Feb 9, 2017 3 min read

MONONGAHELA – The sale of the Monongahela Armory was tabled Wednesday by city council until next month’s meeting.

Council plans to sell the former armory building at 396 Second St. to house a full-time youth center.

Brent Furlong, of GoTime Ministries, hosts a Thursday evening basketball league and approached council at last month’s meeting to purchase the building and to bring back the armory to its former status as a youth recreation center with after-school tutoring, computer classes and job training.

The armory space is now used as recreation center by the Journey By Grace church and also a local food bank. The church has decided not to not renew its lease.

Mayor Bob Kepics said the property has been appraised at about $20,000.

“We’ve had interest from some other parties,” Kepics said. “We have a lot to discuss before next month’s meeting. We want to discuss this at our work session.”

One of the conditions Kepics wants for the armory is to continue to house a food bank, which Furlong agreed to do. Kepics said a decision will be made at the next regular council meeting at 7 p.m March 8.

In other news, solicitor Keith Bassi said he has been working on updating the city ordinance to include provisions for medical marijuana businesses.

He said the city cannot legally prevent a marijuana-related business from operating in the city.

“The state has made very specific provisions and we are looking at those now and will update the zoning ordinance,” Bassi said.

He added the state allows two different businesses, dispensaries and an indoor growing operations. Council will adopt the zoning changes when they receive the recommendations from the solicitor.

Councilman Tom Caudill requested help from local businesses on behalf of his son, Tim Caudill, who could not attend the meeting. Tim Caudill is working on a project in conjunction with Shannon Lang for the Washington chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

The MS Society is holding its annual MS walk at Tanger Outlets April 30. Caudill is helping to raise funds for the organization and is looking for help from the local businesses to participate through contributions or assisting in selling MS walk bracelets and paper shoes.

Resident Sarah O’Brien addressed council concerning the waste of taxpayers’ money with the Right To Know requests that she feels are frivolous.

“These requests are taking time from the city employees and costing the taxpayers money,” she said. There ere 27 requests in 2016 from one resident, Chad DeSantis. One was for city employee emails to check for adult content.

O’Brien said that requests such as this from one person are taking away time and money from the residents in the city.

“These requests need to be answered within five days, and if they are not then there has been an appeal filed. Some of these requests the city has to contact the solicitor to look them over. This is wasting time and money,” said O’Brien.

Mayor Bob Kepics said the requests have cost the city about $3,000. DeSantis said he has a right to file the requests and he cannot tell the city how to handle them.