South Charleston welcomed a new police officer to its force at Thursday night's meeting.
Mayor Frank Mullens administered the oath of service to Tony Messer.
"This brings us almost to full staff," Police Chief Brad Rinehart said. "He will start at the [West Virginia State Police] Academy April 3."
As previously reported, the City of South Charleston is in the process of creating a tax increment financing district that will cover much of the city in an effort to spur hundreds of millions of dollars in economic development.
"It is moving along fine. I have called it a game changer for us and I believe it is," Mullens said. "It is in the hands of the Legislature, and after that it goes to [the Department of] Commerce for final approval and that is where we are with that."
City council upon second reading passed an ordinance by unanimous voice vote adopting current replacement pages to the city's traffic code.
Ward 4 Councilman Jeff Williamson voiced concerns about the part concerning bicyclists in the updates.
"Have we looked at them abiding by stop signs? I guess they have to do that with traffic lights and so forth," Williamson asked. "Is there something that we could put in there about obeying the traffic laws if you are riding a bicycle?"
Rinehart assured Williamson that police will retain the power to pull over cyclists who do not obey traffic laws.
In other action, council discussed upcoming festivities for the city's 100th anniversary.
Festivities will begin on May 2, 100 days before the actual anniversary.
"We are celebrating 100 years, that is an exciting time," Mullens said. "I asked the committee to make sure that we incorporated as many groups, organizations and businesses as we can."
More information and a full list of celebration activities will be available on the city's website.
The City of South Charleston launched a new website March 2. It is now live and focused on being user-friendly.
Ward 8 Councilman Don Ryan was absent from the meeting.
Council's next meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. March 16 on the second floor of City Hall, D Street.