T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA Service Director Andy Sutak says he’s seen a recent uptick in graffiti being spray painted on the city’s outdoor basketball courts and that it needs to stop.

MARTINS FERRY — Martins Ferry City Council began its Wednesday meeting on a somber note.

Council President Kristine Davis announced that Councilman Ben Neiman will be stepping down from his position. In a letter Neiman addressed to the city, he cited health reasons for his departure.

“To the citizens of Martins Ferry who have supported me as a councilman at large, it’s been a pleasure to serve this city as your councilman for the last 18 months. But due to my health issues and mobility problems, it is with regret that I must resign from my job as Councilman at large, effective July 1, 2025. Thank you, Kristine Davis, for the encouragement you gave me during my illness and the hospital visits. It was nice of you, good luck and God bless you all,” Neiman’s letter states.

Davis said she will be notifying the Belmont County Republican Central Committee, informing it that Neiman will be stepping down after July 1. She added that after his departure, the committee will have 45 days to select someone to fill his position, similar to how Councilman Spencer Echemann was selected in 2023.

Following the announcement, all members of council wished Neiman well and expressed gratitude for his time serving the city.

Following the announcement, several residents spoke to council during its open public forum.

Martins Ferry resident Richard Hord asked Mayor John Davies if any progress has been made regarding a potential buyer for East Ohio Regional Hospital. Davies answered Hord optimistically while remaining cautious.

“There’s been some positive news coming out of there. Nothing concrete right now, but there’s some movement there to another buyer thinking of moving forward. There’s a whole lot to sift through due to Dr. (John) Johnson not paying taxes on the building,” Davies said.

Resident Greg Robey spoke next and began by saying that he originally didn’t plan on speaking at the meeting and only came to listen but decided to ask a question. He said he was driving past the park the other day and noticed that the gate to the basketball courts was locked and wondered why and if they could be unlocked.

Davies replied that there are several reasons the courts are currently closed.

“Well, first the rims are beat up, so we have to replace them. And then we got a look at the structure on a solid pole. It’s split. You gotta figure out how to safely remove it,” Davies said. “We’re having a major problem. A part of the youth right now think the whole park is a trash can, and we can’t send people down there day in, day out to clean up the park. Because when we have people come in for ball games, swim meetings, events, it looks like a landfill. So we don’t know what to do right now.”

He added that he’s also noticed “less desirable people come to the park” in addition to the youth being destructive by tossing trash around and painting graffiti on the court.

“So to answer the question, I don’t know if there’s a time frame. I know they thought about moving that court and putting in a pickleball court there at one time and putting a basketball court up where the hill goes up and were going to level that out and put it up there. It’s away from the festivities over here, because there is an extremely large amount of litter,” he said. “It really looks bad on the city, so there’s a whole scenario here. I know, I get beat up online all of the time because they say the kids don’t have anything to do. But they tear it up, we fix it, they tear it up, we fix it, they tear it up.”

Service Director Andy Sutak added that he’s recently noticed the children at the court hanging on the rims of the basketball hoops, which scares him because he said the rims are not sturdy.

“If the rim comes down and a kid falls, then we’re liable. And the other thing is, the graffiti that these kids are putting it on the amphitheater and that’s where our main function is for Betty Zane (Days), the Fourth of July. How do we control that?”

Finally, resident Frank Papini addressed council to inform members that the Martins Ferry Elks will be hosting a free swim at the Martins Ferry Recreation Center from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday.

The Elks will host another open swim at the rec center from noon to 2 p.m. July 19.

Papini then asked council if the $500 rental for the pool is a firm price because last year he rented the pool for $300 per event.

“We planned on doing three free swims because we get a grant to pay for it through Belmont County Tourism, but unfortunately, we found out the increase in the price for the pool, so we had to cut it back to two,” he said.

Davies replied that he would look into it, but he believes the city and the Elks could work something out to provide three free swims to the community.