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STEUBENVILLE -- Belleview Pool needs a lot of work if it's to open in 2024, Parks Director Lori Fetherolf warned City Council Tuesday.
Fetherolf showed council pictures of some of the problems with the pool infrastructure, including concrete eroding because water's getting under the concrete deck and then freezing/thawing in winter, as well as cracked pavement, leaking pipes, leaking welds spurting water 10 feet in the air and expensive filters and other equipment that, if it's not put under roof to protect it from the elements, will have to be replaced.
Council took the first step toward getting the work done with the first reading of an ordinance that would authorize City Manager Jim Mavromatis and Fetherolf to seek proposals for professional engineering design services for the pool renovations.
"My view is if we don't protect it in the offseason, we're not going to open next year," she said. "It's not fair to people who buy passes, it's not fair to college students trying to make money (working at the pool during the summer). These are big, major things I can't do, we can't do."
She told council they need to know the exact specifications of what is needed when they bid it out to make sure everybody is bidding on the same scope of work.
"I'm not asking for money right now. When we get the (results) I can come back and you can decide what you want to do," she said, adding, "I did talk to a contractor who told me, the sooner the better ... a lot of pools wait to the last minute (to get repairs done)."
Afterward, Fetherolf said she figures the pool "is on its last wheel."
"Everything that needs done is important and the majority of the work centers around the plumbing and circulation system," she said. "When something goes down we have to close until it's fixed. We owe it to the community to have a well-running pool that they can enjoy all summer."
Fetherolf also gave council budgetary quotes for installing a splash pad at North End Park -- a system that recirculates the water could cost in the range of $518,000; a non-recirculating system would be around $149,000. Neither estimate includes running water and sewer lines to the site, which city officials said shouldn't be more than $20,000.
"They're both the same size, have the same features," she said. "The only difference is with the recirculating one you have to have a pump house because it has to have chlorine and everything in it."
Upon hearing the numbers Fourth Ward Councilman Royal Mayo immediately sunshined legislation authorizing Mavromatis to spend up to $160,000 "to get that splash pad built as soon as possible," pointing out a recirculating system isn't necessary because the water used would be non-billable. North End Park is in Mayo's ward.
Mayo also sunshined legislation that would authorize Mavromatis to sell a lot on South Sixth Street to a neighboring property owner "who has been keeping the grass cut for 15 years" and plans to remove trees at the back half of the property. When Law Director Costa Mastros pressed him to include a sale price in the legislation, Mayo suggested $250, sparking a lengthy discussion among council members.
"Let me ask you this, then, are we going to cut the trees down?" Mayo asked Mastros. "(He's been told) the cost will be $1,000."
Other council members, however, balked at randomly choosing a number without first determining what its actual value would be and whether it would be "setting a standard" for future lot sales.
"It's premature (to set a sale price)," Councilwoman at large Kimberly Hahn said. "I think we should wait until we have Costa’s opinion."
"It seems like before we put it into motion we should have some standard," Sixth Ward Councilman Mike Hernon agreed.
Mastros pointed out the motion had already been seconded, "so I have to write it up as stated."
"How you guys deal with it after that is up to you," he said.
Fifth Ward Councilman Willie Paul said the city bought the lot years ago for $1,650 and it's listed as an unimproved lot valued at $6,000 on the Jefferson County auditor's website
"If you tear a house down and sell the lot to the house next to it for $100, what's the difference?" Mayo countered. "We can spend $10,000 or $15,000 or even $20,000 to tear a house down then we just give (the property) to someone."
Hahn pointed out that the programs are through the Jefferson County Land Bank, not the city.
"It's a pricey decision," Mastros said. "Do we want to have an overgrown lot ... or do we want to do it for less than fair market value?"
Second Ward Councilman Tracy McManamon was concerned that the $250 Mayo had suggested was "picking a number out of the air."
"I'm worried about the precedent," he added.
Hernon agreed, saying, "Let's move as quickly as we can, but let's have a standard policy."
Council also signed off on third readings of legislation authorizing Mavromatis to seek bids for the Beatty Park bridge project and for supplies for the service department in 2024, as well as emergency legislation authorizing him to apply for funding through the Governor's Office of Appalachia program.
Hahn sunshined a resolution authorizing Mavromatis or Fetherolf to submit an application for another Ohio River Basin H20 wetlands grant for stream restoration at Beatty Park. She said they were previously awarded $300,000, "but they recommending we apply again."
Christian Clark, a St. Clairsville resident who operates a scooter business in Wheeling, pitched the idea to council. Clark, who started his own company, said riders download an app that allows them to "scan in how they will pay, then they ride and pay when they're done."
"In Wheeling I average over 300 to 500 rides a week," he said, telling council they would decide the parameters of the service -- whether riders could ride in the street or on sidewalks, and where they could ride. When a scooter approaches a forbidden zone it shuts off, he said.