STEUBENVILLE — The Jefferson County commissioners signed a memorandum of understanding Thursday that will allow aspiring police officers to continue to get the training they need close to home, at least for the foreseeable future.

Sheriff Fred Abdalla Jr. said he offered Youngstown State University space in the Justice Center “so they could sustain their program.”

The police academy had for years been housed at Eastern Gateway Community College, but with the school closed and ownership of the building and grounds mired in legal proceedings, YSU was forced to seek an alternative location while it awaits the outcome.

“I had space available and thought it would be a good thing,” Abdalla said, telling commissioners he requested a MOU to be sure it was done properly.

“This is a temporary move,” he said. “They’re going to be working out of our squadroom in the evenings. I think it would be really good to have that program stay there, maybe in future we could generate some revenue from it.”

Commissioners said from their perspective, keeping the academy in Jefferson County has been a priority. If it stays in the Justice Center for the long term, they said they’d eventually want to look at some sort of reimbursement agreement.

“The police academy was always held at EGCC, they needed a new place to hold it,” Commissioner Dave Maple said. “Right now, this lets us keep it in Jefferson County.”

Commissioners acknowledged the regional response to reports, now known to have been fabricated, that a man had jumped into the lake at Friendship Park and drowned over the weekend.

Three people allegedly involved in the scheme have been charged with inducing panic, making false alarms and obstruction of justice. The alleged victim, one of the three arrested, also has been charged with tampering with evidence.

“All the officers, the first responders who were there,” Commissioner Eric Timmons said. “Unionport, Benwood, Tiltonsville, Toronto, Smithfield Township … I’m sure I’m missing some. There were just a lot of people working together, it was incredible to see, and all the time they spent there.”

Maintenance Supervisor Patrick Boyles reported fire safety updates at the Tower building won’t be cheap.

Boyles told commissioners the price tag for replacing fireproof insulation between floors and under windows on the seventh floor was about $45,000.

“We replaced the existing insulation because it was slipping down out of place and compressing,” he said. “We replaced it in under 30 windows on the fourth floor.”

He told commissioners two or three floors in the building “don’t need anything, but most have deficiencies” but they won’t know how severe the problems are until they start working on them.

“Until you’re in there you don’t know,” he said. “Some might be better than others.”

Commissioners also:

• Were told they can’t give public money to Ohio Valley YMCA. YMCA Director Marci Crawford had hoped commissioners would be able to provide seed money for youth programs designed to reduce delinquency, improve community engagement and enhance future opportunities, but Assistant Prosecutor Shawn Blake told commissioners it doesn’t qualify for funding.

• Decided to accept bids for a small strip of land in the Bergholz area adjacent to the county’s Wolf Run garage. A neighboring driveway encroaches slightly on the property and the current owner wants to correct the oversight, but Blake opined that commissioners would either have to sell the strip of land by bid or at public auction.

• Accepted McKinley Architecture and Engineering’s proposal for professional architectural and engineering design services and construction administration for the Justice Center roof replacement project. If all goes as planned, it would go to bid in September and the actual roof work could start the following month.

• Agreed to advertise for bids for replacing the smoke detection and fire alarms at McCollough Children’s Home. The bid opening will be Sept. 26.

• Affirmed the selection committee’s recommendation to retain Arcadis as its engineering consultant. Eroshevich, who served on the committee, said all of them “kind of felt Arcadis stood out, and we have a long relationship with them.”

• Signed off on Dillonvale county court’s participation in a delinquent debt collection program through the attorney general’s office.

• Accepted the water and sewer district’s list of delinquent accounts, which this year total $33,092.97. Director Mike Eroshevich said most of the past due accounts are on the sewer side — $25,674. Under Ohio code, a list of delinquencies for collection of outstanding water and sewer charges must be certified to the auditor.

• Awarded the pavement marking contract to J.D. Striping and Services of Ravenna for $118,145.40. The bid was more than $20,000 below the engineer’s estimate.

Commissioners also awarded the contract for the county Road 26 slip repair to Ohio-West Virginia Excavating for $128,194. The engineer’s estimate was $141,122.

The courthouse will be closed Monday in observance of Labor Day.