ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The Belmont County Board of Commissioners approved several purchases Wednesday, including some new trucks.

Commissioner Josh Meyer was absent from the meeting due to a family medical issue that he had to address. Commissioners J.P. Dutton and Jerry Echemann voted to approve all proposed motions at the weekly morning meeting.

One motion approved was to accept a quote from Windows Fashioned by Beth in the amount of $3,339 for motorized window blinds for the Department of Job and Family Services Martins Ferry location.

The purchase will be paid with DJFS incentive funding, which has been earned by meeting state performance measures for its visitations, timely investigations and assistance. The department is renovating its Martins Ferry building.

“This particular expense is paid for by essentially doing a good job, meeting certain requirements and hitting certain marks that the state sets and the state sends the money as kind of a reward,” Echemann said.

The commissioners also approved a motion to trade in a 2015 GMC Sierra 2500 HD truck for a value of $14,180 and to purchase a 2024 Dodge Ram truck from Thomas Auto Centers in St. Clairsville for a total cost of $36,089 after a $3,000 rebate. The truck is being purchased for the Belmont County Building and Grounds Department. The purchase comes on the recommendation of its director, Scott Larkin and will be a replacement vehicle for the department’s fleet.

“Some of you may know Scott Larkin, he’s done a good job as our building and grounds director, and he has communicated to us that his forecast is his agency is going to need about one new truck a year, and that’s what he is aiming for,” Echemann said.

The board then voted to approve the purchase of a 2009 GMC Sierra Dump Truck for the amount of $23,000.

The dump truck will be for the Belmont County Building and Grounds Department as well, which was also based on a recommendation by Larkin. Echemann noted that this dump truck will be a replacement vehicle for the department’s fleet.

Before the meeting went into recess, Commissioner J.P. Dutton added a couple of comments about the Building and Grounds Department.

“Again, Scott Larkin’s doing a phenomenal job as the director of that facility,” Dutton said. “He identified that he felt as though that department is kind of lagging behind a little bit of the age of equipment in general.

“He’s got a good plan in place for the fleet replacement. He was able to get a couple of vehicles underneath the allocated amount of the budget he had this year. They cover a lot of ground, literally, in terms of all facilities in Belmont County’s name,” Dutton said.