STEUBENVILLE — Jefferson County commissioners agreed Thursday to lease oil and gas rights for 18 parcels in Salem and Wayne townships to Ascent Resources — a deal that’s guaranteed to bring in a six-figure signing bonus now, plus royalty payments on future production.

Commissioner Tony Morelli, who was not able to attend the meeting, said afterward the deal will pump $100,000 into county coffers up front and going forward, “We’ll also be getting 20 percent royalty payments.”

“It’s one of the biggest leases that we signed in a long time,” Commissioner Dave Maple said. “It’s $100,000 in revenue, unexpected revenue, really, from oil and gas. In the last five or 10 years, we’ve seen a stream of income (from oil and gas leases) that’s let us do a lot of things. This $100,000, I’m not sure what we’ll end up using it for.”

There are no restrictions on how the oil and gas money can be used, but in the past commissioners have made a point of investing in recreation whenever possible, “the premise being you’re disturbing the property so let’s see if there’s something we can do to put back into the communities that are being affected by it,” Maple said.

“It doesn’t always work that way, but that’s kind of the idea,” he said. “We’ve used it for recreation, we’ve used it for other things, too. I mean, we haven’t really limited what we use it for, but, you know, I personally like to see it go back into something that improves the quality of life for the citizens.”

Commissioner Eric Timmons said it’s too early to say what they’ll end up doing with the money, though he did agree, “We’ve got to take advantage of it while it’s here and continues to produce for us.

“(But) we have a lot of projects ongoing and a lot of ideas for the future,” Timmons added. “We also have some growing expenses and issues we will face. It’s nice to bring in some extra income, but (when it comes to) how we will use it, all options are on the table.”

Commissioners also received their six-month program update from JB Green Team’s Anita Petrella, who reported dispensing $100,000 in grants to communities for things like park benches and picnic tables, all made of recycled materials.

Petrella said they hosted a hazardous waste collection as well as a 14-county community cleanup that yielded 8,363 tires and 123.21 tons of garbage, and reported their collection site cameras, together with the investigatory efforts of the county’s litter control officer, Deputy Ben Swoyer, have yielded big dividends in identifying those who have been involved with illegal dumping.

“The cameras have helped find all the people dumping there and it is helping,” she said. “We’ve seen the numbers go down quite a bit.”

Timmons applauded the effort to crack down on violators, telling Petrella it’s “good to see them, hopefully, make an example of (violators.)”

Commissioners also:

∫ Authorized the Department of Job and Family Services to contract with C&M Environmental about repairs to the shelter house pavilion at McCollough Children’s Home. Commissioners two years ago allocated American Rescue Plan Act funds for a new roof at the children’s home, and since that project came in under budget the excess funds will cover the $18,850 needed for the shelter house repairs, which JFS says are needed “for the safety of the residents of the children’s home.”

∫ Accepted a $21,918 quote from Chi Corp. to cover yearly software and support fees. Chi’s system is proprietary, and Auditor E.J. Conn said having the company’s support “is vital to ensuring that our switches and wireless systems operate like they should and are able to be brought back up as quickly as possible in the event of a problem.”

∫ Agreed to seek bids for the county engineer’s tree and branch removal project in the rights-of-way along four county roads, with an estimated price tag of $165,000.

∫ Signed a contract with J.D. Striping and Services of Ravenna for pavement marking, with the cost not to exceed $118,145.

∫ Approved a $49,795 change order for the Area J and Bloomingdale tank project to cover the cost of additional steel repairs to a support structure. The problems were discovered during an inspection in the construction phase, Water and Sewer District Director Mike Eroshevich said.

∫ Signed off on a contract with Johnson Controls for the district’s water meter replacement project.