Vincent West gets promoted to sergeant
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MARTINS FERRY -- Martins Ferry City Council promoted police Officer Vincent West to sergeant during Thursday's special meeting.
Mayor John Davies said that West should have gotten the promotion sooner, but budgetary restraints got in the way.
West's friends, family and fellow officers attended the meeting to show their support.
West said that he is thankful for the promotion.
Sergeant Beth Scales said that West's promotion was "long overdue."
President of Council Kristine Davis congratulated West.
"Welcome to this new position and I think it's exciting, not only exciting for you, but it's just such a tribute to your dad," she said.
West's father, Ben West, had served as a police officer in Martins Ferry for over 30 years.
Davis said that West is "following in his father's footsteps."
In other news, Auditor Jack Regis discussed finances for 2023 and the temporary budget for 2024.
He said the temporary budget will only cover the first three months of the year, and then he and council will reassess the budget.
Regis said the financial outcome for 2023 was better than expected.
"Right now if you look at the last statement for the year, we finished probably with about $370,000 cash carryover, which is a lot better than any of us thought six months ago," he said.
"With all of you people and everybody working together, we made it this year," Regis said.
He said the budget next year is going to be tight.
"We still got to battle through 2024. Hopefully, we can make it through," he said.
Regis said he wanted to thank everyone for their hard work on the city budget and finances. He said that he especially wanted to thank Tricia Headley, auditor's clerk, and Sheila Hennessey, payroll clerk, for helping him out in the office.
No major budget changes are planned for next year.
All members of council approved the temporary budget for next year.
Davies also discussed making a plan to fix the road to Martins Ferry City Schools. He said that the road is slipping over the hill and becoming dangerous for drivers, especially buses and other large vehicles.
"Alumni Road will be shut down. It's just not worth the risk to have a bus roll over there," he said.
Council voted to allow Davies and Service Director Andy Sutak to look into getting the road repaired.
Councilman James Agnew abstained from the vote since he is a member of the school board, but all other members of council voted in favor of the motion.
Davies said that he will discuss the project with the school board since the road may need to be closed during the school year.
Davies also said that the salt trucks rolled out for the first time this year earlier in the week. He said that all of the equipment worked well.
Sutak said that the city recently had 20 tons of salt delivered, and two more 20-ton deliveries will be on their way.
He said that the newer salt bin has improved the city's winter preparedness. He said that the bin protects salt from the rain which makes it more effective.
Sutak gave an update on the progress of the water plant.
He said that the water department is working on general maintenance and smaller projects until the city gets the $5 million for the entire project.
He said that even though the project will be expensive, it will pay off in the long run.
"I think things are going be really better for the future. Once everything's done, we'll save on chemicals. We'll save on utilities and things like that, so what money we're spending we're going to be actually saving and putting money back in," he said.
Councilman James Schramm said that he wanted to thank all of the Ferry officers who participated in the Belmont County Shop with a Cop on Saturday.
Councilwoman Suzanne Armstrong was absent from the meeting.
The next council meeting will take place at 6 p.m. on Jan. 10 in council chambers. Council will not meet on Jan. 3.