Government Meeting 3/3: Huntington City Council Meeting

Huntington City Council honored a Huntington resident and also voted on various topics such as junk removal, a skate park and a Second Chance Prom during Monday’s meeting.

Mayor Steve Williams spoke on the behalf of Huntington High School senior Kelsi Burns for her achievements in both academics and sports. Burns has been accepted to the United States Military Academy in West Point on a soccer scholarship.

An ordinance that will require Huntington residents to remove junk from their yards and porches was approved by all present council members. This ordinance is a portion of Mayor Steve Williams’ beautification plan. The plan was laid out in his State of the City address.

The ordinance will go into full effect July 1. Williams spoke on behalf of the ordinance and stated that residents will have enough time to remove unwanted furniture and junk from their porches and yards. If residents do not comply with the ordinance, they will face up to $500 fines or even time in jail.

The council also approved a resolution that will allow Williams to apply for a federal justice grant of $28,000 to hire a compliance officer to work within the Huntington Police Department. 

The council voted and agreed to a second reading of an ordinance that would fund a skate park. The park would be located in the western end of Harris Riverfront Park. The plans for the park would be divided into three phases, the first one costing a little over $65,000.  Council members expressed concerns about liability issues for the park, but still agreed the park would benefit the city’s youth.

The meeting concluded with final approval of a Second Chance Prom was also granted by council members. The prom will from 7-10 p.m. Friday at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena in the Conference Room. All council members in attendance voted in favor of the resolution, and many spoke about the importance of the event.

City Council Meeting tomorrow (3/25/13

I will be attending the Huntington City Council meeting at 7:30 p.m. on March 25, 2013 as my third and final government meeting requirement for this semester.

Government Meeting 2/3: Marshall University Faculty Senate

The Marshall University faculty senate meeting focused on information from an annual report by University President Stephen Kopp, including employee compensation within the university budget and education reform within the state government Thursday afternoon.

Dr. Stephen Kopp, president of the university, showcased a powerpoint that displayed Marshall’s operating expenditures and the amount of the money that goes to the university's employees for salary and benefits. The report showed that 62 percent of the operating expenditures goes to this cause. 

The report also showed that Marshall employs more full professor ranked positions than most or all of the other universities accounted for by the SREB. Other positions include associate professors and assistant professors. These positions are typically divided into thirds in other institutions. 

Another important issue Kopp discussed was possible solutions for budget cuts Marshall will be directly effected by included in a education bill currently being edited in the House of Representatives. 

This bill would account for a 8.94 percent reduction in funding for 4-year institutions, such as Marshall, which would effect things such as scholarships, grants and tuition cost for future and current students. The budget cut would account for a $6.5 million loss for Marshall, and $1.2 for the medical school alone.

A solution Kopp brought up was a tax increase on pop and alcohol. Currently, the state of W.Va. imposes a 1 cent tax on every container of pop sold in the state. The tax brings in close to $16 million for just one university in the state, which does not include Marshall. Kopp stated his advocacy for a bipartisan bill that would increase this tax on pop and perhaps even include alcohol to generate revenue for the state and to benefit all of W.Va.’s higher education institutions. 

Kopp also stated his distress that a consequence of budget cuts would unfortunately be a raise in tuition. A $730 raise in tuition would be the smallest amount necessary to compensate for the loss in funding.

Kopp concluded his presentation with a call to action to senate members to help him in his efforts to find a solution to the budget cut that would not impose a raise in tuition.

The meeting concluded after some questions and comments from the audience and senate members and some summary reports from the AFC, Library Commitee and Dean Steve Hensley. The faculty senate will meet again on Thursday April, 25.

Faculty Senate Meeting tomorrow (3/14/13)

I will be attending the Marshall University Faculty Senate meeting at 4 p.m. on March 14, 2013 as my second government meeting requirement for this semester. 

Government Meeting 1/3: State of the City address

Huntington Mayor Steve Williams delivered his first State of City address  Friday at city hall.

Williams laid out his plan for improving Huntington and discussed what the new budget would cover.

This year's budget is a $1 million increase from last year's, making it $43 million, but will not include extra taxing or fees for residents.

The budget will help with Williams' main goal of making Huntington a better place in all aspects.

Some of Williams' plans include beautification of Huntington, adding art and gardens in various places, adding more business and revenue opportunities, and increasing tourism to the area.

Williams also appointed new people and organizations within the city. Two new organizations are the Mayor's Council for the Arts and an office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting. New positions in each department amounted to a total of 11.

Although Williams strayed from his prepared speech, he was able to present his plans for the city efficiently and with personality.

The mayor also recognized the city's employees for the work they do for the city. Organizations that received a special mention included the fire department and the Huntington Police Department.

With 46 percent of the Huntington community being renters, Williams said he will meet with landlords in the city to make sure all rental properties are safe for renters.

He also stressed the significance of his new beautification plan. Within this plan, the city will be cracking down on shabby or junky residents in Huntington. Williams said that residents must take responsibility of their homes.

"Indoor furniture doesn't belong outside, junk cars don't belong in the front yard," Williams said.

With Huntington being one of the most unfit and obese cities in the country, Williams said that it is important to focus on physical fitness in the city.

He will be taking an active role in this by having "Mayor's Walks," which will encourage residents to take action in becoming more healthy.

Williams said this, along with his other plans, can help Huntington go from the bottom to the top.

Huntington State of the City address- Extra Credit

Mayor Steve Williams gave his first State of the City address Friday at Huntington City Hall.

Williams spoke about several topics such as the city budget, instilling art into the Huntington community and a beautification plan. 

At the beginning of the address, Williams seemed to stick to his prepared speech pretty well, but about midway through he began straying quite a bit. By the end, it was as if he threw the prepared speech out the window.

The address lasted about 49 minutes.

Mayor Steve Williams gives his State of the City address Friday at City Hall.

State of the Union prediction results: Mostly correct, with a fewsurprises (Assignment #9)

In his fourth State of the Union address, President Barak Obama mentioned several of the things I predicted he would in my previous blog and gave Americans a speech that was both what was expected and full of surprises.

Topics I predicted he would bring up included: American unity, the economy, the deficit and fiscal cliff, ending of George W. Bush’s tax breaks, health care, gay rights, immigration reform and gun rights.

Obama mentioned all but one of these topics in some way. The topic Obama did not discuss was Bush’s tax breaks coming to an end. Although, taxing was a topic he did speak about.

The economy was the most prevalent topic of the address. Obama spoke about the country’s deficit and his ideas of how to fix it. These were the topics Americans wanted to hear about the most according to NBC News. 

Education was a major topic Obama discussed. His ideas ranged all the way from pre-school to higher education.

He stated that all American children should have the same opportunities to be successful, and it starts with pre-school. Another plan relating to education Obama discussed was altering the high school curriculum to better prepare students for higher education. Finally, he proposed the idea of making higher education more affordable so more Americans can take advantage of schooling and be more successful in life. 

Health care and immigration reform combined took up a large chunk of Obama’s address. He elaborated his ideas for both topics, and urged Congress to follow behind him to make these ideas reality.

There was a small mention of gay rights and equality, but Obama did not spend time sharing details of his ideas concerning this. The mention was tied to women and gay military personnel. 

Obama kept his theme of American unity from his inauguration speech from January 21, 2013. The theme was present in most of the topics Obama spoke about.

Finally, Obama closed with the topic of gun control. Because this is such a controversial topic right now, it made sense that he would leave this for the end, and leave his audience with an emotional reaction. 

As I predicted, there were some surprises in Obama’s address. 

One of of these included climate change. Obama stated that Americans should believe what science shows us, and live in a more efficient way that will help decrease destruction of the planet. He cited natural disasters, fires and other tragedies in the last 15 years and related them directly to climate change. 

A second surprising topic was Obama's proposal to raise minimum wage amounts to $9.00 an hour. 

Cyber attacks was another topic that surprisingly came up. Although, with the recent hacking of The New York Times, it may not have been quite as big of a shock for others as I personally thought it was.

Obama also unveiled his “Fix it First” plan to Congress and the country. Obama stressed the idea of fixing the country in all aspects possible. 

Overall, I think Obama gave Americans the address they wanted to hear. He laid out his plan for the year clearly for Congress and the citizens of the United States.  He also gave Americans new topics  to think about as the new year pans out before us.

As a percentage, Obama spoke about 95 percent of the topics I guessed he would. However, I was only able to guess an estimate of 70 percent of his topics. There were some topics I did not see coming or I simply overlooked. 

Obama's fourth State of the Union address was successful and gave Congress and American citizens much to anticipate this year.