STEUBENVILLE — Jefferson County Commissioners were told Thursday public interest in their Hellbender Preserve and Trail remains strong, with visitors from out-of-state changing their driving plans so they can check out the historical site.

Soil and Water Conservation District Project Manager Aaron Dodds said that after 600 people were shuttled to the site on opening day Saturday, a neighbor monitoring visits to the property reported another 800 guests on Sunday.

“And within a four-hour window while staff was on site Monday, we counted 143 visitors and during a two-hour window Tuesday, 112 visitors,” he said.

“We had a couple from South Carolina, they were visiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland and saw it on the Rails to Trails social media decided to make the drive – they were going to eat at Pastaio and stay at Franciscan Square,” he said. “An Illinois family was driving home when they saw it on the Rails to Trail Conservancy site and detoured here to come and see it. We’ve had people drive up from Cambridge and down from Canton, too.”

Dodds said he also received a handwritten note from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine expressing his regret at not being able to attend opening day festivities, “(but) I do plan to come to visit in the future and to ‘walk in the footsteps of Lincoln.”

Lincoln was en route to his inauguration when he was forced to exit his train and walk across the original wooden bridge over the creek, almost falling to his death when he lost his footing on the wet wood.

The site also includes the names of the men who helped build the train tunnel and lay the railroad tracks through the property carved into the rock wall. Dodds said additional names and initials have been located on site.

“We had about two months of work out there, at a total cost of $63,480, to go from nothing to what you saw Saturday,” Dodds said. “We have three ore reserves to get up and running.”

Commissioner Tony Morelli said public interest was even more than he expected.

“I’m not really surprised, I believe our people are starving for this type of thing,” he said. “It’s quality of life. We appreciate everything Soil and Water did. It makes the future really interesting. We want to keep moving it forward.”

Morelli also commended the Soil and Water staff and volunteers, saying, “I know you worked some nights till 11 out there. There was quite a group still hustling Friday. Mark Nelson should be mentioned, too, (for his efforts).”

“You never think you’re going to see something like that in Jefferson County,” Commissioner Eric Timmons agreed. “And it didn’t take long…just some tenacity to get the job done. I recommend it to everybody to get out there — it’s awesome we have that in Jefferson County.”

After signing a contract with Johnson Controls, Cleveland, commissioners were told their long-awaited water meter replacement project can begin as soon as Ohio Water Development Authority funding is made available.

Water District Director Mike Eroshevich said the OWDA application has been submitted “and we should have an answer by the end of the month.”

Johnson’s Chris Downs told commissioners describing it strictly as a meter replacement project would be a mistake since, in addition to replacing 8,200 “20-, 30- and 40-year-old meters with new, state-of-the art devices with a 20 year guarantee,” the project also includes a “satellite image flyover” that will identify water leaks and breaks currently going undetected, saving the county money, as well as an app allowing customers to monitor their usage on an hourly basis if they so choose. Staff also will be able to do remote disconnects/reconnects and also see “what’s going on with the system … theft, tampering, leaks, strange (activity) way out of line …they can flag those things and be much more proactive.”

Commissioner Jake Kleineke pointed out the existing meters are so outdated they “can’t be replaced and they can’t be repaired.”

“And in projects like this, even as expensive as it is, it’s not going to get any less (costly) if we wait,” Kleineke said.

“It’s an $8.7 million project; however, we’re expecting to save $13.5 million,” Morelli added. “I want that to be clear.”

Commissioners also agreed to temporarily pay an extra $1 per thousand gallons of water purchased from the village of Mingo Junction — going from $2.50 per thousand gallons to $3.50 – while a new contract is negotiated.

“I think everybody knows they’ve had some issues there with finances, so they’re going to be hurting,” Eroshevich told commissioners. “What we’ve done in the past is to go ahead and approve it until the negotiations are finalized.”

Timmons was concerned the extra $1 “still seems like a very high percentage,” but Morelli pointed out they “certainly don’t want to buy from someone not in our county.”

Commissioners were updated on recent problems at their Cherry Avenue property, the old armory.

Maintenance Supervisor Patrick Boyles said individuals broke into the building Saturday night, staying long enough to empty a couple fire extinguishers, add graffiti to the décor and break a window.

“They were in and out pretty fast,” Boyles said. “Minimal destruction…they weren’t in there very long, once they heard the alarm.”

He said city police asked him to post no trespassing signs on the property, which he did. Additional patrols also were requested.

“We went there to cut the grass and found articles of clothing…coats and shirts, just garbage everywhere,” Boyles said, adding people also are painting graffiti in the parking lot.

Commissioners also awarded the contract for the county’s new phone system to Full Service Network, Pittsburgh, for just under $220,538. The old system was outdated and prone to outages, disrupting departmental operations — particularly at the Juvenile Detention Center, which relies on having a working phone system so its contractual partners could reach them when needed to make arrangements for housing youthful offenders there

FSN was “the lowest and best bidder,” Auditor E.J. Conn said. Conn headed the committee tasked with researching systems, reviewing bids and making a recommendation.

“We are excited to be moving to a modern phone system that allows for more efficient use and portability,” he said after the meeting. “Even with (updating) the phone system and increasing the number of departments covered under the county system we are maintaining a cost very close to what we are currently paying. We feel this is a good deal for the taxpayers of Jefferson County.”

Timmons said the change will bring “considerable savings, and the technology we’re getting will bring us (up to date),” adding that, price-wise, the other companies bidding for the contract “couldn’t compare.”

“When we’re looking at something like that, we take the fact that it’s taxpayers’ money (very seriously),” he added.