ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Belmont County is working with the fair board toward a new structure that will change the face of the fairgrounds in 2024.

Meanwhile, the fleet of vehicles at Senior Services of Belmont County will expand slightly to help meet the transportation needs of area seniors.

Belmont County Commissioner J.P. Dutton said during a regular meeting Wednesday that the new building will house Ohio State University Extension offices and the Belmont County Soil and Water Conservation District, in concert with the nearby fair board offices.

“The goal of this project and the long-term future of agriculture in the county is that if anyone has an agriculture need, whether it’s through the fair, through soil and water or through OSU extension, you can go to one location,” he said.

Dutton said the commissioners provided an initial $200,000 — which the fair board matched — to secure funding from the state’s Capital Bill of about $375,000. The commissioners thanked the office of Ohio Rep. Don Jones, R-Freeport, for his work helping to secure the funds.

“They saw how much of a local commitment. That’s $775,000. The project is anticipated to be around $4 million. The remaining funds to complete the project will be split between the fair board and the Belmont County commissioners. The goal is for it to be completed in 2024,” he said.

Dutton said the county’s share came from gas and oil royalties.

Fair board member David Jones said H&H Custom Homes and Construction of Loudonville, Ohio, was the low bidder at about $971,000.

“They built a lot of buildings at the fairgrounds previously, so we’re familiar with them,” he said.

Jones said he expects the company to start the work in two to three weeks.

“I don’t know when they’d be finished. They do have a time limit. It has to be done this coming year,” he said.

He said there were three bidders. He did not have the names of the other two handy, but one bid was $2,800 more than that of H&H, and the other bid was more than $1 million.

The commissioners also approved the purchase of two 2023 Chrysler Pacificas from Thomas Auto Centers and Sunset Motors for $48,295 each for Senior Services of Belmont County. Director Lisa Kazmirski said there will be no cost to the county.

“There’s no match,” she said. “The money’s coming from a healthy aging grant that was awarded to the commissioners’ office. It’s for $224,000, and we’re fortunate enough that the commissioners office delegated a lot of that work to us as far as applying for the money and how we would spend it, and there was a methodology we had to follow from Healthy Aging,” she said.

Kazmirski said 20% went to address food insecurity, 20% to housing improvement and 10% for internet access.

“The other 50% of that grant was for discretionary spending, so what we submitted for approval included vehicles for our senior centers,” she said. “For senior centers to increase access for grocery shopping, grocery ordering and delivery, trips to farmers markets and other things that will benefit them as far as nutrition.”

She added that some of the vans her department uses have more than 240,000 miles on them.

“They’re similar to a minivan, so that will benefit probably the Bellaire and Martins Ferry centers,” she said. “After that we’ll be able to shift some vehicles around.

“The fact that the country’s in the state that it is — where we can’t find new vehicles, especially van-type vehicles — this is helping us a lot because a Pacifica will serve as a van would,” she said.

Kazmirski said there are currently 55 vehicles in the fleet.

“We budget every year now to replace a vehicle at least quarterly because of the mileage we put on them,” she said. “We have nutrition trucks, vehicles at each of our 10 senior centers, and we have the medical transportation vehicles. There’s a constant need for replacement. Between maintenance costs increasing and availability of new vehicles, we have to be on the watch,” she said.

In 2022, Kazmirski said her department delivered meals to 1,200 people daily, and medical trips account for more than 210,000 miles each year. She said miles driven has remained fairly steady.

“The reason it’s steady is during the COVID issues in the country, when there was an actual public health emergency declared by the governor in Ohio, we were able to put people on meals who typically would not qualify for those meals. Now that the public health emergency expired, when we reassess annually, we have to look closely at the fact that some of the people on meals shouldn’t have been or shouldn’t continue to be. Since that happens, we’re staying steady instead of increasing.”