KINGWOOD — Council members voted Tuesday to give the Kingwood water board and the sewer board $150,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds.
They initially considered giving $105,000 to sewer and water but changed their minds after a short discussion.
Council also voted to give Parks and Recreation $104,818 in funding, voted to set aside $50,000 for small businesses and put aside $192,119 for later use.
In other announcements, the Sweet Annie’s building will soon come down.
The building, at 142 S. Price St., is leaning toward another building. Inside, 2-by-4s help hold up its walls, and the floor has fallen in two places.
The city recently put up a wooden blockade in front of the building to protect pedestrians and vehicles parked in front of it.
Kingwood City Council received three bids for the demolition project and accepted the $42,488 bid submitted by Reclaim. Green River Group LLC bid $90,800 and Blue Gold Development LLC bid $43,320.
Reclaim was the only bidder to offer testing for asbestos and asbestos abatement.
In other business, Kingwood Parks and Recreation Supervisor Kevin Stiles asked council members for suggestions about how his staff can safely collect money from Buckwheat Festival parking during COVID.
“We park an average of 400 cars per day,” he said. “The few employees I have are bucking. Money is the dirtiest thing there is. I don’t know if rubber gloves will work when collecting money and giving change.”
Staff members who collect the money must go up to the car window to take the fee and give change. Stiles said a lot of time they are giving change for $100, $50 and $20 bills.
“Regardless of how they do it, they are still coming in contact with that many people,” McNemar said.
No further action was taken.
In other news:
- City workers will begin milling and scratching Sisler Street Monday. Sisler Street runs into Charles Street, which in turn runs into Murdock Street, and is used to reroute traffic during the Buckwheat Festival.
- Kingwood City Officer Gina McNemar was voted Police Officer of the Year by her peers and the public. McNemar, a Clarksburg native, joined the department in March 2020.
- The city police are also looking for volunteers to help with the department’s Shop with a Cop program. McNemar said $2,400 has been raise and will be used to provide 12 county children with gifts.
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