STEUBENVILLE — City Council voted Tuesday to reallocate some of the ARPA funding that the sewer department won’t need for its Ohio EPA-mandated CSO-3 Phase 2 work to cover costly repairs to two sewer lines.

Before voting yes, council rejected a motion to table action on the emergency legislation until they find out if the repairs will be covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency since it was the recent torrential rains that are to blame for the slippages on Lauretta Drive and Sinclair Avenue.

Fourth Ward Councilman Royal Mayo had suggested they find out what FEMA has in mind before spending the ARPA money on fixing the line slips, but city officials pointed out ARPA money is tightly regulated — and water, sewer and infrastructure are among the few allowable spending avenues.

Council originally allocated $3.2 million in ARPA funding to continue the department’s combined sewer overflow project, but the city was awarded a $250,000 Appalachian Regional Commission grant for the work and the rest of the cost is being covered by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

With the $3.2 million no longer needed to pay for CSO3 Phase 2, Wastewater Superintendent Chuck Murphy had hoped to apply the remaining funding to other urgently-needed work, including the department’s Headworks Project. Headworks — the initial stage of the wastewater treatment process — reduces the level of pollutants in the incoming wastewater so that the treated effluent can be discharged into the river.

Murphy said a new building — equipped with automatic screens and barscreens to remove debris like rags and leaves as well as a new grit system to remove debris like sand, small rocks and eggshells — will be constructed at the wastewater plant.

“The new building and equipment will be required to handle a lot more flow during wet weather to significantly reduce the amount of sewage and rainwater that goes to the river during wet weather,” he said, adding the project “is required in the consent decree.”

If the Headworks project isn’t done by April 1, 2026, the city will be in violation of its consent decree and could be subject to a several-hundred dollar a day fine, Murphy said.

Murphy said the two emergency line fixes are going to cost the city more than $1.2 million combined, and while FEMA typically frowns on reimbursing communities for work that’s already been paid for, he said he’d talked with the FEMA envoy who, given the health and safety risk, advised he understood why the city must break protocol.

“Their higher-ups will make the final decision,” he said. “There is some risk moving forward, but we didn’t have a choice. There’s no guarantee we’ll get it, but there’s also no guarantee we won’t.”

Sixth Ward Councilman Mike Hernon also pointed out the time governing use of the funds.

“By the end of this year we have to have that (money) allocated,” he said. “You’re essentially talking about water and sewers.”

Mayo, meanwhile, has made it clear he would like to put the ARPA to work in the North End, under consideration for up to $50 million through the Choice Neighborhoods program to implement a locally-hatched plan for transforming the North End community. Urban Projects Director Chris Petrossi and Jefferson Metropolitan Housing Authority Director Melody McClurg had teamed up to secure a $500,000 planning grant for the same project.