STREET WORK DISCUSSED. — On Thursday, Wintersville Council discussed repairs to local streets and other issues. Mayor Mike Petrella also expressed thanks to all who donated money for a local boy battling cancer. -- Warren Scott

WINTERSVILLE — Street repairs and donations to help a local boy battling cancer were among issues discussed at Thursday’s Wintersville Council meeting.

Mayor Mike Petrella said about $5,000 was raised for the family of Neiko Boni, a 2-year-old boy undergoing weekly treatments for cancer.

The donations — which included $1,000 from an anonymous source and a $500 gift card from Wintersville Good Neighbors, a grass roots charity — spun off of a friendly wager between Petrella and Lou Vandeborne, the village’s police chief.

Petrella, a longtime fan of the University of Notre Dame, and Vandeborne, a supporter of Ohio State University, each agreed to embarrass himself if his team lost the national college football championship.

Vandeborne said if he had lost, he was to appear at a council meeting dressed as a leprechaun, the Notre Dame mascot, while the mayor agreed to dress in a manner chosen by him.

Petrella appeared recently as Brutus, the Ohio State mascot inspired by the buckeye, the nut from the state tree, outside the Kroger Plaza, where he accepted donations for the Boni family.

He said the idea of raising money for the child came later, while he was attending the championship game on Jan. 20 in Atlanta when his cell phone “blew up” with comments about the bet and someone suggested helping Neiko.

“I thought if I’m going to get embarrassed, it will be for a good cause,” said Petrella.

Of the many donations, he said, “It was extremely overwhelming how generous everyone was. It was mind-blowing.”

On Thursday, council heard from Janet Ferguson, a resident of Rex Road, who thanked village officials for recent repairs to the street while also bringing attention to a large hole near it on Day Circle and asking if a curb could be created to address runoff near her daughter’s home.

Ferguson said her daughter’s yard has been filled with up to 2 inches of rain at times.

Village Administrator Jesse Kosegi said he’s aware of the hole and has arranged for a contractor to look at it and will look into a curb for that area, adding it seems feasible.

Kosegi told village crews have used about 2,200 pounds of asphalt for cold patching and continue to work on streets while he will be seeking bids for paving he hopes can be done in the spring.

In other business, council approved a one-year agreement for Optics Consulting of Dublin, Ohio, to negotiate electricity prices for the village and its residents through aggregation.

The intent is to save residents money through group pricing but residents also may opt out.

In related business, Petrella said Councilwoman Pennie Scarpone has suggested installing solar lights in some areas outside the Village Building and he and Kosegi will be looking into that.

Councilman Jason Mattern said the village spend more than $320,000 last year for electricity so any savings would help.

Mattern asked Kosegi about water bills being sent late to customers last month.

Kosegi said some bills were sent late because the village is switching to a new billing system compatible with the new water meters that have been installed. But he said no customer was penalized for paying their bills late.

The village administrator said about 54 water customers have been sent letters warning them they will have their water shut off if they fail to arrange for a new meter to be installed in their home within three weeks of the notification.

Many of customers’ current meters are indoors, requiring crews to enter homes to install new meters that will transmit readings to a radio receiver on a water tower.

The new meters are expected to provide more accurate readings while saving the village the cost of manually reading meters.

Kosegi said crews with Fort Steuben Maintenance and Steubenville city personnel working on their own time have been hired to complete the installations, which also include larger meters for local businesses.

Residential customers who haven’t had a new meter installed should set up an appointment by calling (740) 266-3175.

Council’s next regular meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Feb. 20 at the Village Building.