City Manager Tiffany on Jan. 2 presented department updates to the Clarksburg City Council, reporting permit activity, code enforcement, public-safety call volumes, staff promotions and several ongoing downtown redevelopment and planning efforts.

On permits and code enforcement, Tiffany said staff issued 49 building permits with a reported combined job cost of $2,500,000 and collected just over $15,000 in permit fees. Staff reported 39 notices of violations and multiple inspections; vacancies are checked weekly. Tiffany said permits for code will be processed downstairs so applicants can submit and pay at the same counter.

Tiffany said the finance department collected just over $41,000 in business-and-occupation taxes and about $23,000 in hotel taxes for the reporting period. The compost center is collecting fees; staff encouraged residents to contact finance if they want to change fire service fee billing from bimonthly to annual. The manager said annual fire service fee invoices will be sent in January and that an increase in the fire service fee will appear on the next billing cycle.

Public-safety statistics presented at the meeting included 1,841 police calls for service and 488 fire department service calls for the month of December. Tiffany said four new police officers are scheduled to begin at the academy this month. The council recognized promotions and tests completed by firefighters and EMTs: Firefighters Cross, Foster, Martin and Weber completed apprenticeship programs and were promoted to firefighter first class; Firefighter Curry and Firefighter Reynolds passed the national registry EMT-B test; all firefighters completed annual hazardous-materials awareness training.

On public works and utilities, staff reported replacement of about 75 feet of sanitary mainline, replacement of a 10-inch mainline on Joe Merrow Way, new manholes and routine equipment maintenance. Staff said they collected 14,000 of yard waste and received 109,000 of wood waste; units were not specified during the report and were noted as reported figures in the meeting.

The planning and community development update included ongoing work on cultural and historic district designations for downtown, outreach to investors and investors’ tours of vacant properties, verification of roughly 30% of active businesses in Clarksburg, and continued support for redevelopment of three downtown buildings. Tiffany said Clarksburg was invited to present at an international summit in April 2025 to represent the city’s growth and development efforts.

Tiffany also updated council on the city’s West Virginia First Foundation grant application. The city received notice it was not approved in the first round because the foundation reported missing documents. Tiffany said staff had verified the required attachments were submitted and that the foundation allows applicants 30 days to correct errors; the foundation will run another approval round in about 60 days and staff will resubmit if asked.

Council members used the update to congratulate long-serving public works employee John Workman on his retirement and to recognize long-serving police officers. Council also discussed code enforcement timelines for vehicle towing following notice-of-violation processes.

No formal votes were taken on the items in the manager’s report; council requested follow-up on the West Virginia First Foundation submission and directed staff to continue redevelopment and code-enforcement activities.