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Star City canvasses votes

STAR CITY – A special meeting was held Tuesday night for Star City Council members to address various matters, one being the canvassing of votes from last week’s Municipal Election.

This occasion was the town’s first in-person public meeting since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

The first order of business was a discussion surrounding the town’s budget. Treasurer Lea Hassler was given permission for a budget revision. The deadline for the revision was also Tuesday. The revision was particularly focused on severance tax, wine and liquor, animal control and franchise fees in the town.

“I know we’re not going to get anything else in those line items, so I went ahead and adjusted those so that they’re correct before the end of the fiscal year,” Hassler said.

Hassler also made a change regarding the town’s classification of money it received from the federal CARES Act grant.

The budget revision was approved as presented by all present members of the council.

Next, Recorder Steven Blinco read aloud a proposal for the town of Star City to reenact, readopt and adopt West Virginia State Building Code, article 1781.

There was a motion made to adopt the ordinance as read and the ordinance was subsequently approved by all present members of the council.

Additionally, Mayor Herman Reid announced that Bobby Doyle had been appointed as the town’s building code official.

The canvassing of the votes was called to order by Blinco. Preliminary review found that no spoilt ballots had been cast; 13 absentee ballots had been cast, and one provisional ballot had been submitted. The one provisional ballot was not counted.

The results of the canvass were favorable and affirmed the results of the election. According to state code, the canvass must be recessed for at least 48 hours. Once that time has passed, council will reconvene to certify the results of the election for any position that has not been subject to a recount request.

If no position has been subject to a recount request, all results are certified after the 48-hour recess requirement has passed.

Reid initially stated that the canvassing would be done at the next regular council meeting on June 29; it was actually conducted two weeks earlier. The canvassing occurred on the fifth business day after the election.

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