City Services Director Andy Sutak discusses progress on the upgrades to Martins Ferry water plant. (Photo by Stephanie Elverd)

MARTINS FERRY — Martins Ferry officials are launching several initiatives aimed at improving safety and reducing blight throughout the city, Safety Director and Code Administrator Melissa Yeso told City Council.

Yeso said properties with excessive trash and long-standing maintenance issues are being identified and some properties have been submitted to the Belmont County Land Bank for possible demolition.

“We have started to target and look at properties that have excessive trash — things that would potentially be a blight to the surrounding community,” Yeso said. “We’ve begun issuing letters addressing cleanup and sanitation.”

From a public safety standpoint, Yeso said the city is also reviewing alleyways that are being obstructed by private parking.

“From the fire department’s perspective and for emergency vehicles, we’re looking at alleyways that are being used by residents exceeding their property and parking on public property,” she said. “That could prevent a fire truck or an ambulance from getting through.”

Yeso said residents who have historically used alleys for parking will be asked to keep them clear to allow emergency access. If an alley is deemed too narrow to safely accommodate both parking and emergency vehicles, the city may install signage prohibiting private parking.

“We’re looking at every alleyway, and if we determine it’s too narrow, we’ll make the motion to place signs indicating no private parking,” he said.

In other parking-related matters, Police Chief Vincent West said as the city transitions to free parking, downtown business owners are encouraged to contact the police department if vehicles remain parked beyond the two-hour limit.

West also noted that some businesses have asked about purchasing parking spaces in front of their storefronts. He said the city is considering that option in a rental capacity, with businesses potentially paying a nominal fee per space.

West also asked residents to remain patient as snow removal efforts continue.

“Snow removal is as good as it can get right now,” West said. “We don’t have an ordinance against people putting snow in the street, but we ask them not to and just be neighborly. Hopefully, in the future, we can come up with an ordinance that covers snow.”

City Council President Phil Wallace noted that while the city has ordinances addressing grass clippings and leaves being placed in the street, snow is not currently included.

“I don’t know what we can add to that to include snow,” Wallace said.

West also reminded residents about the upcoming police renewal levy that will appear on the May ballot. He emphasized that the levy will not increase taxes and is necessary to maintain police department operations. Council previously held three emergency sessions to obtain certification from the county auditor in order to place the levy on the ballot.

City Fire Chief Justin Smith announced the department recently received a $10,000 grant from Williams Energy to purchase four gas monitors and a calibration station.

“Those have been ordered and will be here next week, so I’m very happy about that,” West said. “That builds off the generous donation from the American Legion last year when we purchased two new monitors.”

Smith said the new equipment will allow every fire apparatus, as well as EMS units, to be equipped with gas monitors.

“EMS can respond to a person-down call for unknown reasons, and without a CO monitor they can be impacted as well,” he said.

City Services Director Andy Sutak provided an update on the city’s $6 million water treatment plant upgrade, saying progress continues with one filter bed expected to be completed next week.

Once complete, the refurbished filter bed will be placed back into service after a settling period and will operate alongside the existing filter bed for approximately 10 days to ensure proper function.

“We want to make sure everything is working 100% on the new filter bed,” Sutak said.

After the filter beds are completed, the final phase of the project will be the installation of ozone equipment.

“Hopefully by May or June, we should be 100% completed,” Sutak said. “We’ve done a lot of work with the entire system — pump stations, wells, contact tanks — essentially brand new everything.”

Sutak said the upgrades include high-efficiency pumps and motors that will reduce electricity usage and utility costs.

“Everything we wanted to do, we are doing,” he said.

Once the project is complete, City Council will conduct a walkthrough of the water plant.

Sutak also noted that the plant’s contact tanks could require replacement in the future, though that would likely be 10 to 15 years down the road, if needed at all.