MARTINS FERRY – The city’s street paving is moving along with additional roadways set to be paved in the coming weeks.

Mayor John Davies gave an update on the ongoing project during Wednesday’s Martins Ferry City Council meeting. He said paving on Sixth, Eight and Ninth streets and on Crawford Heights is now complete. Paving continues this week on multiple roads.

Beginning today, Orchard Street, Highland Road and Circle Drive paving will get underway. On Friday, cleanup and preparation work will start on Hillcrest Drive, Sunset Drive and Darrah Road with paving beginning there Tuesday.

Mill work will take place on Floral Valley on Monday with paving on the road taking place on Oct. 13-14. Woods Lane will be completed on Oct. 17, which will wrap up that portion of the project. Davies noted that all the work is dependent on the weather.

Davies asked council members to let him know of any other streets on their radar that need to be paved, adding that the contractor can continue working through mid-November. Weather conditions can be an issue after that point, he said.

“I’ve been getting all kinds of calls from people asking, ‘Why aren’t you doing my street?’ We can’t do every street in town; that’s just the way it is. So we picked the areas that we thought would be the most feasible to do and be cost efficient. It costs $6,000 every time they move from one area to another – it’s $6,000,” he said.

The work is part of a $662,000 “major paving” project that started last month.

Davies said that the contractor, Semper Fi Paving of Bridgeport, has concerns that the price of asphalt is slated to go up 10% next year, meaning they must get as much completed as they can this year.

Later in the meeting, council set a meeting of the street committee at 9:15 a.m. Oct. 11 to discuss additional roads that need to be paved for the next round.

In other matters, Jessa Lepic, a Democrat candidate running for the Belmont County auditor’s seat, met with council to introduce herself and request their support in the Nov. 8 general election. Lepic faces incumbent Republican Cindi Henry, who is seeking a second term.

Lepic, a former employee at the auditor’s office, said she opted to leave the office after being unhappy with the current administration.

“I left because I felt complacent and I felt I was not living up to the integrity I wanted to have,” she added.

Also, Belmont County Library District Director Anthony Orsini spoke about a 1-mill property tax renewal levy that will appear on the upcoming ballot. Although it is listed as a renewal, the measure would be a continuing tax rather than a five-year levy as it has been in the past.

“It’s just a renewal, not a new tax. It costs residents about $30 a year,” he said, adding that those funds support all six library locations including in Martins Ferry, Bethesda, Bridgeport, Flushing, Powhatan Point and Shadyside.

He said the levy accounts for approximately 46% of the district’s funding.

“I can’t stress enough how important it is for the operation of our library. It’s got great programs for kids, it’s got great programs for adults and we still have books on top of everything else,” he said.

Orsini asked council members to help spread the word about the levy. He then passed out fliers with information on the levy and how it supports many libraries in the county.