Water projects on track in St. Clairsville

Jun 6, 2023

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Long-term city utility projects are nearing completion and new upgrades are on the horizon.

On Monday, Safety and Service Director Jeremy Greenwood said the installation of a new permanent main waterline from the water treatment plant should be finished in two weeks. For more than a year, since leaks were noticed in the existing line, a temporary waterline has been run across Interstate 70 via the overpass of Reservoir Road.

"The liner came in (Monday), they were cleaning the culvert out. They’re going to put a camera through it and (Tuesday) they’re actually going to put the liner in it to tie into two extensions with the existing culvert, and after that we’re going to start running our permanent waterline," Greenwodo said.

He said this will also mean the city will no longer need to use a temporary traffic light that has been on Reservoir Road at a cost of about $8,000 per month.

"I’m very much looking forward to it. I’m very excited," Greenwood said. "It's a lot of money, but it was part of the project and it needed to be paid for, so we had no choice."

Border Patrol, the company now completing the waterline project, was also awarded the bid for a waterline at the west end of the city from Reservoir Road to Riesbeck's Plaza for future development. Border Patrol's bid was for $313,034.

"That gives us more capacity down past where Trinity (Health System)'s being developed, and then that 17.5 acres at the end of the city, so that’ll give us a little more flexibility," Greenwood said.

Greenwood said 10 plan-holders expressed an interest and there were five bidders. Litman Excavating & Construction bid $317,213.73, JR Contracting LLC $357,000, The James White Construction Co. $394,935, and Wolf Creek Contracting $646,884.77.

Greenwood said work is on that line expected to begin almost immediately after the waterline is installed beneath I-70. He said Border Patrol will begin ordering material. Work should take 30-60 days.

Greenwood also reported state and federal Environmental Protection Agency personnel were on hand a few weeks ago to inspect the city's water treatment and distribution system. He said they are working on a report and the city is sending more information, but any issues they found are expected to be minor and handled by the city's plan to switch to purchasing water from Belmont County.

Greenwood said the aged water treatment plant will not be a factor in the future.

"We’re going to demo the plant at the end of the year," he said. "We’re going to bulldoze it."

Council also held the second reading of an ordinance to increase the water rate. If the rate is passed on the third reading on June 20, it will take effect 30 days later, or at the end of July.

The increase would be a total of 10 percent for water and 1.10 percent for sewer. Water rates will go up $2.70 and sewer rates by 30 cents per month.

Council members said customers will see an increase of $3 per 1,000 gallons.

Employees Eric McVay and Jacob Hendershot were congratulated for earning Wastewater 2 certifications.

"We have a superintendent who has that already. These other two now have the ability to fill in if he's on vacation," Greenwood said.

In other matters, Councilwoman Beth Oprisch noted that American Electric Power will be increasing the company's transmission fee rates as of June, which will increase the rates to the city in July's bills.

"So customers’ bills are going to go up," she said. "It's not an increase from the city. … We want to let customers know that, that there's going to be an increase. … We don't know what the rates’ going to be, we just know there will be an increase. … They’ll pass on a cost to us that we’ll have to pass on to the customers."

Also, Planning and Zoning Director Tom Murphy has secured a grant of $500,000 from the Ohio Department of Transportation for paving of North Sugar Street in 2025.

"Some parts are in bad shape, other parts are in OK shape, but in two years’ time period it’ll definitely be ready for new pavement," Murphy said. "It was estimated with milling and paving the entire street, but two years down the road, who knows what cost things will be? Everything always goes up."

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