ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Communities up and down the Ohio River have big cleanup jobs ahead of them, and Belmont County’s court system is working to provide assistance in the form of a temporary workforce.

Northern Division Court Judge Adam Myser said the courts have a new website — belmontcountyserve.com — where government entities and nonprofit organizations can seek help and where misdemeanor offenders who are sentenced to perform community service can find causes they can help.

“The county courts would like to sentence individuals to community service in lieu of jail on the condition that their efforts will go to assist folks in these river communities that have been adversely affected by flooding,” Myser said. “We are well aware and very sympathetic of the damage and cleanup that these communities have suffered and will need to undergo. We are trying to assist these communities with our ability to try to provide a workforce of individuals who owe a debt to their community.”

Myser said court officials are contacting municipality mayors, school superintendents and area township trustees and asking them to sign up to be recipients of help through the community service program.

Myser explained that judges have a variety of sentencing options, and they choose community service whenever it seems like an appropriate penalty for a crime. At the same time, the courts are building a database of potential service projects so that those sentenced to community service can’t say that they can’t find opportunities to serve. By filling out a form on the website, local government officials or representatives of nonprofits can make information available so that anybody ordered to complete community service can contact them.

Myser hopes the program can provide a “quick turnaround” to get help to areas affected by flooding, slips and other weather-related issues. He cited the Pultney Township Board of Trustees, whose community saw flooding along creeks and in Bellaire, and Powhatan Point Mayor Jeff Haught as officials who have been encouraged to add their information to the database in hopes of securing some additional labor to help with the cleanup.

“Powhatan can use the help,” Myser said, noting that as recently as Wednesday the courts were able to send a couple of individuals there to work. “They have quite a significant cleanup on their hands, and the river is expected to crest again (today) at 40 feet.”

Myser pointed out that judges can use the potential for jail time as an incentive to prompt defendants to complete their community service right away.

“We’re not giving them six months to do it,” he said. “The need is right now.”

According to Myser, the county’s divisional courts only handle misdemeanor offenses, and only people who commit nonviolent offenses are ordered to perform community service. Those might include things such as a probation violation or a traffic offense like driving under suspension. He said repeat offenders and drug offenders usually aren’t given the opportunity for community service and instead might spend time in jail or undergoing rehabilitation or counseling.

He stressed, though, that each crime is addressed on a case-by-case basis.

Yser said work to be performed by those completing community service might include general cleanup at a location such as Perkins Field in Bridgeport or Nelson Field in Bellaire, two athletic complexes that were underwater last week. He said those individuals might spray down dirty surfaces or gather trash and debris to be collected and hauled away.

In Powhatan, he said village property was damaged by last week’s flooding. Anyone performing community service there might help reconstruct a pavilion or picnic area or help to clean and sanitize playgrounds.

Myser said various entities are being contacted with the following message:

“We are reaching out to you and your organization/school/city/village to see if you’d like to participate in this database to promote your community service opportunities now and throughout the year. These community service opportunities can only happen through non-profit organizations or government entities, and someone must be present the entire time of the service in order to sign off on the defendant’s paperwork. Please be assured that the individuals who will be directed by our court system to use this database are mostly traffic violators and not violent offenders.”

A Google Form on the site can be filled out and returned to belmontcountyserve@gmail.com at any time.