SECURITY IMPROVEMENT GRANT — Celebrating the $250,000 grant that will help the Jefferson Metropolitan Housing Authority beef up security at the JFK Apartments and Earl Rodgers Plaza in Steubenville were, from left, John Levy, JMHA security officer; Brian Murray of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development; Pamela Ashby, HUD Cleveland field office director; Joe Buchmelter, JMHA security chief; Melody McClurg, JMHA executive director; Jefferson County Prosecutor Jane Hanlin; and Ben Keeler, communications director for the office of U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson. -- Linda Harris

STEUBENVILLE — For someone who had never written a grant before, Jefferson Metropolitan Housing Authority Security Chief Joe Buchmelter has to be pleased with the results — $250,000 to upgrade security at the JFK Apartments and Earl Rodgers Plaza.

JMHA is one of 23 housing authorities in 15 states to be awarded funding from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, and one of only 11 to receive the maximum $250,000 grant award. The money can be used for items including security systems and surveillance cameras, fencing, lighting systems, emergency alarm systems, window bars, deadbolt locks and security doors. JMHA will use its money to replace “aging and failing” surveillance equipment already in place “and to install cameras where we currently have none,” Buchmelter said.

Since he had no grant writing experience, Buchmelter said he sought advice from the contact person in Washington, D.C.

“He said, ‘You need to write letters expressing why you need it,’ so we gathered police reports and news clippings,” he said. “When I went back and looked at them all, I realized a lot of them were about gang activity, shootings and drugs. The ironic thing is about a week or two after we submitted the grant application, we had a young man murdered in public housing.”

Buchmelter figures Steubenville’s story made an impression on the powers-that-be at HUD.

“You almost expect a certain amount of violent crimes in cities the size of Cleveland or Columbus,” he said.

“We have fewer than 18,000 people in Steubenville, but the amount of violent crime, drugs and gang activity here is staggering. On a per capita basis, we’re on a par with some of those larger cities.”

JMHA’s application “was weighed on its merits,” said Pamela Ashby, director of HUD’s Cleveland field office.

“We’ve been working with U.S. Rep (Bill) Johnson’s office since 2012, 2013,” she added. “It’s wonderful that the grant finally came to be.”

Johnson, R-Marietta, said during the past seven years he’d been “personally engaged” with JMHA to help address crime and security and “was pleased to support JMHA’s effort to receive this grant.”

He credited HUD Secretary Ben Carson and his team with “recognizing the challenges a mid-size city like Steubenville faces when it comes to federal funding.”

“That’s a big amount of money,” said Jefferson County Prosecutor Jane Hanlin.

“A grant like that means something to a community our size. We can completely revamp the way we protect residents. It will work as a crime deterrent and a crime solver, so there’s no down side.”

Hanlin told JMHA residents attending the announcement that, “We primarily want to make the city safe for you, safe for you children, safe for everybody in the community.”

“It’s a great day for these facilities, a great day for the people who live here,” she said.

JMHA Executive Director Melody McClurg said their goal “is to create safe neighborhoods, and this is definitely putting us on the way to that.”

She also pointed out area police agencies — the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department and Jefferson County Drug Task Force, as well as Steubenville, Toronto, Tiltonsville and Yorkville police — were an integral part of the grant application process, crediting Buchmelter for going “above and beyond because improved security measures are so desperately needed.”

“It’s not just that we got the grant,” McClurg added. “It’s the amount of the grant.”

Buchmelter pointed out JMHA already has upgraded surveillance in its units in Toronto, Tiltonsville and Yorkville, so the grant money will be focused on bridging security needs at JFK and Earl Rodgers.

“It’s a massive thing for us,” he said. “I think you recognize the need we have here.”

Buchmelter said they’ll use the grant money to “cover every inch of the (buildings) to provide a deterrent to crime and another tool.”