MEETING — Members of the Jefferson County Board of Health listened to a staff report during their monthly meeting Thursday. -- Christopher Dacanay

STEUBENVILLE — The Jefferson County Board of Health Thursday pondered how to achieve full compliance in the prolonged effort to connect Amsterdam properties with the village sewer system.

At its monthly meeting, the board resolved to gather more information about possible solutions and what kind of costs residents face. Board members discussed several possibilities for helping yet-unconnected residents, while being fair to those who already paid to connect.

The roughly two-year-old sewer system was constructed in response to an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency demand: Stop the discharge of septic tank sewage into Yellow Creek. Ohio Administrative Code establishes that, once a sanitary sewer is completed, structures must link with the system and abandon their septic tanks.

It’s been six months since the board ordered Amsterdam property owners to decommission their septic tanks and connect. In about six more months, property owners who still haven’t tied in will be subject to legal action on a case-by-case basis, potentially resulting in fines up to $100 or imprisonment for up to 90 days, as per Ohio Revised Code.

As a reminder, letters from the board reached Amsterdam addresses around the beginning of January, warning them of the July 1 deadline for compliance.

Getting every property connected has been a longstanding issue, as some maintain their inability for a variety of reasons, including a shortage of contractors and rising project costs.

Jefferson County General Health District Environmental Health Director Mark Maragos told the health board Thursday that, since the January letter went out, he’s received seven or eight calls from property owners who claim they can’t tie in for one reason or another.

“The most phone calls I’ve received is from residents simply saying, ‘What do I do? We do not have the money to tie into the sanitary sewer.’ A lot are asking if there’s grant money available out there, and, there unfortunately isn’t. I basically wanted to give the board a heads up, given the deadline is going to be … coming quickly.”

Board member Terry Bell noted that property owners are tasked not only with paying for the connection infrastructure but dealing with their septic tanks. Maragos added that costs come out different for each individual property.

Board President Anthony Mougianis called it a “tough situation” and asked: “Is there anything we can do to try to help these people that are destitute?”

Health Commissioner Andrew Henry said, “We’ve often discussed internally. You put yourself in a tough position with the financial piece of it. We certainly can look for funding, but at the same time, there are people who may be in a financially tough position that have paid for it themselves already. I’m not saying you’re rewarding somebody for waiting until the last minute, but they may get more help than somebody who sacrificed money.”

“Maybe we could find a way to get them low-interest financing or something,” Mougianis said. “I guess it’s all relative to how much money you have, but it’s not a huge investment. I mean, three-to-five grand, even over a few years … is something that these people might find a little more easier if they can pay on it. And I don’t want to upset the people who have worked and paid it, at the same time, and reward (the others).”

Legal action is “the last thing we want to see,” Henry said.

Finding a compromise is difficult, Maragos said, but the board has been “more than fair” by providing more than a full year’s extension for property owners to comply. He added that 10 residents have tied into the system since the board’s first order went out in July.

Board member Mary Mihalyo asked about formally partnering with the Jefferson County commissioners to tackle the problem. Henry said he could send the commissioners a letter updating them on the issue.

Kelly Wilson, JCGHD director of finance and administration, suggested that the individual costs could be levied on that resident’s property taxes, so they can be paid off in installments.

Maragos said he’s also in contact with the Jefferson County Water and Sewer Department to ensure he has the most up-to-date compliance list, to avoid contacting those who’ve already connected.

Separately, the board heard a report on Apex Landfill, including its recent odor compliant hotline call numbers: 16 in December and 11 in January, as of Thursday. Last year saw 240 total complaints, a count that Maragos said is “a whole lot better than what it was,” though lowering numbers remains a priority.

Bell questioned whether odors reported to the hotline could be misattributed, stemming from nearby cattle farms that produce methane. Maragos said that landfill personnel “do the investigations they need to” when a complaint arrives.

Apex’s construction and demolition debris tipping tonnage was “significantly up” in 2024, said Carla Gampolo, registered environmental health sanitarian. That’s due to the landfill’s investment in a gondola offloading facility.

In attendance was Brian Largent, landfill engineer for Apex, who said that C&D and municipal solid waste tonnage are both up, though, with the gondola facility, the former now accounts for 35 percent to 40 percent of total tonnage — compared to 30 percent previously. Largent said his estimate accounts for other material from the local oil and gas industry.