ST. CLAIRSVILLE — An update regarding funding for water and sewer upgrades was on the Belmont County Board of Commissioners’ agenda during Wednesday’s meeting.

Commissioners J.P. Dutton, Mark Thomas and Josh Meyer presided.

The board signed an amendment to the Ohio Water Development Authority Cooperative Agreement-Planning Loan dated June 29, 2017, to change the payment date from July 1, 2018 to July 1, 2019 for water projects.

“The USDA sewer and water packages are coming together,” Dutton said, adding that in sewer funding, the county was awarded $9 million in loan funds and grant funds of $3 million. “We are very close to the final stages of paperwork on that process, and that will be completed hopefully very shortly with the USDA.”

Work on securing water system upgrade funding continues.

“On the water side, we’ve submitted all of our information for our request for funding, and it is all a function of available federal funds,” Dutton noted. “We have been in constant contact with folks at USDA.”

Dutton said the project enjoys support from the regional, state and federal levels from the USDA. The total cost of water and sewer upgrades may total about $50 million.

“We’re very hopeful that we’re going to receive notice soon for federal funding for (the water) project, which is the bigger of the two,” Dutton said. “It will be fantastic news for the county. … This is a great motion because what it does is push back for a year the trigger (for) this inter-financing, because honestly we don’t need it quite yet because federal funds haven’t come here yet on the water side. But once the water side comes through, we will need this interim financing, and hopefully this time next year we’ll be in a position where sewer projects are underway, a water project is getting ready to kick off.”

“Part of that $12 million is going to upgrade our sewage facility that is out by (Ohio University Eastern) and Belmont College,” Thomas said, adding that the sewage treatment plant processes sewage for the western portion of the county.

“The second big one is going to be a pump station at the Ohio Valley Mall,” Thomas said. “Every time there’s a new business that wants to build here, whether it’s a fast food chain, whether it’s a department store, whether it’s residential housing or somebody else who just wants to open a business, we have to have the sewage capacity to be able to allow those businesses to be able to come in. If you don’t have sewage and you don’t have water, you’re not going to have any businesses come in. … It’s going to allow us to upgrade those facilities to allow for further development.

“From the water end, it’s important for us to continue to provide water service to as many of our residents as possible,” he said.

“We’re hoping to get multi-millions in federal funds (from the USDA) to upgrade some of our waterlines, to refinance some of the debt, and that just helps the county grow.”

Dutton also added that the county is continuing to work with Agile Networks to provide the company with the use of vertical assets, such as water towers, for the purpose of bringing wireless internet to underserved areas.

“Broadband internet is absolutely crucial for businesses in today’s world,” Thomas said, adding that there is no contest to the taxpayers.

In other matters, Steve Hill, oil and gas liaison for the county, spoke as a Barnevsille resident. In light of the board’s recent increase of $15 on annual license plate fees per vehicle to provide funding for the engineer’s office, he asked if County Engineer Terry Lively would provide yearly updates to the commissioners on the progress of infrastructure repair. Dutton said this was a question best put to the engineer.