ST. CLAIRSVILLE — An unnamed road connecting South Sugar Street and St. Clair Street will be named after longtime Police Chief Martin J. Kendzora, who is now retired.

During St. Clairsville City Council’s meeting Monday, Councilwoman Kristi Lipscomb made a motion to name the road after Kendzora. Lipscomb said she believes Kendzora should be honored because he gave a lot to the city.

Kendzora was the police chief for 38 years and served the department for 48 years. Before he retired in 2013, he was a founding member of the Belmont County Drug Task Force.

“He is an upstanding member of the community and really did a lot to give a lot of good character and just good feelings about policemen,” Lipscomb said. “When I was little, we’d see him and, and we’d behave when he was around. But he also was approachable. You know, you weren’t afraid of the police because of men like him.”

She added that she believes he should have been honored in some capacity by the city already,and she feels that due to the street being located near the new police station, it’s a fitting way to honor him.

Lipscomb said that virtually everybody who lives in the city knows Kendzora because of how long he was a fixture of the community.

“I see him as a pioneer in recognizing that drugs were becoming an issue back before probably a lot of people realized it,” Lipscomb said.

Council voted unanimously in favor of naming the road after Kendzora but decided to brainstorm together on the exact name of the road.

Mayor Kathryn Thalman then spoke about the bomb threat at St. Clairsville Middle School last week. She commended the police department for its quick action once the threat was discovered.

Thalman added that several city employees volunteered to help direct traffic to free up some of the police officers so they could assess the threat and make sure the students were safe.

She said that she and St. Clairsville-Richland City School District Superintendent Walter Skaggs plan to meet this week to discuss how the city and the school can communicate better to ensure an even better and faster way to get students to safety if an emergency occurs.

“We know there’s some things that maybe could have been better communicated to us from the school. We’re going to try to work on that and, God forbid there ever be anything like that again. But thank you to everyone in the city who did as well as they did responding,” Thalman said.

Council member Audrey Brahler said that after the bomb threat, she found that some communities throughout Ohio have groups of volunteers who will help direct traffic, help residents evacuate, and check identifications when parents come to pick up their children.

Police Officer T.J. Stewart, who was filling in for Police Chief Matt Arbenz at the meeting, said he is aware of those types of groups and that Belmont County used to have one, but it disbanded years ago.

Brahler asked Stewart if it would be possible for the city to create a similar group but on a smaller scale.

Stewart replied that although it’s informal, the city has an unofficial group of volunteers who come together when there’s an emergency. He added that the school is the department’s main focus when it comes to threats.

“The response of the city workers and all of the different utility departments was absolutely amazing,” Stewart said. “It was absolutely amazing how everyone got to their places and did exactly what they rehearsed.”