FAIRMONT — Fairmont City Council breezed through a light session Tuesday evening before the holiday break and the end of the year.
The last session of 2023 mainly tee’d up the council’s work that begins at the start of 2024. Council also recognized the athletic accomplishments of the Fairmont Senior High School football team, which beat North Marion for the state championship about two weeks ago.
The agenda items included two land transfers to the city, 121 Reeves Avenue and 220 Locust Avenue. The council set public hearings for both transfers to Jan. 9, 2024. The council also voted to acknowledge the results of a recent vote by employees of the city’s firefighters and police departments regarding their Social Security.
According to information dug up by City Planner Shae Strait and forwarded by email from Interim City Clerk David Kirk, the Locust Avenue property is over 100 years old. The house was built in 1880 by Solomon Steele, a bricklayer who spent most of his life working in the south side of Pittsburgh. He was, however, born in Monongalia County in 1821, and lived until 1901. He served in the Pennsylvania militia until sometime after the Mexican American War, and served on the board of education for 11 years. He also ran a hardware store named Hough and Steele until he retired in 1872.
Steele sold the house in 1889 to George Morrow, who later sold it to the Bell family in the 1930s. Steele is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery next to his wife, Mary McLeary.
Brian Stewart, from the City’s Code Enforcement department, said the property is a residential building that is now dilapidated. He was not aware of the building’s age or history, but said the house’s fate is up to city council.
“It’s a dilapidated structure that the owners would rather give to the city to, let’s say, demolish,” Stewart said.
The city also acknowledged the results of a vote that fire and law enforcement employees held to decide whether or not to opt-in to Social Security. The vote was held only among members who joined city employment after 2017.
According to Austin McVey, director of Social Security at the WV State Auditor’s Office, the recent passage of a new addition to West Virginia’s code mandates that all participating employers with members in the Municipal Police Officers and Firefighters Retirement System hold a vote to determine if their members want Social Security coverage.
The law requires the vote to take place by Oct. 1, 2024, and is overseen by the state auditor’s office. MPFRS is the state’s pension and retirement system.
“Before this code was passed, employees in the MPFRS were unable to have Social Security coverage,” McVey wrote in an email. “Fairmont had 19 police officers and 13 firefighters who were eligible to participate in this vote.”
Police and firefighters voted separately, with the majority in each department deciding the outcome. Firefighters opted into Social Security, while police declined coverage.
Kirk said the vote took place on Dec. 18. The City used to have its own pension and retirement system but joined the statewide system in 2017. That’s why the vote took place for employees hired after 2017.
“The vote was to decide if these employees under MPFRS in the City of Fairmont would like to opt-in to paying into Social Security,” Kirk wrote in an email. “The Police officers in Fairmont under MPFRS voted not to have Social Security, the Firefighters in Fairmont voted to have Social Security taken out.”
Fairmont Police Chief Steve Shine provided what additional context he could, but was not privy to detailed voting information.
“Prior to 2018, Fairmont officers were enrolled in a private pension plan and did not pay Social Security,” Shine said in an email. “In 2017, new Fairmont police hired began being entered into WV state pension – MPFRS by the City.”
Shine also said members have the option to vote again after 365 days have passed from the original vote.
The next council meeting is Jan. 9.
