Dear Editor,

We at the City administration wanted to recognize our city employees for the job they do for our citizens.

As Mayor I must say that I am proud of our entire City workforce and our City Council for the way we have worked together, in this most difficult year as we labored together to take care of our citizens.

In the past year we have hit many financial snags but with working with the 3 unions and the employees we have been able to overcome these issues and get a lot of things accomplished.

In March of 2020 I was handed a letter from our City Auditor that I must lay off the entire Street Department due to lack of funds. This would have meant Riverview Cemetery would not have been cut, the streets would not receive repairs, vacant lots would be overgrown, potholes unfilled and so much more left undone.

At this point I called the Union President and began to work on a solution to keep everyone employed and get much needed work accomplished.

By working together and adjustments made on both sides of the table we were able to not only to keep our entire workforce but finish the year with a carryover balance.

Our Sanitation Department works in all weather to make sure your trash is removed and to keep our town clean.

Our Water Department, under the direction of Bill Suto, continues to provide safe drinking water. They have fixed numerous water breaks, replaced outdated infrastructure, replaced waterlines which have failed for years with new waterlines that provide safe drinking water.

Our Sewer Department has been busy trying to get all the mandates set forth by the EPA guidelines straightened out.

Our Clerical Department, now under the direction of Andy Sutak, works day in and day out through many issues with the meters and computer systems. I’m happy to say I think most issues have been resolved.

Our Parking Enforcement employee braves all types of weather and lets us know the problems that are seen around town.

Our Code enforcement Betty Suto works to help with dilapidated properties and code violations

Our Police Department is among the finest in the valley. Under the leadership of Chief McFarland, our police officers have kept our citizens safe and protected while keeping themselves protected as much as possible from the COVID-19 virus. We must never forget that these resolute officers race towards the problems. They race in to defuse confusing situations and domestic troubles, where shots are fired, and assisting someone in need.

Our EMS Department serves our people responding in all kinds of emergencies and weather, crises and conditions, transporting patients to the newly open EORH.

Our Administrative staff does an excellent job in running the day to day operations of the city and guiding our departments in the right direction.

I am thankful for our Volunteer Firefighters who are always ready to leave their home or work at a moment’s notice to battle a blaze and save our property and lives.

While I get a lot of credit for the things being done in our City, you need to know this is a team effort. By working together we have accomplished much and solved some problems as we move our City forward.

I am just a small part of the puzzle.

I want to express my gratitude to all who have worked to strengthen our city, from our Volunteers to the Administration and the entire City Workforce. You have taken good care of our people.

I also want to thank the citizens for the opportunity to sit in the Mayor’s seat and attempting to make Martins Ferry a better place to live and work!

I stand truly humbled by the support from the employees and citizens.

Thank you and God bless you.

John R. Davies

Mayor of Martins Ferry