STEUBENVILLE — City officials were updated Tuesday about plans for an inclusive park at Jim Wood Park.

The project, a partnership between the city and the Jefferson County Board of Developmental Disabilities, seeks to develop a play site that can be used by children of all ages and abilities.

Sponsors are working with Unlimited Play of St. Peters, Mo., to plan and seek funding for the park, to be paid for with donations.

Second Ward Councilman Tracy McManamon said they’ve received “a lot of comments and input from the public and, especially, our partners at developmental disabilities, their board and parents.”

McManamon said former Mayor Jerry Barilla and City Manager Jim Mavromatis joined him for a trip to Columbus to “raise awareness” for a few major projects “that we need help with financially.” He said they met with a variety of state officials, including state Sen. Brian Chavez, R-Marietta, “and a group of about 30 different key players in economic development and other facets of our state government.”

“Subsequently, we were going in to say hello to the governor and he invited us into his personal conference room, (where we) spent close to an hour discussing the needs that we have at Steubenville and the help that we need from our partners in state government, all the way up to the governor’s office,” McManamon said. “As we were discussing these projects the governor … reached over and pointed to the inclusive playground and said, ‘I want this project to be your No. 1 priority.”

McManamon said he asked the governor “if we could have his help and support and he agreed to help us.”

“At this point we don’t plan on requesting any city funds,” McManamon said. “We plan to rely on corporate foundation and private donations to help fund this very important project for these very important people.”

McManamon said the playground will be designed to be “totally inclusive and cover all spectrums of disability and for all ages.”

“Our consultants have told us this playground will draw people from as far away as 40 miles who just want to come to this playground,” he said, adding fund raising will begin “very soon.” He said they also plan to approach contractors, building supply partners and trades unions to help.

“We have engaged a very dedicated committee, including our school systems, Franciscan University of Steubenville, major employers (and other) dedicated and invested individuals (to help us),” he said, “and we’ll begin our marketing campaign in the next month or two.”

He said the response from within the community “has been overwhelming,” adding that “many people in our community have been touched or impacted by someone with a disability and this park will be for these special individuals, their family and friends.”

McManamon said city and county leaders are working together to move the project forward, saying it’s been “truly a collaborative effort and showing how our city and county can work together.”

Meanwhile, City Manager Jim Mavromatis told council it looks like at least $622,000 will carry over to the 2026 budget.

“We go through this every year,” he said. “We set the budget every year, and this has gone (at) least of the 10 years I’ve been here. We’ve been blessed at the end of the year after what I call ‘scrubbing all of our books’ and basically, what we’re doing is pulling all money that was not spent last year in whatever account.”

Mavromatis said he has a couple of outstanding projects in mind that the funding could help, but ultimately it will be up to council to decide how the money is used.

“We know we have (a certain) amount of money,” he added. “It doesn’t mean we have to spend it all.”

In other matters:

• Second readings were given of ordinances rezoning 10 parcels owned by Franciscan University of Steubenville from I-1 (general commercial and industrial) to P (public and semi-public) as well as the 20226 Community Development Block Grant Street Improvement Program.

• Heard first readings of ordinances authorizing the city manager to seek bids for Phase 10 of the city’s street sign replacement project as well as the 2026 downtown alley resurfacing improvements.

• Council also pulled a resolution honoring the university’s men’s rugby team off the table, then voted unanimously to adopt it. McManamon said it will be presented to the school next week.

• Representatives of the Coalition on Housing and Homelessness told council they’re preparing for the Moment in Time headcount of the area’s unhoused population. The census, to be taken Jan. 27-28, will target specific areas of the county chosen by state officials.

“Unfortunately, we don’t get to capture our true homeless number,” one woman said. “We just follow what’s mandated by the state. This is how they tell us to do it, where to look. If we have a high success rate of volunteers, I would definitely suggest that we conduct a count during the summer months as a community, but … the interest level and volunteer participation hasn’t been very high. So, if that’s something we can encourage and conduct, then by all means, as a coalition we would be happy.”

A training session is scheduled for today from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Community Action Council.