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FOLLANSBEE -- Potential cuts to the city swimming pool's hours and tax revenue from local businesses were the focus of Monday's Follansbee Council meeting.
Mayor David Velegol Jr. asked council to consider cutting the pool's hours in July and August, citing declining patronage and a loss of about $120,000 last year from operational costs assumed by the city.
He and Tom Ludewig, the pool's manager, said attendance generally drops after July 4 or Follansbee Community Days, the weekend festival held outside the Follansbee Community House nearby.
"There are times when we have more lifeguards than we have people in the pool," Velegol said following the meeting.
He suggested reducing the pool's hours to weekends only following Community Days in July and August.
In recent years, the pool often has closed in mid-August because most of its lifeguards were students returning to school, particularly college.
The school year for local students also has begun around that time, resulting few youth visiting the pool.
But Velegol said the main reason for the change is to cut from about $195,000 allocated for the city's parks and recreation fund, much of it for the pool.
Ludewig said the city could save $1,000 per week in wages by closing the pool at 5 p.m. instead of 6 p.m. while adding money is lost when the pool is rented for private parties.
Velegol confirmed council also will consider raising rental fees for the Community House and Follansbee Park's shelters because they are much lower than those charged in neighboring communities.
The changes are expected to be decided upon at council's next meeting at 7 p.m. April 8.
The proposals come soon after approval of a $3.2 million budget that still reflected a $1 million gap left with the closing of the Mountain State Carbon coke plant two years ago.
And generating more tax dollars for the city was the subject of a debate prompted by 4th Ward Councilman Frank Pedersen.
Pedersen said he learned that a $350,000 cap had been placed on tax collected from Wheeling-Nippon Steel, a major industry operating in the city.
He asked why and whether it couldn't be raised to generate more revenue for much needed new vehicles and other expenses.
Velegol said the cap was in place before he became mayor and may have been related to the in lieu of tax agreement with the steel mill that allowed the city to establish an $8.9 million trust fund with which it has paid for various expenses through the years.
He said Wheeling-Nippon pays a business and occupation tax to the city regardless of its level of production, and donated $50,000 to aid with flood relief efforts in 2016 and $100,000 to develop the city's ball field.
"I want it to be known that I'm against that 100 percent," said Velegol.
He also said Nippon Steel, Wheeling-Nippon's parent company, may buy U.S. Steel and could close the Follansbee plant, moving its operations elsewhere, if it detects an inhospitable business climate in Follansbee.
"By doing moves like that, we would become unattractive to other businesses," he added.
Councilman at large John Casinelli suggested the steel firm could be approached for help with a new vehicle or other need.
"I have never dealt with them and they not be neighborly," he said.
Third Councilman Nick Cekinovich said the planned development of a riverfront port, pig iron plant and other businesses offers hope for a brighter fiscal future but questioned what the city can do until that happens.
He noted the city's streets need paving and street lights need to be replaced.
Velegol said various measures are being considered, including raising rates for the city's garbage collection, to make the sanitation department self-sufficient and pay for a new garbage truck; and obtaining vehicles through a purchase-lease agreement.
On Monday, council also observed a moment of silence for James "Honey" Meca, a long-time member of St. Anthony Catholic Church, the Cedar Lodge and Theta Chi Alpha who, in addition to lending his time to those causes, supported his late wife, Nina Meca, who served as co-chair for Community Days, on council and in various civic groups.