STEUBENVILLE — The Jefferson County commissioners have added their voices to the Friendship Park board’s plans to apply for Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization funding to grow their campground.

Commissioners agreed to submit a letter of support for the application for about $150,000 to add 30 camp sites at the park.

“It’s a simple project, it’s literally building 30 camp sites,” Friendship Park’s Mindy Nash said. “It’s our biggest source of revenue right now at Friendship Park. It’s our only source of revenue for the park. Currently, with what we have, we keep the doors open, the gates open, the lights on. (We) need to look forward, to add something else there, to bring some more revenue into the area and give the people what they want.”

She said they currently have a wait list for camp sites, “people are calling every week.”

“We’re working on the plan,” the board’s Roger Hilty said. “You probably wouldn’t see anything, shovel ready, until 2027.”

Hilty said upgrades like restrooms are “outrageously expensive” so they’re starting small, with just the camp sites. “This is the first phase of a bigger project to find some revenues (and) be able to use these revenues to work on getting things like restrooms … playgrounds, shower facilities …” that people want.

Commissioners previously agreed to submit letters supporting AMLER funding for Hellbender Preserve, Quaker Ridge Preserve, Piney Fork Preserve, Rush Run Preserve and the Salineville (Morgan’s Raiders) Battlefield proposed by Jefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District.

They also agreed to front the Community Action Council nearly $65,146 of the $173,722 the U.S. Department of Energy demanded be immediately returned. The funds were part of a $6 million advance to the Corporation for Ohio Appalachian Development for a home weatherization program, and COAD, in turn, had advanced CAC its $174,000 share.

“(DOE) stated that the advance funds were not reasonable to have on hand since this is a multi-year program and the startup period had ended,” Rich Gualtiere of the CAC said, adding the federal agency told COAD to return all $6 million by Sept. 10, prompting COAD to tell CAC to return its share of the advance funds by Sept. 5

Gualtiere told commissioners they’d cobbled together $108,576 for the DOE claw-back but need help coming up with the rest. Gualtiere said they’ll make monthly payments to the county over the next 12 months.

“This request to return start-up funds, mid-grant, is unprecedented,” Gualtiere said. “We were expecting to have the advance funds on hand until 2029. This unexpected request to return a large sum of money within a short period of time has created a financial situation where we have had to tap into our operating budget to return the funds.”

He told commissioners CAC has “multiple grants that we must continue operating in order to serve the ongoing needs of Jefferson County residents.”

Commissioners also:

• Signed off on plans for the county engineer to acquire their eastern outpost garage property. The department had been leasing the property from the Ohio Rail Development Commission for $316.69 a year, with the most recent lease expiring in February. The department originally negotiated a purchase price of $2,000 for the property minus any costs incurred by the county as part of the sale, and after paying for the appraisal ($1,700) and site survey ($3,540) ORDC will transfer the property to the department at no cost.

• Reappointed Ted Kostecki to the Eastern Ohio Correctional Center’s Facility Governing Board. Kostecki, who chairs the board, will serve through Sept. 30, 2028.

• Signed a $1,585,301 contract with Shelly & Sands for the county Road 6 bridge project.