STEUBENVILLE — Jefferson County commissioners are looking into what they can do to address parking issues in the courthouse lot.

Commissioners voiced concern Thursday that members of the general public, particularly those with physical infirmities, have to park and walk because the spaces in the lot behind the courthouse are being filled by employees–especially since the county just spent several hundred thousand dollars expanding, paving and upgrading a parking lot up the street, opposite the Tower building.

“It’s continually coming up,” Commissioner Tony Morelli said. “I don’t want to become a ‘parking natzi’, nor does this board, but we have to come up with a resolution to have some parking spaces for the public.”

Morelli said earlier this week he encountered a woman laboriously making her way up the courthouse steps with a walker.

“She told me, ‘I can walk up the steps but it would be nice if I’d had a parking space (here)’,” he said, adding, “My understanding was that once the parking lot was finished at the Tower building, employees who’d been parking here were supposed to (go there).”

Commissioner Jake Kleineke, contacted later, said that after he left the meeting he watched a couple in a red pickup circling the lot “two or three times” looking for a parking space “but never did find one.”

“It’s not that we’re frustrated, we’re just concerned that everyday folks don’t have access to courthouse parking,” he said. “We’ve got to find a way to ensure citizens have access, a lot of them are disabled and there’s nowhere for them to park.”

Kleineke said a caller had briefed him on the evolution of courthouse parking, telling him how years ago commissioners had budgeted funds for department heads to rent parking spaces for their employees. When the county purchased the Tower building and parking lots across the street, in lieu of budgeting funds for employee parking the commission instead offered employees free parking. The lot behind the courthouse, he said “was built solely for the use of elected officials and the public.”

Compounding the problem, he added, is “agency vehicles” being left in the lot. He said people working at nearby businesses have also taken to parking in the lot across from the Tower building, filling it up.

“The problem we’re having is people come here and there’s nowhere for them to park,” Kleineke said. Before they do anything else he said they’re asking department heads to talk to their staff “to free up some spaces” so the courthouse lot can be used they way it was intended.

“We we’re going to have to come up with a solution of some sort,” he said. “But no matter what we do there, somebody has to enforce it.”

Commissioner Eric Timmons agreed it’s “an issue.”

“I’ve heard from numerous citizens who have said they can’t find parking down here when trying to conduct business,” Timmons said after the meeting. “I’m looking forward to seeing a resolution.”

Morelli said for now they’re asking courthouse employees to park somewhere else, “please don’t park here,” but if that doesn’t work they’re “going to have to come up with some resolution.”

“Obviously it’s not working the way it was set up,” he said. “We have to have spots for the public.”

Commissioners also:

• Received word from Assistant Prosecutor Shawn Blake that it’s within their powers to hire professional and support staff to supplement the Regional Planning employee roster, clearing the way for the county to create and fill a grant writing position.

• Agreed to act as the county Drug Task Force’s subgrantee for a $30,000 grant from the RecoveryOhio 2025 and just under $26,263 from the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant for 2025. Funds from both will be used to cover approved expenses, including equipment purchases and overtime for DTF detectives and the Special Response Team.

• Opened two bids for the Township Road 472 bridge replacement, both of them well above the engineer’s estimate of $772,098. Submitting bids were Ohio-West Virginia Excavating, Powhattan, $913,980, and U.S. Bridge, Cambridge, $1,043,853.

• Approved Memorial Day funding requests from Adena American Legion, Gilbert Koontz Unit, and Mingo Junction American Legion Post 351, both for $500.