Bad roof a concern for Steubenville fire chief
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STEUBENVILLE -- In the near future, Steubenville Fire Chief Carlo Capaldi figures he'll need at least $100,000 to fix leaks in the roof of the downtown station.
But long-term, he said the city needs a new headquarters station to house its expanded operations, growing work force and bigger vehicles, and that's not going to come cheap.
Capaldi told City Council Tuesday both need to be high priorities.
"The headquarters roof was leaking back in 2022 and it was repaired," he said. "Going forward, before we do any other upgrades the roof needs to be replaced so we're not dealing with water issues (affecting them)."
The current headquarters station, located on North Street, is 115 years old, and the Pleasant Heights station is 111 years old. Even the newest station, in the West End, is 66.
"Once the headquarters roof is buttoned up, then we can focus on some of the other upgrades that are needed, such as bedrooms, bathrooms and heating/cooling systems," said Capaldi, finishing his 12th year as chief. "But going forward, a new station is needed because with the introduction of fire-based EMS in 2020 we're simply running out of room for all of our operations in the 100-plus year old stations that we're currently operating out of."
He told council as things now stand, "we're operating based on where we can fit things, not where we need to operative out of."
"We are running out of room in the 100-plus year-old stations we are currently operating out of," he said. "We are trying to run 2024-based operations out of a building built in 1909."
He said they can't secure grants for a new station until they have a site and plans in hand, "it has to be shovel-ready."
"Somehow, we need to start talking about (it)," he said. "It's not going to be an instant thing, so we'll still have to fix the stations we have now."
Fourth Ward Councilman Royal Mayo suggested they look at expanding the downtown station, but Capaldi pointed out they're landlocked by the church and Steubenville City Schools.
Capaldi said he was quoted a price of $90,000 for the downtown station roof fix, "but that was at the end of 2022" and prices have only gone up. He also said the roof patch they did back then is a temporary fix and warned council he'd been "up there and saw some daylight, so there might be water we just haven't found yet."
"We can't keep putting it off," First Ward Councilman Dave Albaugh said, with Second Ward Councilman Tracy McManamon chiming in that, "I think we all want hard numbers, we want a price."
Council, meanwhile, tabled the third reading of legislation that would authorize City Manager Jim Mavromatis and Urban Projects Director Chris Petrossi to issue a request qualifications for preparation of a comprehensive plan.
Third Ward Councilwoman Heather Hoover and Sixth Ward Councilman Mike Hernon were unable to attend Tuesday's meeting, and McManamon said the delay would allow all seven members to be present to vote Feb. 13. In the meantime, he called a committee meeting for next Tuesday so they can hash out the details.
Council also signed off on the third reading of a revised bereavement leave policy for city employees; heard second readings of ordinances authorizing Mavromatis to seek bids for the 2024 city street pavement marking program and Phase 9, 2023 city street sign replacement; and presented a resolution proclaiming February as Black History Month in the city.
"It's always an important document," Mayor Jerry Barilla said, "adding, I hope we always can acknowledge the sacrifices of Black people for this country and acknowledge all their accomplishments."
"It's so important that these contributions are recognized and honored," Mayo agreed.
• McManamon requested a resolution honoring the College of St. Joseph, a new Catholic trade college pairing a bachelor's degree in Catholic studies with skilled training in carpentry, HVAC, plumbing or electrical trades.
• Petrossi told council there'll be a community meeting Feb. 13 at JFK Apartments to update residents on the Choice Neighborhood's strategy for reinventing the North End community. The meeting, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., will include a presentation of three concepts for the revitalization of the Steubenville North Neighborhood based on community feedback collected over the past year.
• Pastor Garnett Jones, an Eve Drive resident, told council the city needs to address a rodent and vermin infestation in their area. Jones said she routinely sees three or four mice a day and is also seeing more snakes than she wants to see in her neighborhood. Her neighbors are equally unhappy, she said.
"I've had an exterminator come in," she said. "He found nothing on the outside of my property that would have caused them to be there. There's an adjacent property somewhere that this is coming from. It's not going to be just my problem, it's going to be the whole neighborhood's problem by summer."
The Rev. Buena Dudley echoed Jones' concerns, saying it's a "serious problem" for the neighborhood.
"We had an exterminator come who said this street, this area, is an infestation," Dudley said. "It's not just what she's seeing, the exterminators are verifying it."