T-L Photo/KAILEY CARPINO St. Clairsville Mayor Kathryn Thalman discusses several recent water breaks and the need for an additional dump truck to make repairs more efficient.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Mayor Kathryn Thalman said the city of St. Clairsville had several waterline breaks recently.

“I want to acknowledge and offer my gratitude to the people who work in the street, water and wastewater departments who were kept busy 24/7. When we had the cold snap and it warmed up, we had waterlines popping like popcorn. They broke faster than they could get it fixed,” she said.

Thalman encouraged members of council during their meeting Tuesday to stop by the scene of waterline breaks and see the hard work that the employees do.

“Unless you go to a line break and watch these guys work, you have no clue what it takes. … I just want you guys to have a real sense of appreciation. I’m asking you to please really walk a mile in their shoes and see what it entails,” she said.

She added that she brought the workers burgers or pizza while they were on the scene.

Thalman said water breaks can take extra time to repair because the city does not have the tools needed to make repairs quickly and efficiently. She said the water department needs a dump truck.

“When we need the tools, we need the tools,” she said.

Councilman Don Vincenzo pointed out that the city already has six dump trucks.

“It’s tough, Mayor, when you’re saying that we don’t give them the tools they need. … Just to make it clear, nobody on council that I know of said no. Council said why. Why do we need seven? Can we shuffle trucks around?” he said.

Thalman said she does not know all of the technical reasons why a seventh dump truck is needed.

She said part of the issue is not having enough city workers with CDL licenses. She explained that she went to the scene of a water break recently, and the workers had a truck available that required a CDL license to operate but had to wait for a driver with a CDL license to arrive. She noted that a CDL is not required for smaller dump trucks.

Vincenzo said the city needs to get the issue “straightened out.”

“A lot of the vehicles do not need a CDL license where any employee can drive them. So we need to get that solved, and I have been working on that, and I’ll get an answer,” he said.

Councilwoman Terra Butler noted that city officials sent out a list of city-owned vehicles to council on Tuesday. She said the list will help council determine if an extra dump truck is necessary.

Councilwoman Kristi Lipscomb suggested paying for a city employee to get a CDL license to help solve the issue.

Director of Public Service and Safety Jeremy Greenwood said the training takes five weeks and costs about $6,000.

“That’s a lot cheaper than buying a dump truck,” Lipscomb said.

Council plans to discuss the issue further after reviewing the list of city-owned vehicles.

Meanwhile, Greenwood said there have been issues following a waterline break on Shepherd Terrace Avenue. He said there is a large pothole where the waterline was previously repaired.

“We fixed it, and then it collapsed because the ground was frozen,” he noted.

He said the break happened on Jan. 19 and was repaired right away. He received reports about the pothole on Jan. 23 and had a crew repair it that day.

Greenwood said he received reports of cars bottoming out where the waterline was repaired, noting that the road patch must have started sinking over the weekend.

“Since then, people have been calling and complaining that they had damage to their cars. We intervened with the insurance company, and the insurance company denied it,” he said.

Greenwood said an insurance company representative said the incident did not amount to negligence since the pothole was fixed as soon as the city was aware of it.

Resident Mike Brown spoke during Tuesday’s council meeting, saying that his car was damaged after driving over the pothole on Shepherd Terrace Avenue.

He said he had received an estimate of $4,400 to repair the damage to his car, adding that he cannot afford it and his car insurance will not cover the damage.

Brown said the pothole was probably about 3 feet long, 3 feet wide and about 18 inches deep at the time. He suggested that the city should have placed cones around the pothole.

“It should have been marked,” he said.

Brown asked city officials if there is anything they can do to resolve the situation.

“That’s an unfortunate thing to happen,” Councilwoman Holly West said.

Councilman Mike Smith agreed.

“I’m sympathetic,” he said.

Law Director Joe Vavra said he would look into the incident further and will try to help Brown.

The next council meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. March 4 in council chambers on the second floor of the municipal building.