St. Clairsville water committee formed
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- The future of water and wastewater service remains a topic of interest in the city, and Mayor Terry Pugh announced Monday that a committee has been formed to consult the city on those matters.
In response to requests for more citizen input and participation, Pugh had said he intended to form a group of experts in related fields to advise the council. The committee's role will be to review bids from private entities interested in taking on ownership and management of the aging infrastructure.
Their first meeting will be this Friday at noon to allow members to meet and to set the guidelines for the evaluation of the bids. Their meetings are open to the public, but there will be no decisions or interactions with the public.
The committee members are Kathryn Thalman of St. Clairsville, with a background of chemistry and biology; Jeff Vaugn, St. Clairsville business owner and a lead engineer for Belmont County; A.J. Smith, engineer; Council President Tim Porter, St. Clairsville Safety and Service Director Jim Zucal, Pugh, and Bob Brooks, local resident who has been a voice of opposition to privatization.
Pugh added that there is currently one bidder: Aqua Ohio, a private, state-regulated entity. He said it would not be until at least August before the matter could be put before the council for a vote.
"The first step is make sure that it meets the qualifications. Then secondly, we'll have a proposal and make sure that it meets the needs of the city," Zucal said.
The council has discussed this possibility during several prior meetings, with city leaders saying that residents will see an increase in water rates no matter what course is chosen.
Zucal also provided the council members a report of repair work completed at the water treatment plant since 2016.
"We're keeping up with the repairs, but remember it's a 90-year-old plant. I know it doesn't have much future," he said afterward, adding that he looked forward to the first committee meeting. "We have a good team, and remember, we want to do what's best for the city. We want to provide for the future. This city's the crown jewel in Belmont County and we want to keep it that way, so we want to do what's best. … I've been doing this for a long time and I feel that these components and what we need to do is right for the city."
In related water matters, Zucal updated the council on the installation of a new hand rail around the top of the city's domed water tank, dating from 1984. He said the work was done during Memorial Day weekend to allow for the transfer of antenna that read the telemetry for the water meters onto that tank from the older water tower, dating from 1929. The cost of the work was about $26,000.
Zucal said the older tank, which holds 200,000 gallons, will be taken down in fall after the antennae are transferred. A new $1.5 million tank with a capacity of 500,000 gallons will be erected.
"That's the first step, moving everything off the old tank onto the newer tank. Then when this tank comes down, we'll be okay to move forward," Zucal said.
A full council of Jim Velas, Beth Oprisch, Linda Jordan, Mike Smith, Mark Bukmir, Frank Sabatino, Perry Basile, and Porter heard the report.