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MARTINS FERRY -- Mayor John Davies said the deed for Alumni Road has been transferred back to the Martins Ferry City School District
He delivered the news during Wednesday's City Council meeting. He added that the district will be responsible for the ongoing road repairs.
"The paperwork was done last week, and it's been turned in," he said.
Davies also discussed transferring the deed for School Road to the school district.
"I'm not opposed to maintaining that road as far as snow removal or even painting lines. I don't have a problem with that because we're better equipped than the school," he said. "... They don't have a street department. They just have one or two guys with a plow, and we'd like to work with them to make sure that School Road remains clear and safe."
Davies said he plans to attend a school board meeting at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 13 to discuss both roads. He hopes to come to an agreement with the board during the meeting.
Councilwoman Suzanne Armstrong questioned Davies about whether the city should get a real estate attorney to assist with the process. Davies said he would like an attorney to make sure that all of the paperwork is in place and is finalized.
Armstrong made a motion to transfer the deed for School Road back to Martins Ferry City Schools. All attending council members except for Councilman James Agnew voted in favor of the motion. Agnew abstained because he also holds a seat on the school board.
Councilman James Schramm was absent from the meeting.
Meanwhile, Service Director Andy Sutak discussed progress on water plant upgrades. He said some equipment has been ordered, including generators for the ozone room and filter beds, but the equipment will take time to be delivered.
"You're going to understand, a lot of this high-tech equipment is just not something you can take right off the shelf. A lot of them have to be built to order and so on and so forth because they're specialized pieces of equipment," Sutak explained.
He said the upgrades will "keep that plant better for the future.
"It will be an all-brand new, state-of-the-art rebuild. When I say rebuilt, it'll be brand new built into the system," Sutak said.
He also said that the water plant needs cybersecurity services for insurance purposes. He explained that much of the plant is digitalized, and the services would include firewall protection. He said he would like to enter a contract with Forefront Technology based in Cleveland, the same company that will be providing the streaming services for future council meetings.
He said the services would cost $27,100 a year.
All members of council voted to allow Sutak to purchase the cyber technology services.
At the beginning of the meeting, Davies swore in members of the police and fire departments.
Sutak also said that the city is looking into repairing sewer lines on Hanover Street, Jefferson Street and the "Turf Care sewer line," which he said is above Floral Valley Park near Turf Care Supply on Picoma Street and runs under Ohio 7.
Police Chief Jerry Murphy said three cars have been forfeited at the city's impound lot and are up for auction on govdeals.com.
He also said he would like to open a new fund for the future purchase of new cruisers. Murphy said all funds from the impound lot, both from storage fees and auction sales, will go into the new fund.
Councilman Spencer Echemann said he is looking into organizing a meet the candidates event before the upcoming primary election on March 19.
Councilman Rick Rodgers said at the meeting that he wanted to remind business owners that they are responsible for clearing their sidewalks of snow.
President of Council Kristine Davis said the next council meeting will be livestreamed. A link to the meeting will be available on the city website at martinsferry.org. During previous council meetings, Davis said the streaming services would cost $4,445 annually.
The equipment has already been installed for the livestream.
The next meeting will be at 6 p.m. Feb. 7 in council chambers.