Times Leader Staff Writer
ST. CLAIRSVILLE City leaders are considering whether to transfer ownership of the fire station at 142 S. Marietta St. to the Cumberland Trail Fire District.
District ownership of the decades-old building could mean access to more grant funding for upgrades, according to Cumberland Fire Chief Tim Hall. He spoke to council members during a Monday teleconference meeting, saying the firehouse was built in 1978 and that there had been intermittent discussion of transferring ownership to the district since 2015. He said the action was not pursued since 2017, when other matters occupied the city and district.
Hall said that as in many other aspects of life, the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred a change.
Times Leader Staff Writer
ST. CLAIRSVILLE The city council will once again be meeting face-to-face after nearly a year of teleconference sessions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Monday, Council President Jim Velas announced the 7:30 May 17 meeting will be in person.
“Due to the relaxation of some of the people in the meetings, we will have enough room in our council chambers to accommodate the entire council and the city officials,” Velas said. “They will follow all of the guidelines laid down by the health department … We are in serious hopes that they will relax them even a little bit more, where we will be able to consider bringing the general public back into the meeting.”
Staff Writer
Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of articles that will examine how much money local governments will receive as a result of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, as well as how the funds may be distributed and invested.
ST. CLAIRSVILLE There is no shortage of uses for Belmont County’s share of the American Rescue Plan stimulus funding.
The $1.9 trillion aid package approved in response to the COVID-19 pandemic provides another round of Economic Impact Payments in the form of $1,400 to most individual Americans.
It also extends federal unemployment benefits, expands the Child Care Tax Credit and other credits. It includes funding for education and child care, health care, transportation and other programs. It also provides federal aid to states, counties and other government entities.
Times Leader Staff Writer
ST. CLAIRSVILLE St. Clairsville City Council members took no action Monday to correct a vote cast by email that appeared to violate the Ohio Open Meetings Act, but the emails were read aloud and each member verbally confirmed their vote was recorded correctly.
The vote by email occurred April 5 to fill two seats on the recreation board. Council chose not to rescind the vote and said plans are in the works to revive in-person meetings, which would hopefully prevent such incidents in the future.
According to the “2021 Ohio Sunshine Laws Manual” published by Attorney General Dave Yosts’s office: “A public body must make all of its meetings open to the public at all times. Secret ballots, whispering of public business, and ’round-robin’ discussions are all prohibited under the openness requirement.”
Staff Writer
ST. CLAIRSVILLE Water and wastewater issues were again front and center during Monday’s teleconference meeting of City Council.
An unexpected malfunction of neglected equipment at the wastewater treatment plant spurred city leaders to begin the search for someone to take a more active role in managing this service, which will mean creating a new position of wastewater superintendent.
Safety and Service Director Jeremy Greenwood reported an expensive breakdown during a finance committee meeting prior to the council session.
“We had a blower-motor down at the wastewater plant that basically blew up, and it blew up from lack of maintenance,” Greenwood said, adding the cost of a new one would come to about $49,000. “We’ll have someone there full time to make sure these maintenance items are being taken care of.