St. C. Council voices support for public library renewal levy

ST. CLAIRSVILLE - St. Clairsville City Council is urging residents to vote in favor of renewing St. Clairsville Public Library's existing operating levy.

The 0.5 mill levy will cost homeowners $1.08 each month per $100,000 home.

Zoning and Planning Administrator Tom Murphy is also the president of the library's board of trustees. During Monday evening’s council meeting, Murphy asked council for its support of the levy.

"The St. Clairsville Public Library is such a great resource for the community. As many as 62,000 people go to the library every year to utilize it for various things," Murphy said. “Even with the use of computers and the internet, libraries are still a huge resource for members of the public."

He added that due to the library being in the St. Clairsville-Richland City School District, students frequently visit for tours as well as to do typical research.

“For a small community like this, that’s an awesome figure. It shows the importance of the library," Murphy said. "The fact that there are so many visitors downtown tells us that these visitors … they see our businesses, they see the restaurants."

He added that, in past elections, up to 77% of the voters voted in favor of the levy. Murphy believes that shows that the library has huge community support for the levy and it wants to keep the community support.

"The library would lose 32% of its funding if the levy was not approved, and that’s a substantial amount," Murphy said. "This is not anticipated, but it’s important to note and outline that we cannot be complacent and we must vote. The library offers assistance with technology, employment, and resume support. It also assists the elderly. It’s a huge resource for our students."

He added that the library is very grateful for the community support. Murphy then encouraged all residents to get out and vote on Nov. 3.

Murphy said that the levy is not a new levy; it is a five-year renewal levy. He said that he has already spoken with Colerain Township and Wheeling Township Trustees, who both voiced their support for the levy.

"The library is an essential resource for children, students, adults, and elderly within our community. It provides information and learning opportunities for our residents. Let’s give it our support in any way that we can," Murphy said. "If anyone is interested after the meeting, I do have some signage. If anyone would want to put that in their yard."

Council then passed a resolution of support for the library pursuing the renewal of its existing levy and declared it an emergency.

Service director Scott Harvey announced that the city has yet to find a Christmas tree to be placed in front of the Belmont County Heritage Museum during the holiday season.

"If anybody sees a Christmas tree out there, we’ve had several people offer but some of them were 20, 22, or 25 feet. By the time you take six feet off and set it down there, it’s too small," Harvey said. "We need something between 32 to 40 feet with a nice shape and not too large. If you see one, let us know and we’ll approach the property owners and talk to them."

Council member Don Vincenzo asked Harvey about the status of the America 250 road tattoos that were supposed to be on U.S. Route 40.

This past June Harvey announced that the city will install two America 250 road tattoos, which are asphalt decals burned into the pavement, to mark the country’s 250th anniversary.

The two were going to be installed in both eastbound and westbound lanes of U.S. Route 40 at Trinity St. Clairsville Neighborhood Hospital.

The city was committed to paying 25% of the cost, which was $850, and then the National Road Society would pay the other 75%.

Harvey replied to Vincenzo that the National Road Society ran into a problem with the Ohio Department of Transportation because the color coding on the road tattoos were red and blue.

"As I understand it, ODOT wasn’t happy with the design. I don’t know if it was the colors or the way it was designed. So there was a holdup on that," Harvey said. "We obviously never paid for those. And at this point, if they come in to do it next year, we may be closing in on a Route 40 pavement that's scheduled for 2029. These are six-year tattoos. So if we were to do this next year, we’d be basically getting a third of the life of them, so I don’t know if we’ll do it."