A few weeks ago, city council members said they have been in contact with the city's legal team to further discuss the possibility of enacting the moratorium, but it was quickly evident at the Nov. 19 meeting meeting that the city is going to have to look into other options.

Huntington City Councilman Mark Bates said he is confident that one way to curb the recent violence at some of Huntington's nightclubs and bars is to prohibit any new bars from opening in the city.

"I would like to air on the side of caution, my advice to you would be to go through an ordinance procedure where you, um either repeal an ordinance to replace it, succeed it with something that addresses your problems, as opposed to a moratorium or freeze or ban," said assistant city attorney Lora Maynard.

But, during the meeting a city attorney informed the council that a moratorium wouldn't work because the idea had already been stuck down by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals twice.

"There is a clause that would allow us to do an emergency moratorium, but it has some strings attached to it, but it would also have to pass by two-third's of council. I'm not saying that's off the table. We'll possibly bring that up at our next meeting," city councilman Mark Bates said.

Closing bars earlier and setting a cap on occupancy were just a few of the ideas thrown around during a meeting Marshall University student Emily Brooks found reassuring.

"There are a lot of Marshall students don't feed safe, like they said, half the students don't feel safe walking down there own city at night. So, something need to happen, um. It sounds like they have a lot of different ideas. I'm really interested to see in the next couple of weeks what they've talked about," she said.

Bates said that a meeting will be held in the next two to three weeks, after representatives from the city have a chance to meet with state reps to discuss help the state can provide.