(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)
It isn’t often that any gathering could produce five rounds of applause and a seven-minute argument, but the Beaver Falls City Council experienced that whilst holding their final meeting before Christmas.
The meeting began on a high note, with the city honoring both the Beaver Falls High School Football team (WPIAL runners-up) and the Mighty Mites Football team (champions) with plaques handed to their respective coaches on Tuesday night. “We support you wholeheartedly,” Mayor Kenya Johns spoke to the coaches. “If there’s anything we can do to help you guys and your programs…we want to be a part of that.”
Following the accolades was the agenda proper, which saw the council approve one-year agreements between Beaver Falls and the borough of Eastvale to provide assistance and services for code enforcement, police patrolling, and fire reduction for the neighboring borough across the Beaver River. General Fund expenditures from the city totaling $321,311.61 were approved, and the final city budget totaling $26,685,492.13 was submitted to the council by Chief Financial Officer Sandy Wilkins. The full document will be available for the public to see and comment on for ten days before council votes on the budget at their final meeting of the year on December 27.
The final item on the regular agenda was a presentation by Tyrone Zeigler, who has been spearheading the Tigerland Wave Pool revival for “seven years”. He came to Tuesday night’s meeting looking for answers to recent allegations on social media of him being a “liar”, being “against the city”, and “slandering my character, when all I wanted to do was just open a pool.”
“I could have gave up a long time ago, but I’m not going to give up. I’m going to see it all the way through,” Zeigler spoke plaintively. “But what I want to say is that this is not fair that I’m being treated this way.” The plaintive tone became more aggressive when Zeigler spoke about a letter that referred to the pool as a “gift”; a letter allegedly given to him by council. “I didn’t do anything but put the work in for that pool, for this community, for these kids, [and] for the families,” he added.
Mayor Johns, however, felt that council did not cross the line in stating that the pool was a “gift”, and that led to a heated argument between Johns and Zeigler. “I’m very perplexed and disappointed that we’re even in this,” she stated, “because from the council’s standpoint, when we took office on January 6th, we did more to help move the needle.” Zeigler disagreed with Mayor Johns: “How did you help? I don’t want to do this, because if I do this I’m gonna have to tell the truth.”
Many of the names and details were not revealed during the argument because there is ongoing litigation between Zeigler and the city of Beaver Falls. Zeigler stormed out of the meeting once he chose to cease any continued public arguments with the mayor.
The meeting ended on a calmer note, as the council members thanked City Clerk Paula Durish, who–as the chairperson of the Christmas Parade Committee–led the city through 7th Avenue during their annual Christmas Parade back in November. “The parade was a big success,” Durish said. “It was very well-attended, not only in some places where it was three or four people deep, but from the start at McDonald’s all the way down to 10th Street.”
The next meeting for the Beaver Falls City Council is scheduled for Tuesday, December 27 at 7:00 PM at the city building.
