MARTINS FERRY — Martins Ferry Mayor John Davies swore in Jerry Murphy as police chief at a City Council meeting Monday.

The council chamber was full of Murphy’s family, friends and colleagues including some Bridgeport and Shadyside police officers. Murphy’s wife pinned on his new police badge.

Davies said he was honored and proud to officially name Murphy as police chief.

Murphy thanked Davies for naming him police chief.

“I am honored and shall serve the citizens of Martins Ferry well,” Murphy said.

In other news, council also held a budget hearing for the 2024 fiscal year. No residents spoke during the hearing. All members of council voted to adopt the new budget.

Councilman Bruce Shrodes explained that the budget is fluid and can still be changed at any time. The budget will be sent to the Belmont County auditor to be certified.

Davies also said that the air conditioning in the recreation center is not working. He said he does not know if the air conditioning unit can be repaired or if it needs to be replaced. Davies said he got an estimate of $40,000 to replace the air conditioning in the building.

“People are renting that place a good bit,” Service Director Andy Sutak said.

Sutak said he looked at the estimate, and he believes the new unit would be more efficient and save money in the long run. Sutak also said the rec center brings in a lot of money via rentals, so losing use of the facility over the summer would not be a good decision.

Councilman Bruce Shrodes agreed with Sutak and said that the new unit sounded like a good investment.

Councilman Thomas Burns also agreed and said the new unit is a wise investment and that council needs to look down the road.

All members of council voted to put aside $40,000 for the new air conditioning unit.

Sutak said that the Ohio Department of Transportation had some funds left over from paving part of Ohio 647, and the funds went toward new guardrails. Sutak said the guardrail needed to be replaced and also noted that many buses go up that way.

He said the guardrails went up last week at no cost to the city.

Davies said he has noticed a problem of people not paying fines for property violations such as fines for high grass or trash. He said that sending out certified letters requesting that people come to court to pay their fines costs $8.13 per letter.

“Two weeks ago, I spent $250 almost on certified letters, and they didn’t come to court,” Davies said.

He said if the city cannot enforce the laws, having them is a waste of city time and money.

“We have to do something. This has been going on way too long,” Burns said.

Council members suggested using a collection agency to coerce people into paying their fines. Council plans to discuss the issue further at its next meeting.