STEUBENVILLE — Wastewater Superintendent Chuck Murphy told City Council Tuesday the administration building is deteriorating rapidly.

Murphy showed council photographs of long cracks in the brick walls and in pillars supporting the plant generator, as well as a chunk of mortar that fell from the pillar. The building was constructed in 1956.

“We need to go ahead and get the situation figured out,” he said. “We need a structural engineer to come in and look at everything, do the necessary testing and tell us where we stand and what has to be done, then prioritize it.”

Murphy told council the study would cost around $100,000 and requested emergency authorization, but they had other ideas.

“Testing is going to end up being $97,000,” he said. “I’d like to move this forward as an emergency, if you agree — it’s a safety factor for employees … plus we need to know the situation so we can deal with our finances. This could be a very expensive project.”

Council questioned how long the building had been in that shape, to which Murphy replied it “had been looked at before but it wasn’t as bad as it is now.” He said they’ve never had money to address the problem.

“We’ve been trying to nickel-and-dime it as best we can and live within our means,” he said.

Second Ward Councilman Tracy McManamon pointed out “these cracks didn’t happen overnight, they didn’t happen last week,” while Third Ward Councilwoman Heather Hoover said she preferred to “pause the discussion.”

“I don’t want to push anything through as an emergency right now,” she said.

“All I wanted to do was bring it here and say, ‘Do you want to proceed?’ so you know (what’s going on,” Murphy replied.

City Engineer Mike Dolak reported the news wasn’t good from the contractor that used the ground penetrating radar to see what was happening under the left southbound lane of state Route 7 near the Jefferson County Justice Center. Dolak said they discovered a 15-foot-by-10 foot void that had to be backfilled with about 25 cubic yards of the filler mix.

“I’m glad we found it, that was a pretty big void,” he said, telling council they don’t know yet what caused the problems.

Council, meanwhile, met behind closed doors to discuss the potential hiring of a new chief code official as well as a replacement for the now retired Urban Project Director Chris Petrossi, as well as the search committee that will be tasked with finding a new city manager.

City Manager Jim Mavromatis said the candidate for building code official ticks all the boxes, with skillsets for any and all aspects of the job “and can do everything we need. We got that verified by the state.”

“He has interim certifications now but has two years to test,” Mavromatis said. “He can do everything with building inspection.”

Mavromatis then asked council to table action on hiring Safebuilt to oversee the city’s building permits.

To avoid backlogs in the permitting process, Mavromatis last week had requested emergency legislation positioning Safebuilt to provide “umbrella” coverage for the city. With the potential hiring — and after learning Safebuilt couldn’t send anyone to Steubenville to be on site — he recommended they table the legislation, saying if all goes as expected the company’s services wouldn’t be needed. Several council members questioned why they shouldn’t pass the legislation anyway so that the “umbrella” Mavromatis originally referred to would be available while the new hire acclimates to the job, particularly since there would be no retainer required and Safebuilt would be paid hourly.

But, after lengthy discussion, council deadlocked 3-3 with Hoover, Fourth Ward Councilman Royal Mayor and Councilman at large Joel Walker voting to table, and First Ward Councilmen Dave Albaugh, McManamon and Fifth Ward Councilman Ted Gorman voting to enter into the professional services agreement, with Mayor Jerry Barilla casting the deciding vote in favor of tabling it.

“If it doesn’t cost us any money, I don’t see where it hurts us,” Albaugh said.

Flora VerStraten-Merrin reported on progress made over the past six years at historic Beatty Park, both in terms of cleaning up and blazing trails as well as developing kid-friendly displays. She also advised the Beatty Park Bridge update has been nominated for the State Historic Preservation Office award, recognizing achievements in historic preservation.

Strong Towns Steubenville’s Jacob Hyman proposed building a memorial arch — a nod to the arches built to celebrate the city’s centennial back in 1897.

“It would be built locally with local hardwoods,” he said, with a goal of being a centerpiece of Steubenville’s America-250 celebration.

“It’s just an idea,” he said. “If we’re going to pursue this and put time into it, we have this vision” of decorating it with hand-painted cameos depicting Steubenville’s history to “commemorate the past and celebrate the future.”

Retiring Visitor and Convention Center Director Judy Bratten delivered her final annual report to council. Bratten, who is retiring in April, said their mission remains “to attract visitors who will stay at our hotels, eat in our restaurants, visit our shops and attend our events.”

Bratten reminded council the Visitor Center depends on bed tax revenues, but that revenue stream has been affected by the rise of bed-and-breakfasts and the fact that only two hotels remain in Steubenville.

Council also sunshined a resolution honoring three Steubenville High School wrestlers who placed at the state championships.