ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Belmont County has several infrastructure projects in the works, which will hopefully be completed before the snow flies.

On Wednesday, the Belmont County Board of Commissioners opened bids for a long-awaited slide repair on Winding Hill Road, or Belmont County Road 44, in Pultney Township. The commissioners received one bid for the work from Ohio-West Virginia Excavating, totaling $142,263.

“The engineer’s estimate was $131,000,” Commissioner J.P. Dutton said, adding the bid was turned over to Assistant Engineer Dan Boltz, who informed the board work would hopefully begin soon. “It sounds like it’ll be done before winter, and slip repair and also they’re getting ready to pave that road. It’s supposed to be completed by the end of October. There’s multiple projects on that same road.”

In other matters, Dutton said Jim Morrison visited the board to comment that the Bel-O-Mar Regional Council has begun the project to install a waterline for service to the several families residing on Otto Road off Mount Victory Road in Pultney Township.

Morrison has long attended commissioners meetings, noting residents have been without water service for more than 60 years. The commissioners had announced Bel-O-Mar had taken up the project in September of 2020, but had been delayed multiple times.

The $28,000 project was made possible through funding from the state. Bel-O-Mar has received funds of $280,000, which will also allow for several other projects in Belmont County, including replacing 620 feet of sidewalks and two curb cuts around Bellaire’s Union Park, the demolition of two dilapidated houses in Martins Ferry, resurfacing 2,500 feet of Toad Hollow Road in Pultney Township, and resurfacing 1,600 feet of Irwin Street and Church Hill Road in Lafferty.

“There’s projects for Bellaire, Martins Ferry, Pultney Township,” Dutton said. “This means they’re all going to start happening. … The grant was two years ago, but just like with Otto (Road), it’s been in the works and is just now starting.”

Bel-O-Mar Director A.C. Wiethe was contacted afterward and will provide information about the projects’ schedule.

In other matters the commissioners approved a contract between Bellaire Local School District and the Belmont County Sheriff’s Office to provide a school resource officer for the district for the 2022-2023 school year. The school’ district’s current rate of reimbursement to the county is $32.06 per hour, including all wages and benefits, for 190 eight-hour days.