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.”
Times Leader Staff Writer
ST. CLAIRSVILLE Questions and confusion about the latest nominations to fill two expiring terms on the city recreation board for the J.B. Martin Recreation Center dominated the Monday teleconference meeting of St. Clairsville City Council.
After more than a half-hour of debate, council voted in favor of current board members Diane Schubert and Alicia Freeman, daughter of Councilwoman Linda Jordan. Their terms had been set to expire April 17. Each will serve another five-year term.
Councilman Perry Basile had nominated Lisa Amos.
Council members were unsure if one or both terms were set to expire this month, and some members suggested putting off the vote until a later meeting until this could be determined. When Jordan did not withdraw her nomination of Freeman, Law Director Elizabeth Glick consulted prior council minutes and found Schubert had filled an ongoing term rather than a complete one, and so both of the council’s nominations were open.