Photo by STEPHANIE ELVERD Martins Ferry Mayor John Davies discusses a recent complaint about excessive dust in the city and the need to reinstate street sweeping during a recent council meeting.

MARTINS FERRY — Martins Ferry officials are looking to reinstate street sweeping in an effort to address dust complaints, but doing so will require the purchase of a new street sweeper.

Mayor John Davies said concerns about dust recently surfaced after a complaint about conditions along Fourth Street circulated on social media.

“We had an incident on Fourth Street with dust. I went down there. It’s a gravel lot. Is there dust? Yes. It’s everywhere but a lot of it is coming from salt right now,” Davies said.

Davies said the complaint was first raised publicly online, though he said the city addressed the matter through direct communication with the parties involved.

“[The complaint] was on social media. I responded to him and told him that I would get with the proper people and the business which I did immediately and then it blew up on social media … but we do [things] through the proper steps. Social media is not the proper steps,” he said.

Officials said part of the issue stems from the nature of the area, which includes a mix of industrial, commercial and residential uses. Davies noted that gravel lots can contribute to debris being tracked onto nearby streets, particularly in areas with heavy truck traffic.

“The local business has a gravel lot and here’s the issue, when it rains or snows or whatever, it does get drug out onto the street and that’s any gravel lot in town,” Davies said. “This particular street has a lot of truck traffic on it and of course, you have to realize, they are not like cars. Cars make dust through their wheels. Trucks have what they call a dryer on it. So once they build a certain amount of pressure, they expend that pressure out of the bottom of the truck onto the ground.”

City Safety Director Melissa Yeso said the business referenced in the complaint has already begun taking steps to address the situation.

“We have had complaints of excessive dust. I will tell you the business that was complained about has already purchased dust-suppression. It’s sitting down at the facility waiting to be sprayed. It can not be sprayed in the winter months,” Yeso said. “They also purchased new slag and Andy and I went down and looked at the property today.”

Yeso said the city also recognizes that dust is sometimes unavoidable in areas with significant truck traffic.

“At the end of the day if you live or choose your home on an industrial street, you have to expect that there are going to be challenges when you have large trucks utilizing that road, but know it’s being addressed,” she said.

One step city officials believe could help reduce dust accumulation is reinstating the city’s street sweeping program. Street sweeping had previously been suspended by council except for limited cleaning in April and November after the city’s sweeper broke down.

“The street sweeper broke down and it’s really not worth the money we have to put in it,” Davies said.

Davies said if council wants to resume regular street sweeping, funding for a replacement machine will need to be identified and recommended purchasing a simpler model.

“Get a Pelican mechanical sweeper, stay away from that high-tech stuff because it spends more time in the shop than on the street,” Davies said, estimating a Pelican sweeper would cost about $125,000.

“I don’t have the funds in the street department to fund a sweeper. If I do, we are going to end up in financial trouble, so council has to fund the sweeper,” he added.

Service Director Andy Sutak said officials are considering selling or trading in the current sweeper to help offset the cost of a new one.

“We talked about putting it up for trade-in if we go that route or putting it on a .gov website for anybody who might want to purchase it,” Sutak said. “The funds we get from that we can go towards the Pelican street sweeper.”

Sutak noted the current sweeper has already been paid off.

“The old sweeper is paid off and if it’s not being used, I say we put it up for sale or trade it in depending if we can work something out with the company we will purchase the Pelican street sweeper from,” he said.

Councilman Tom Robey also suggested selling the city’s Durapatcher to help generate additional funds for the purchase. The machine was originally purchased in a 60-40 partnership with the village of Bridgeport.

Sutak said he would first need to consult with Bridgeport officials before any action could be taken.

“Before I can actually do anything with the Durapatcher I have to touch base with Bridgeport to see if they have an issue with it,” Sutak said. “But nobody’s using it so I’m sure they won’t have an issue because the funds will go back to them as well.”

Yeso said she, Davies and Sutak all recommend that city council reenact the ordinance governing street sweeping.

“The recommendations from Andy, John and myself is we need the city council to reenact that city ordinance for street sweeping,” Yeso said. “We do think it will help alleviate the accumulation of dust.”

She acknowledged that the program previously drew complaints from residents who did not want to move their vehicles during sweeping times.

“We parlayed that a long time ago because citizens complained about having to move their cars so it’s 50-50,” Yeso said. “Either you want your streets cleaned or you don’t want to move your cars. It’s pick and choose.”

If council reinstates the ordinance, residents would be required to move vehicles during designated sweeping times and dates. Vehicles that remain parked will be ticketed.

Davies said those citations would be enforced.

Council members acknowledged that a new sweeper likely would not be operational by the ordinance’s typical April start date. If the program is reinstated, officials said warnings would likely be issued during the first week street sweeping resumes.

City officials also said they plan to notify residents through multiple channels that street sweeping is returning and that vehicles left in restricted areas during cleaning times will face citations.