OAK HILL — Oak Hill city council members voted unanimously Monday evening to lend a helping hand — or land — in harvesting a bumper crop of green thumbs in the city this year.

Following a brief presentation by Polly Reynolds, city council voted 7-0 to give the Master Gardener program a plot of land for use as a community garden next to the state Department of Health and Human Resources building on Virginia Street.

According to Rey-nolds, the program operates in conjunction with the West Virginia University Extension Service. Those interested in becoming a Master Gardener take a 30-hour course on such topics as horticulture and botany. Upon successful completion of the course and the final exam, a student is certified as a Master Gardener.

The graduate then takes his or her knowledge and invests it in a garden-related project in the local community — to the tune of 30 hours. Twelve such hours are required each subsequent year for the graduate to maintain his or her title as a Master Gardener.

“We want to share knowledge with the community,” Reynolds said, adding that all produce gleaned from the community garden would be donated to a local food pantry.

Reynolds agreed to return to the April meeting of city council with both an estimated number of interested participants and an outline of how much land might be needed for such an endeavor. City manager Tom Oxley said he would help her make that latter determination before the April meeting.

To learn more about the program, contact the local WVU Extension Service at 304-574-4253.

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In other business, council members:

- Applauded as Jane Burk, of the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce, was named Oak Hill’s Citizen of the Month for March.

- Learned from Oxley that the 2008-09 city budget will be presented to council members at a special meeting next Monday at 6 p.m.

- Agreed to let Mayor Bill Hannabass and Council-at-Large Anna Lou Holt attend a meeting at Gumbo’s restaurant in Fayetteville at 6:30 p.m. March 31. They will receive an update on the U.S. Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement and learn about the possible formation of an advisory team in that regard.

— E-mail: mhill@register-herald.com