ST. CLAIRSVILLE Belmont County Commissioners submitted nearly $25.3 million in federal appropriations requests for several projects during their visit to Washington, D.C. this week.
Commissioners Matt Coffland, Ginny Favede and Chuck Probst were among more than 2,000 county officials from around the country who attended the National Association of Counties 2010 Legislative Conference. Local officials said issues pertaining to jobs and economic recovery were the main focus of concern among the county-level representatives from across the nation.
Aside from attending sessions during the conference, Belmont County leaders were able to meet with our area's representatives in Washington, D.C. The commissioners hand-delivered federal appropriation requests for projects such as the Belmont County Fox-Shannon Wastewater Treatment Plant improvements, the Neffs Sanitary Sewer Project Phase II, Belmont County facility upgrades, guard rail installation and highway resurfacing projects for the county, and many other projects.
"Submitting project requests to our federal legislators is one thing, taking the time to explain in person how and why our county can benefit from federal dollars is crucial ... and our number one priority while attending this conference," said Probst.
Commissioners said it is fundamental that federal legislators are informed of the county's needs and funding requests. The projects that need funding require full support of elected officials on all levels, they noted.
"It is our duty to take our issues to the federal level, while it is the duty of all to work toward the betterment of Belmont County," said Favede. "We feel that our local and federal representatives are all elected by the same group of voters, and we are all responsible for taking care of Belmont County."
The commissioners took advantage of educational workshops as well as the opportunity to meet with representatives of the office of Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio), and U.S. Reps. Zack Space and Charlie Wilson (D-Ohio). Officials said our congressional representatives were very receptive of the requests and vowed to support efforts to improve the local economy and help bring jobs to the area.
Other projects discussed with federal legislators were upgrades to the Belmont County 911 communications systems, and water and sewer system installation at the new East Ohio Regional Industrial Park near Barnesville. The commissioners also submitted federal appropriation requests for the Barnesville Hospital Association for emergency department renovations.
One exciting project that is on the radar is the potential creation of the Ohio River Intermodal Transportation Center north of Martins Ferry. The proposed center will create 50-100 immediate, long-term jobs, utilizing riverside property north of the city.
In order to make the venture successful, the location itself has three significant ingredients, officials said. Those keys include an optimum location on the Ohio River, rail service and ample truck traffic with easy access to major interstate highways.
Belmont County Officials, who are working with private developers on this venture, said this project will open a corridor from Lake Erie to the Ohio River, creating a significant value for shippers in the region to be more competitive in the global marketplace by decreasing the cost of transportation goods while being energy efficient, greatly reducing highway traffic in an extremely congested area of the Midwest.
In terms of transportation, Coffland said he strongly disagreed with Ohio's planned rail corridor project to link major cities such as Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati with high-speed passenger rail service. Federal funding to the tune of $400 million has been earmarked for the rail corridor project.
"I'm opposed to the passenger rail plan," said Coffland. "Commercial rail is fine, but we live on gasoline tax. Taking people out of their cars will take away tax revenues. Eventually it could take away many jobs, because Ohio is a vehicle manufacturing state. This project takes much needed funds away from the most important aspect of transportation - roads. It takes away money from the economy in reduction of tire purchases, gasoline, car production and steel for car production.
"Instead of investing all of this money into railroads, we need to see it being put into our existing roads and bridges. We should be using this money to take care of what we already have before we begin spending it all on something new. I can't support spending money on high speed rail when our roads in Belmont County and in the state of Ohio need repaired and repaved."
The commissioners said transportation issues were among the hot topics during the conference sessions. Other sessions attended by the local board members included "Sustainable Community Resources: Incentive Grants for Regional Planning and Development Projects" and "Improving Public Health through Better Land Use Planning."
Guest speakers for the annual NACo session were Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, health and Human Service Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, President Obama's Domestic Policy Council head Melody Barnes, and Department of Labor Secretary William Spriggs.
Ayres can be reached at eayres@timesleaderonline.com
SIDEBAR:
Federal appropriations requests for local projects submitted in-person this week to federal representatives in Washington, D.C. by the Belmont County Commissioners including the following:
