With a room full of proud parents and smiling and well behaved children, Bridgeport City Council breezed through the final of two meetings for the month of October this evening. In fact, the regular session was over less than 30 minutes before it began.

 

Happy people weren’t the only reason for the short session. An agenda that featured only one item was a key reason for the quick meeting.

 

The item in question involved Bridgeport Mayor Andy Lang recognizing students in grades kindergarten through fifth at Heritage Christian, Johnson Elementary and Simpson Elementary for their winning submissions for a City of Bridgeport calendar. Thirteen students were honored and their drawings were on display in front of the dais where Council sits.

 

City Clerk Andrea Kerr said individual submissions were judged and that it was difficult to come up with 13 different winners from the group. And there was a reason for 13, Lang said.

 

“We have to have one for all 12 months and one for the cover of the calendar,” said Lang.

 

The winning submissions were not the only ones displayed. One wall of Council had dozens of submissions on display for those in attendance.

 

Kerr said the calendars will be available before the end of this year to be put on display in 2018. She said the city would make the calendars available to all the schools that participated and allow them to distribute the calendars to the student bodies. There will be no charge for the calendars.

 

Lang and City Manager Kim Haws also addressed Council. The pair gave their regular reports with Haws telling Council that lights on Main Street should be fixed soon, if not already. Several sections of lights in the downtown corridor have not been working.

 

“We’re not sure what caused it, but the mechanism to fix it was ordered and installed … If it’s still dark, it won’t be for much longer,” said Haws.

 

The Council also heard public comments from two individuals regarding the drug woes in the region. Ellen Condron, APRN, BC, MSN of All Saints Parish Nurse Ministry talked to Council about the next “A Community Conversation on Substance Abuse” at All Saints. The topic will be on community solutions and stigma reduction. The meeting is set for Nov. 13 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and is open to the public.

 

City resident Ben Randolph also spoke and addressed many of the same issues. Randolph is intimately involved with Celebrate Recovery.

 

Prior to the meeting, Council meet in a work session for 45 minutes. Various topics were discussed, including a draft letter to be sent to the West Virginia Division of Highways. The letter, when submitted, will include priority road projects the city would like to see addressed. Several other items were also discussed, including the possibility of a future pickup day for large trash items. No formal action was taken on that matter.

 

After the meeting, Council went into executive session. The city’s governing body met to talk about matters involve advanced construction planning.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows 12 of the 13 students who were in attendance for recognition this evening, while Mayor Andy Lang is shown handing out recognition certificates to one of those with a winning submission for the calendar in the second photo. Bottom photo shows a smiling and jovial crowd on hand.