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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- Progress in upgrading the county's water and sewer systems led the Belmont County Board of Commissioners' Wednesday meeting.
The commissioners signed a settlement statement for the transfer of property belonging to the Muxie Distributing Co., to be used for the construction of a water treatment plant.
Commissioner J.P. Dutton said the agreement for transferring the property should be closed by this coming Monday.
He added the location of the 2.5-acre property along the Ohio River in the village of Bellaire is located near the current plant.
"We're trying to stay as close to our wells as possible, which is where this property is. The further you get away from those wells, then you're talking about a lot of pipe being run, It just increases the cost," Dutton said. "It's going to be a great location for our new water treatment plant, which is going to break ground very soon."
The cost is $1.75 million.
Three years ago, the county announced a U.S. Department of Agriculture water package, a $60.5 million investment including a $45.5 million direct loan combined with a nearly $15 million grant through the Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant Program, to modernize and improve the water system. The loan has a 40-year term at 2.3 percent interest.
The commissioners also accepted bids for improvements to the Fox Shannon wastewater treatment plant, upgrades to the wastewater treatment system, improvements to the Summerhill pump station, and replacing the Ohio Valley Mall sewage lift station.
For the Fox Shannon project, Kirk Brothers Construction of Findlay bid $8,627,000; Kokosing Industrial out of Westerville bid $9,060,000; Border Patrol Construction, in Hopedale bid $8,158,622,
For the wastewater upgrades, the James White Construction Company in Weirton bid $699,172; Stonegate Construction in Belpre bid $551,036; Bear Contracting in Bridgeport, West Virginia bid $823,271; Tucson Excavating in New Philadelphia bid $588,796; Alex E. Paris Contracting in Atlasburg bid $704,977; J.R. Contracting out of Bentleyville, PA bid $549,980; Border Patrol out of Hopedale bid $568,137; Rudzik Excavating out of Struthers bid $581,337; Glenn Johnson Inc. of McKeesport, Pennsylvania, bid $727,191.
For the Summerhill pump station, James White bid $755,288; Stonegate bid $895,721; the Ohio-West Virginia Excavating Company out of Powhatan Point bid $649,836; Atlas E. Paris bid $784,328; Border Patrol bid $886,372.50.
For the Ohio Valley Mall lift station, Stonegate bid $997,958; James White bid $887,200; Beaver Excavating out of Canton bid $1,064,047; Ohio-West Virginia Excavating bid $659,300; Tucson Inc. bid $934,000; Alex E. Paris bid $910,500; Ferri Contracting out of Pennsylvania bid $898,800; Border Patrol bid $840,089.05.
In addition, road repair bids were also awarded. Based on the recommendation of Belmont County Engineer Terry Lively, the commissioners awarded the bid for a slide repair project on Blaine-Barton Road to the low bidder, Ohio-West Virginia Excavating Co., for $118,247. The funding will be provided by state grant money.
Lively said the grant is for roads damaged through oil and gas activity, but no road use maintenance agreements exist.
He said the county had also been approved for funding of about $500,000 for resurfacing Blaine-Barton Road.
"We've been very aggressive about going after these grants, and we've been very successful in recent years. We hope we can continue that," Lively said.
"The bids came in well under the engineer's estimate," Lively said, adding work should begin next year.
The commissioners also approved a pay request of $553,912.68 from Colaianni Construction, Inc. for renovating a building on U.S. 40 to house the Belmont County Northern, Eastern and Western Division courts and the prosecutor's office. The project cost is more than $6 million.
Dutton said two years after beginning the project, it has been 25 percent paid for and is expected to be at one third paid for by the end of 2021.
"We feel very confident that our plan seems to be working in terms of making sure this is paid off in a reasonable amount of time. This isn't something that is sitting on the county books for 25 years," Dutton said.
The commissioners' regular meeting next Wednesday has been canceled.