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STEUBENVILLE -- City Manager Jim Mavromatis took issue Tuesday with suggestions the city might not be safe after a Monday afternoon shooting left one juvenile hospitalized.
At City Council's meeting Tuesday, Mavromatis credited hard work by police and a citizenry that wants violent offenders off the street with helping them identify motives and participants.
"This latest shooting that we had here, what you have to look at is what caused that and it's not that this is not a safe city," Mavromatis said. "What you have is individuals that knew one another and, for whatever reason, they chose to (shoot guns.) But I've yet to hear the question that should have been asked -- what is a 15-year-old doing with a firearm and where's the mother and father? These are the questions that should be asked."
Mavromatis said city police put in long hours Monday tracking leads, adding police in Pittsburgh and other communities did a "phenomenal job" assisting an investigation "where no one was there and no one saw what happened. That says a lot about your police department and the other police departments that worked on this."
Monday's shooting was the second in less than three weeks, both of them on Maryland Avenue.
In a January shooting, one 18-year-old was injured and another was pronounced dead at the scene. Police haven't commented on a motive, but some residents have suggested it was a botched robbery.
"We've had a couple of shootings here in our city, but there's no city that can get away from it and it's driven by a multitude of things," Mavromatis said. "But we have a great police department here and we have a great city. There's been numerous crimes where citizens have provided information that has helped solve them."
Mavromatis said Monday's shooting is "still an open investigation."
"Cases are not always solved by the police department," he said. "They're also solved by the citizens who call in and say 'I saw this, I heard that.' Our community called in tips, we had a lot of response from the community."
Council, meanwhile, ratified a new, three-year contract with city police. Mavromatis said the deal, passed as emergency legislation, gives members of Fraternal Order of Police Fort Steuben Lodge 1, Steubenville, a 3 percent pay raise each year for three years.
First readings were given to ordinances repealing the city's existing Table of Organization and replacing it with a new one and another authorizing the city to seek funding from the National Park Service's Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization subgrant program.
Second Ward Councilman Tracy McManamon sunshined legislation that, if approved, would amend the TO as it relates to the police department, authorizing pay raises pursuant to the newly ratified FOP contract. He also sunshined legislation establishing a fund to hold overpayments of utility bills and provide credits back to customers.
Fourth Ward Councilman Royal Mayo sunshined legislation authorizing the city manager to enter into an agreement with Arcadis engineering to design Phase II of the water plant upgrade and apply for a loan. He also requested a resolution authorizing Mavromatis or Wastewater Superintendent Chuck Murphy to apply for a loan for the secondary aeration project.
McManamon also told council he's requested a year-end update from the city's loan consultant, Aspire, as well as a "vision of what they're looking for in 2024" at an economic development committee meeting to be held at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday.