BLIGHTED — Efforts to clear the title of the former Smith Truck Service Inc. property at 1130 Commercial St., Mingo Junction, were discussed during the Jefferson County Port Authority board meeting Wednesday. -- Christopher Dacanay

STEUBENVILLE — The Jefferson County Port Authority Board of Directors Wednesday voted to allow the agency to move forward with whatever legal proceedings necessary, if any, to clear the former Smith Truck Service Inc. property’s title for sale and subsequent re-development.

Smith Truck Service had its charter canceled in 2006 due to non-payment of franchise taxes, according to the port authority’s Executive Director Robert Naylor. The company’s last shareholder has since died, and the port authority is working with her estate in West Virginia to purchase the property — located at 1130 Commercial St., Mingo Junction — and transfer it to Mingo Junction-based FeX Group as a development opportunity that will create jobs.

Work on the property has been ongoing since 2022, when environmental studies were performed that identified asbestos inside the building, the type that must be landfilled, Naylor said. The building itself must be torn down, and the property also houses an underground storage tank.

In Ohio, Naylor said, if a corporation does not pay its taxes, those judged to be the responsible party can become the subject of tax liens to secure payment. In this case, since there are no parties left, the property would sit vacant, unless it was repurposed.

Rather than have the property sit unused, the port authority has asked the Ohio Attorney General’s Office to release tax liens on the property so the port authority can get the necessary environmental rehab or further testing done and transfer the property to a third party for re-development.

The attorney general’s office released those liens, Naylor said, though that does not release the underlying tax liabilities that would fall on the responsible party. The goal was to make the property marketable and insurable prior to the port authority’s purchase.

Now, the port authority intends to purchase the property through a statue that allows a director of a corporation or receiver to be appointed to transfer out remaining assets. With the board’s approval, the port authority will extend the performance time of the contract between the port authority and the estate to Dec. 31 and bring litigation to correct any title issues prior to purchase.

“It’s not saying we’re going to do it, but we might have to,” Naylor said of the corrective measures. “The possibility exists. It’s a very strong possibility.”

Separately, the American Cleaners property in the Ohio Department of Development’s fiscal year 2022 Brownfield Grant Program is on schedule to have a no further action letter completed before the end of the grant period, Naylor reported.

However, possible off-property contaminant migration may require soil and groundwater remediation to be done for the property to qualify for a covenant not to sue under the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s Voluntary Action Program. A final NFA letter cannot be submitted until possible off-property contaminant migration has been confirmed and requires remediation.

Naylor noted that the port authority and Jefferson County Land Bank are considering an application to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency clean-up grant.

Additionally, Naylor said preliminary results were good from Geotechnical Consultants Inc.’s soil borings at the 13.36-acre Jefferson County Industrial Park site currently being eyed for a spec building.

Nineteen total borings were done on the former strip mine land to ensure the area’s subsurface conditions, Naylor said. Those results are awaiting lab analysis, but it’s believed the site’s soil will make for a good foundation, with potentially no need for any dynamic compaction. The site’s next step toward erecting a building will be performing a topographic survey.

Preliminary reports have been sent to the spec building project’s engineering firm, Burgess and Niple, Naylor said. The company also has provided some potential layouts for the building. The port authority requested in June that Burgess and Niple do whatever work it can while the geotechnical studies were in progress, in order to use time efficiently.

On a related note, Naylor said he met with Fred Vogel, Ohio Department of Transportation Division of Jobs, and Sam Grafton, Island Creek Township trustee, regarding funding for the repair and maintenance of Technology Way, the industrial park’s only thoroughfare, which is owned by Island Creek Township.

Grafton noted the road needs to be fixed, to which Vogel added that he has $40,000 in discretionary funds possibly available for the fix, Naylor said. Furthermore, Island Creek Township has allocated $5,000, and the port authority has funds it could use from its industrial park fund.

“We may be able to get that road done, which I think would be a big boon as we move forward,” Naylor said.

Island Creek provided a quote from Fort Steuben Maintenance for $53,000, Naylor said, adding that he believes more quotes are necessary.

In other business:

• Naylor reported that the port authority has prepared a request to the city of Steubenville to determine the nature and extent of two historical petroleum releases in the soil occupying the right-of-way adjacent to the 256 S. Third Street property in the FY2022 brownfield grant program.

• Naylor reported attending the Aug. 5 meeting of the Jefferson County Broadband Task Force Committee regarding the Appalachian Regional Commission POWER Grant for broadband service. He said Jefferson County has been invited to reapply to the program, so the port authority will submit a request for proposal. That program would be a “big win” for northern areas of the county with no broadband.

• Fiscal Officer Gary Folden said that if two remaining banks do not submit information prior to the board’s next meeting, then he will proceed with a presentation based on information he’s already received from other banks regarding options the port authority has to potentially start a new investment account.