STEUBENVILLE — A contractor who is nearly done with a water line project on State Route 213 is expecting payment when the work is completed, but Jefferson County officials say they cannot issue a check.

Auditor E.J. Conn said last week during a county commission work session he has asked the Ohio Auditor of State’s office for guidance on how to proceed once the invoice — currently expected to total just under $240,000 — is turned in because he “has no legal authority to pay the contractor because there were certain steps that were skipped.”

County officials say the “skipped steps” include that the project was not bid out, no vote was taken during a public meeting, no money was appropriated, and no purchase order exists, all required under the Ohio Revised Code. All three Jefferson County commissioners have said they did not authorize the work to begin.

Section 307.86 of the ORC mandates competitive bidding for “any product, structure, construction, reconstruction, improvement, maintenance, repair or service” that a county commission or other governing body might want to purchase or construct.

The only exception to the competitive bidding requirement would be if commissioners voted unanimously to declare an emergency, but even then the total project cost must be under $125,000 unless the situation is a physical disaster, which does not apply to the SR 213 project. Even when commissioners vote to treat an expenditure as an emergency, “the reasons for it … (must be) … entered in the minutes of the proceedings.”

That same statute also prohibits county officials from dividing any “purchase, lease, project or other transaction … in order to avoid the requirements of this section,” meaning they cannot break the work into smaller increments to avoid triggering the bidding requirement.

Section 5705.41 of the ORC stipulates that a governing body must formally appropriate funding and certify the money is available before entering into a contract or issuing a purchase order.

Without those conditions being met, Conn said his hands are tied.

“There’s no way to pay it currently, the way it is right now,” he said, later adding, “There will be a solution, the contractor will be paid, but we have to have an idea how best to do that.”

ODOT needed the water line — which is in the state right of way — moved so crews could work on a hill slip just south of County Road 56. By law, if ODOT deems it necessary, any water line in the state right of way has to be relocated at local expense. If the move was not done prior to the start of the slip repair, ODOT said service to about 2,000 water customers could be cut off.

The water and sewer department are enterprise funds, however, and are expected to generate the revenue necessary for operations. Jefferson County’s service rates had remained largely stagnant for 15 years or more, and both services have been in the red. Former Water Supervisor Mike Eroshevich gave commissioners a heads-up in 2024 that they were going to have to move the water line, but at the time the department did not have the estimated $1 million needed for a line relocation, no prospects for getting the money, and since the start date was not imminent, nothing came of it.

The $240,000 budget-saving workaround, which Border Patrol ultimately completed, was to tie into a line near the county’s pH adjustment tank so they could abandon the line that is in the state’s right of way. Crews also installed a vault near the booster station, including two pressure-reducing valves, a flow control valve, a meter and a check valve, as well as two gate valves that connect the new infrastructure to the old.

Prior to adopting this year’s budget, the county commissioners scheduled a series of work sessions focused on finances and departmental needs. They say that during one of those sessions, which were open to the public, the need to move forward with the SR 213 water line project was discussed, but Commissioners Eric Timmons and Tony Morelli are adamant that while it was discussed in general terms, they never gave anyone authorization to proceed.

Timmons said he was present for part of the work session but had to leave before it ended. Morelli said he was at that work session to the end but insists he made it very clear that while he had no problem with the project coming to the commission floor for a vote, he would vote against declaring it an emergency.

Both Timmons and Morelli said nothing they said during that work session could have been construed as authorization to proceed with the work. Both men say they learned only recently that the work had not only started but was nearly done.

After completing their agenda items May 14, Timmons and Morelli aired their concerns during another work session, this one with Conn, Chief Deputy Auditor Vickie Winskie, Water and Sewer Director Jonathan Sgalla, and Arcadis Engineering’s Andrew Dawson in attendance, along with Commissioner Jake Kleineke.

Sgalla, who took over as director when Eroshevich’s retirement took effect Dec. 1, said he requested an emergency work session in January to remind commissioners that the hillside work was slated to begin in March, so time was running out for the county to complete the required water line changes.

“I can’t speak for what happened before, but when I took the director position we had to move forward,” Sgalla said during the May 14 session. “Andrew (Dawson, engineering consultant) had updated me that nothing was done yet, so at this point it’s an emergency, over 2,000 people potentially could have lost water if it wasn’t done. The state was supposed to start in March, so it had to be done.”

Morelli said he requested price quotes to determine whether the work would fall under the bidding threshold. Sgalla said he recommended they request a quote from Border Patrol based on the quality of work they had done for the county in the past. During the May 14 meeting, he said they had obtained some “preliminary” numbers, but there is nothing in the official record to verify that quotes were presented to commissioners prior to the work starting.

There is also no record that commissioners ever voted at a public meeting to hire Border Patrol, emergency or not.

“I don’t know how I could have said I approve a job if I don’t even know what the price is,” Morelli said during the May 14 discussion, adding that before any work began, “it should have been voted on the floor.”

“You can throw me out, impeach me, do whatever anyone wants to do … but I did not leave that meeting thinking in my mind, ‘you’ve got to vote for an emergency,'” Morelli said, pointing out he had suggested other contractors for price quotes. “Then, while I’m thinking we’re waiting for a price from them, Jake already contacted the contractor because he called me and said he’s contacted them. So I’m thinking we’re going to come back and have a meeting and vote on it.”

“I want to be clear, I wasn’t even in the room,” Timmons said. “I don’t know if the meeting was over or I thought the meeting was over and went to work or something, but I didn’t know this was approved.”

Kleineke did not address the procedural concerns during that May 14 work session, but Wednesday, asked if he told Border Patrol to proceed or instructed anyone else to give the contractor the go-ahead, Kleineke said, “No.” He also said he has “no statement on how we got into this mess.”

Timmons reiterated that he did not authorize the work to proceed and declined to speculate on who did. Morelli said he absolutely did not authorize it or ask anyone to authorize it.

During the May 14 work session, Kleineke said, “somebody” had dropped the ball in 2024. His term in office began in January 2025.

“I don’t believe we would have been in this position if somebody would have done their job in 2024,” Kleineke said.

At one point, Kleineke asked why they could not break the bill into smaller increments to bring it under the bidding threshold.

“It would be fraudulent,” Timmons said, with Conn adding that “you can’t do that, you can’t split invoices.”

Winskie also said, “It wouldn’t matter if it was under the bid price, you still didn’t follow the proper procedure to approve the project.”

Kleineke also asked if it would be possible to pay the contractor for materials at least, with Conn and Winskie both saying they must wait for guidance from the state auditor.

Conn reiterated they need to wait for the state auditor’s instructions, “because eventually, the likelihood of it ending in some sort of lawsuit is fairly high.”

“There is a solution here, but you just have to let it play out,” he said. “I’m sure it’s happened elsewhere.”

If there is litigation, the prosecutor’s office cannot advise or represent commissioners because they also represent the water and sewer district. Prosecutor Jane Hanlin said only that the office is actively investigating allegations of a potential violation of public trust and cannot simultaneously act as civil counsel on related matters.

Earlier this week, the Auditor of State’s office said only that it had “received some initial information about the issue … and is looking into it.”