THE REV. William Webster, pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church and president of Project Forward, prepares to talk to Martins Ferry City Council about a grant the group is receiving. T-L Photo/ SHELLEY HANSON

MARTINS FERRY — City Council learned Wednesday that the Project Forward group is being awarded $39,000 in grant money from Heritage Ohio and Main Street America.

The Rev. William Webster, pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church and president of Project Forward, said the group applied for the grant three years ago, but at that time there was no more money available. He was notified in December, however, that the grant had finally been awarded.

Project Forward is slated to have a meeting with Heritage Ohio on Friday to learn more about how the money can be used, and how the program works. Project Forward will receive $13,000 a year for three years. Meetings are also being held later in the day at different times with stakeholders in the community, he said.

“They are coming in to look at our city and meet with different groups,” Webster said.

Webster is hopeful Project Forward can use the money for its new micro-loan program and for possible facade grants for businesses in the downtown area.

Project Forward was formed after a devastating fire occurred on Fourth and Hanover streets in 2016, destroying several businesses. The group has worked since to bring attention to what the downtown has to offer by holding events such as Winterfest and the Strawberry Festival.

In other matters, council approved funding its portion of the Ohio 647 slip repairs, a job that is being bid out by the Ohio Department of Transportation. The city will contribute about $49,000 toward that project. Portion of the funding will be taken from the permanent improvement fund and the general fund, and permissive county tax money also will be used.

Service Director Andy Sutak said he also plans to talk with ODOT about de-annexing that portion of Ohio 647 so the city will not be responsible for its upkeep in the future; the state would own it instead.

Council also approved spending up to $265,000 for 1,100 new water meters with Ferguson Waterworks. Money for the purchase will be taken from the water department fund.

Mayor John Davies said the expenditure is necessary to replace the many non-readable meters, or meters that must be read in person, that are still being used in the city. The city also has a plan to phase out additional meters over about a three-year period. The new meters can be read remotely as a truck drives by.

Davies noted the city is working on a possible deal to provide water to the city of St. Clairsville, which has had problems with its treatment plant. He said the deal would involve talking with Bridgeport and Belmont County about using their lines. A substation at Blaine Hill would also have to be installed.

However, even when St. Clairsville remedies its water issue, Martins Ferry could remain its services as a backup source, and St. Clairsville could be Martins Ferry’s backup, if needed.

Meanwhile, Davies recommended to council that it restart its parking meter and off-street parking funds. Currently fees collected from the meters and parking go directly into the general fund and are not tracked. Davies said if separate funds are maintained, that money can be used to fix broken parking meters and to repave and re-stripe the city-owned parking lots.

Also, the city’s workers received praise from council for the good work they do every day, in addition to the little things, too. For example, Councilman Tom Burns said his elderly aunt told him a police officer stopped to help her get her groceries out of her vehicle recently. She said she did not catch the officer’s name. Burns said he wanted to thank the officer.

The city’s water department employees also recently worked late into the night on a waterline break in the cold. And the city’s volunteer firefighters recently worked for several hours to extinguish a house fire on Colerain Pike. The city’s garbage workers were also thanked for going above and beyond by helping some elderly residents pick up trash that had fallen out of their cans.

In other matters, Sutak noted the city is in the preliminary stages of trying to get its Ohio Environmental Protection Agency-mandated stormsewer separation issues under control. He said this eventually will include having residents separate their gutters from their sanitary sewer lines. No fines are going to be levied against residents at this time.

Councilman Robert Hunker noted there are some sections of the city that likely will flood during rainstorms if the gutters are separated, as too many catch basins get overwhelmed. Davies said the city would look into possible variances for some neighborhoods and that several catch basins will need to fixed to take on larger volumes of water.

Davies also offered to allow the city to use his former construction company’s demolition equipment to raze blighted buildings. He said the city would only need to pay for fuel to run the equipment.

Martins Ferry resident Terry Wildman also updated council on his plan to install a new monument honoring veterans at Riverview Cemetery. He said the new design will cost about $33,000. Funding will come from selling bricks for new pathways to it at $100 apiece. The bricks can be engraved with names of veterans.