renewal of the agreements between the city and the Marion Regional Development Corp. Council Member Bruce McDaniel was excused from the vote and discussion due to his affiliation with MRDC. McDaniel currently serves as its interim director.
Prior to Tuesday’s council meeting, council members toured the former BB&T building on Fairmont Avenue. The city has been engaged in several viability studies and tests of the building with the hope of moving aspects of the city government out of the Public Safety Building on Quincy Street and into that building.
Council held an executive session after its formal meeting proceedings and members were unable to comment on the specifics of the tour or the closed session. No votes on the executive session item were taken.
The next Fairmont City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, June 27 at 7 p.m.
