STEUBENVILLE — The 150 Amsterdam residents who haven’t connected to the new sewage system are days away from getting their first bill anyway.

Jefferson County commissioners have warned for months this day was approaching: The order to connect was issued in June 2022 and about 400 residents — some in Carroll County — complied, but extensions were granted so the remainder could figure out how to navigate soaring costs associated with getting connected.

But with construction loans to repay, commissioners have said they can’t wait any longer.

County Water and Sewer District Director Mike Eroshevich, the prosecutor, and commissioners will be meeting with the Board of Health staff today to discuss the additional steps necessary to bring homeowners into compliance. He said the list of residents that haven’t connected yet has already been turned over to boards of health in both Jefferson and Carroll counties.

The county took the Amsterdam project on to eliminate faulty septic systems that were allowing raw sewage to flow into Yellow Creek, and Health District Director Andrew Henry said that one topic they’ll tackle is if the board of health were to issue a compliance order, what the repercussions should be for homeowners who continue to defy it.

“Generally, failure to comply with a board of health order would have some legal action attached to it,” Henry said. “So we want to make sure how stern we are going to be with this letter and make sure the prosecutor’s office (is in agreement).”

Henry said they need to discuss current capacity of the system and its ability to handle the additional workload those 150 properties will bring, as well as “a realistic timeframe” for the remaining homes to connect.”

“We want to make sure that we’re on the same page before the May board of health meeting, because it is an agenda item,” he said.

Commissioners also learned their County Risk Sharing Authority rates are going up sharply, though not as much as the 15-20 percent rate hike they’d be hit with on the commercial market.

Oklok-Criss & Associates Deb Hukill said Jefferson County will see about a 12.1 percent rate hike — most of it attributable to market conditions. The increase will bring the county’s premium to just under $419,000 — up roughly $53,000 from last year, though she said they could cut it in half by doubling their deductible from $2,500 to $5,000.

“That’s the biggest part of it, the cost of insurance,” Hukill said. “The second part is … the cost of materials to fix a loss, that’s what’s really driving this up.”

Commissioner Dave Maple told Hukill “it’s not the greatest of news,” adding they’ll likely let the various county departments find the money in their current budget.

“I don’t think we do a good job managing it,” he added. “We have department heads who push (claims) through without coming to us … they’re turning in things I don’t think if we had a chance to decide on that we would have turned them in.”

Commissioners agreed unanimously to pay the bill.

“I don’t want to pay it but (compared to that) it’s not so bad,” Commissioner Tony Morelli said, later adding that “CORSA did a great job. I wouldn’t want to give this to another agency and say ‘give us a quote’…”

Commissioners also authorized Maintenance Supervisor Patrick Boyles to get a contractor into the Tower building to repair fire blocking, a project that fell through the cracks after the building inspector several years ago gave them a temporary permit to occupy.

“Back in 2019 we discovered fire protection in the outside curtain walls sporadically failed,” Boyles said, pointing out it had met code when the building was constructed but over time insulation “had dropped down and failed.”

Several years ago the city agreed they could make the repairs as the building was remodeled, and a contractor was asked to prepare a cost estimate but that’s as far as it got.

Boyles said the city agreed to extend the occupancy permit provided the repairs get done now, beginning with the fourth floor. He figures repairs to the curtain areas on just that floor will cost about $9,700.

“Right now it’s just the fourth floor, then we’ll be moving on to the other areas,” he said. “There are a total of 28 curtain areas that need done out of over 600 that are in the building. The plan is to have all 28 completed by the end of the year.”

Commissioners thanked City Manager Jim Mavromatis and Building Inspector Anthony Bodo for working with them.

Mavromatis told commissioners the city faces many of the same problems, “we can’t always get service from contractors.”

“We’re well aware of this and willing to work with the county,” he added. “As long as you’re willing to do (the repairs), we will extend (the permit).”

At Boyles’ request, commissioners set a 90-day deadline for project completion.

Commissioners also:

• Announced a special meeting for 9 a.m. April 30 to discuss issues related to Eastern Gateway Community College with their outside counsel, Bricker Graydon, adding “it will likely be all executive session, so we probably won’t say a lot.”

• Reported the county currently has $339,000 in opioid settlement funding. The account will continue to grow as more funds are released by the state.

• Approved payment of actual expenses associated with the county coroner and deputy coroner’s attendance at the Ohio State Coroner’s Association meeting next month in Columbus.

• Granted nearly $68,000 for network, electrical and furniture upgrades to the clerk of courts office. Clerk of Courts Andrew Plesich also wants to remove front counter fixtures, purchase new office signs and door graphics and have some wall repairs done.

“The purpose of the upgrades and removal of the fixtures is to prepare for the installation of new flooring, improvements to the office layout and phasing out obsolete furniture,” Plesich said, adding network upgrades “will help increase the performance of our office’s technology for years to come.”

• Agreed to advertise the Ccounty Roads 7 and 10 resurfacing project, consisting of 3.14 miles of CR 7 and 2.10 mile stretch of CR 10. The engineer’s estimate for the work is $722,663.

• Approved contracts for 2024 with Riley Petroleum of Steubenville, for 87 octane gasoline and No. 2 ultra low sulfur diesel fuel; Sidwell Materials of New Philadelphia, aggregates; Kelly Paving, Williamstown, W.Va., various asphalt concrete products; and Asphalt Materials of Marietta, bituminous products.