Wheeling City Council Approves More Changes for Human Rights Commission

More changes are coming for the Wheeling Human Rights Commission. City Council approved an ordinance at Tuesday's meeting that will affect the way the commission operates.

The ordinance gives the Human Rights Commission the ability to choose whether or not they will handle complaints themselves. It also gives them the option of forwarding complaints to the West Virginia HRC.

The ordinance maintains local control, whereas most other cities are automatically forwarding complaints to the state level. The changes come after loss of staff due to funding cutbacks.

Wheeling City Manager Bob Herron says Human Rights commissioners have been involved in reviewing the ordinance.

"We're doing it a little bit different in that there's still local control," he says. "The local Human Rights Commission can make a decision as to whether or not they want to handle a complaint. If they do, it would be handled right here in Wheeling. If not, it would be sent down to the state Human Rights Commission, like every other city in West Virginia does it. The state Human Rights Commission would then analyze that complaint and come to Wheeling to deal with it."

Also at Tuesday's meeting, council approved an agreement between the city and the West Virginia Department of Transportation to fund the majority of the Schenk Bridge replacement project.

The parking problem in Center Wheeling was addressed as well. Council approved a lease agreement with the D.O.T. to build a parking lot above OVMC.

(2013-10-16/wtrf)