Martins Ferry Mayor John Davies, left, reads a proclamation thanking council president Kristine Davis for her 25 years of service to the community. T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA

MARTINS FERRY — The city of Martins Ferry said farewell to longtime council president Kristine Davis on Monday evening. Davis did not seek re-election in November after serving the city for 25 years.

During the special meeting on Monday, Mayor John Davies and council let her know that she will be missed, surprising Davis with flowers, a proclamation and a plaque that will hold the very gavel that she has begun and ended each council meeting for a quarter of a century.

Davies said that he and Davis both began sitting on council at the same time before he ran for mayor, describing Davis as both an anchor on council and a clutch hitter when needed.

“She’s the calm to my storm because I’m a little bit more aggressive than she is,” Davies said. “There’s numerous times that I couldn’t make it to mayor’s court and Kristine always filled in.”

Davis said that she was not looking forward to her final meeting because she knew it would be filled with emotions.

“All day long I thought it’s going to be depressing to go for the last meeting because these are all my friends. These are people that I’ve been working with for so long,” she said. “But they made it such a nice evening, and it’s just been a privilege to serve the people of Martins Ferry and to work with all of these wonderful people. These are people that work very hard and don’t ask or expect a lot of appreciation for that.”

She joked that even though she’s retiring she’ll still be attending the meetings and taking advantage of the open public forum that gives the city’s residents a chance to speak.

The proclamation that Davies made in honor of Davis was dedicated to her long lasting impression she’s left on the city and the countless hours she’s spent to help improve the city.

Davies read that Davis is a vital public servant and has a great mind that he believes moved the city forward.

Davis said she enjoyed serving Martins Ferry but is ready to turn over the reins.

“It’s been a thrill of my life to be president of Martins Ferry City Council. I’ve loved doing it. I’m just tickled to death,” Davis said. “It’s just time for someone else to step in and take over but I’m thrilled to death that this evening was just so nice.”

Resident Phil Wallace will be taking Davis’ place starting at the next council meeting on Jan. 7.

Davies also honored council members Suzanne Armstrong, Rick Rodgers and Melissa Yeso who will also not be returning to council for another term. Yeso was appointed by Davies this past August to finish Ben Neiman’s term who stepped down for health reasons. Gus Harris will replace Yeso, Andrew Smay will replace Armstrong and Ryan Robey will replace Rogers.

Davies thanked the three outgoing members for their service and dedication to the city.

In other matters, Davies recommended to council that it separate the service and safety director position into two positions. As of now, Andy Sutak has been performing both duties and Davies has helped, but in 2026, Davies will only be working part time with Sutak. Davies said that will make too much work for Sutak by himself. Council agreed and unanimously passed a motion to separate the positions.

Davies also suggested that Sutak receive a $10,000 raise. That suggestion too passed unanimously by council.

For the final motion of Roger’s tenure, he made a motion — which council approved — to giving all elected officials and the clerk of council a $50 per month raise for the two-year period of 2026 through 2027.

Police Chief Vincent West spoke about how the city will no longer be moving forward with its plan to implement meterless parking using the ParkMobile app.

“There were a lot of people that were against it which I understand. I mean, a lot of people don’t have smartphones and they were concerned with using it and everything,” West said. “So we went back and forth with it and just decided to squash that idea for now.”

He added that he’s been throwing around the idea of possibly buying old parking meters from different cities that implemented meterless parking.

“I don’t believe those cities have been approached or anything yet,” West said. “This isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight.

West also briefly discussed the roughly $300 worth of counterfeit money that was recently found in the city. He said that an older resident attempted to use the fake currency at a local store but the store did not accept it.

“I don’t feel that it was done maliciously or anything,” he said. “I just believe it was even given to her or she found it. I wasn’t there but she ended up paying for it regularly once she was shown that it was fake.”