GAY

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Recreation Director Eric Gay addressed St. Clairsville City Council on Monday evening, providing an update on multiple projects at the recreation center.

“I just wanted to come and give everybody an update on what’s going on,” Gay said. “The impossible happened — we did finish the bathrooms. All of the safety inspections are done, so they are officially open.”

The bathroom renovation was a divisive topic among council members in recent months due to differing opinions about who should oversee the project. Ever since council hashed out the details, though, city leaders say it’s been smooth sailing.

Gay also discussed the city’s recent purchase of the Ruritan Building for $25,000 using capital improvement funds. The Recreation Department is now painting and doing minor renovations.

“We started our upgrades. We’re painting the inside of it, painting the outside of it and replacing the windows and just sprucing it up a little bit,” Gay noted.

“It’s a great space, but it definitely needed some TLC.”

He also mentioned that he already has more than a dozen upcoming rentals confirmed once the Ruritan Building gets the care that it needs.

“We already have 15 rentals booked and we’ve only had it for two or three weeks, so it’s definitely going to be great for us in terms of space,” he said.

He added that bids have been received for the upcoming Unified Bank Junior Sports Complex project; he plans to announce the winning bidder at noon Friday. The Unified Bank Junior Sports Complex is a 7,200-square-foot indoor sports complex that will be adjacent to the J.B. Martin Recreation Center.

“The turf and road project for the junior sports fields, we got the OK from the state that we can start planning the design and development for that. They allocate a certain percentage of that money to get started, so no digging can actually happen then but we can enter into agreements with companies so we can stay on our timeline to finish the project.” Gay added. “The actual digging for the project cannot start until October 1 of this year, so as far as any actual work goes October 1 will be the start date.”

The money Gay is referring to is a $1 million grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources that was awarded to the recreation center in March.

Gay finished the update by informing council that the rec center will be hosting a Fall Festival on Sept. 21, and this year’s festival will include the addition of a fireworks presentation.

“We had a company reach out and are willing to pay for it for us. The firework company that does our summer show reached out to me saying that they’re wanting to start doing these fall things and wanted to use us as their kickoff for them,” Gay said.

Council member Kristi Lipscomb asked Gay if the Fall Festival would be held outside.

“Yeah, it’s a craft and vendor show with stuff for the kids, fireworks and three bands,” Gay replied.

Lipscomb then asked how much it will be for vendors to rent a space. Gay said it would be $25.

“I know we thank you all of the time, but you’ve gotten a tremendous amount of work done,” Lipscomb told Gay. “You’ve just done an outstanding job, and we want to make sure that you know that.”

Gay thanked the council and said that he appreciates how supportive and easy to work with council members continue to be.

Council President Jim Velvas interjected.

“I’ll make one comment here,” he said. “I’m probably the only person here to witness it, but I’ve seen pretty much every recreation director that we’ve had here. Nothing against the other recreation directors we’ve had, they’ve all done a good job, but nobody has excelled and improved our program as much as you have.”