(Meeting Updates – Photo Illustration – MetroCreativeConnection)
PARKERSBURG — City Council’s Finance Committee will consider the proposed plan for Community Development Block Grant and HOME Funds Tuesday prior to a regular council meeting with multiple appointments on the agenda.
The action plan to be reviewed at the 6 p.m. Finance meeting in the executive conference room on the second floor of the Municipal Building outlines how the city will use its federal entitlement funds for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
Of the $858,894 in CDBG funds, plus $10,000 from program income in the previous year, the largest amount, $165,000, is designated for administration, planning and management for oversight of federal, state and locally funded programs through the Development Department. A code enforcement position would also be funded with $55,000.
A portion of the money is dedicated to paying off completed projects: $153,803 toward the loan for the riverfront project at Point Park and $27,292 for Fire Station 2 at 16th and Covert streets. There is $150,000 each proposed for stormwater improvements and playground facility upgrades, although the plan provided with the agenda does not specify which playground.
Other allocations include $100,000 for the Residential Assisted Demolition Program, $40,000 to again partner with Consumer Credit Counseling Services to provide housing counseling to low- and moderate-income households, $25,000 to Discovery World on Market for efforts to expand access for children from low-to moderate-income households; $20,000 for the YMCA Camp Navigator Scholarship Fund; and $15,000 for critical equipment upgrades for the Fire Department.
The city also administers the Parkersburg-Wood County HOME Consortium, which operates throughout the county, including Vienna and Williamstown. The 2025-26 HOME budget includes a $252,591.13 federal allocation and $160,000 in program income from the 2024-25 fiscal year. The primary income source is prior loans being repaid.
The proposed budget allocates $181,591 to the Down Payment Assistance Program, which provides up to a $15,000 forgivable loan to eligible and approved applicants to assist with down payments and closing costs. A low-income housing tax credit project, with a developer to be determined, would receive $150,000, and $40,000 would go to Habitat for Humanity of the Mid-Ohio Valley, the consortium’s dedicated community housing development organization. Another $41,000.13 would go to general administration.
The agenda for the full council meeting set for 7:30 p.m. in council chambers includes Mayor Tom Joyce’s appointments of Austin Young, an engineer with Burgess & Niple, and Sydney Weber, Wood County Resiliency Center executive director, to the Downtown Facade Committee. Members will vote on whether to confirm the appointments.
Joyce’s appointments of Brian Bragg, Ross Clegg, Jimmy Fordyce and Frank Douglas to the Building Code Appeals Board will be submitted to council but do not require their confirmation.
