STEUBENVILLE — Mayor Ralph Petrella made it clear Tuesday he won’t hesitate to step in to maintain order on council floor.

During Tuesday’s meeting, his first as presiding officer, Petrella struck his gavel off his desktop twice in quick succession to get control of what was turning into a tense back-and-forth between Council members Royal Mayo and Tracy McManamon.

McManamon had reminded council of an upcoming meeting with their grant-writing consultant and the regional director of Ohio Mid-eastern Governmental Association, prompting Mayo to question how they could give the consultants direction when they hadn’t reached a consensus among themselves on what kinds of projects they should pursue funding for.

“I’m saying we should talk about it here and not just contact these people, looking for grants,” Mayo said, “and … they’re just willy nilly all over the place looking for grant money (and) we then have to (provide) some (matching) money and then the majority of this body doesn’t want that project at the top of the list.

Over the past three years Mayo has repeatedly chided council for not earmarking funding for projects and activities in the North End neighborhood that would increase the likelihood of their being picked by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development to receive tens of millions of dollars through the Neighborhood Choice grant program.

Steubenville was one of a handful of communities awarded funds to devise a redevelopment strategy for an economically challenged sector of its population. The future of that program has been clouded, however, in the wake of federal budget cuts earlier in the year.

“We need to come together as a group and determine what we want, before we start asking these outside agencies to apply for grants for us,” Mayo said, pointing out if city council, city administrators and “It’s not ‘Just what I want or what they want or what (other councilmembers) want and we’re just doing our own thing. That’s just my thought.”

McManamon, though, said there’s nothing nefarious about him calling the committee meeting so they can talk with the consultants directly, telling Mayo he doesn’t decide what they can/cannot do, nor do they report to him.

“Let’s move beyond this silly playground stuff,” McManamon added. “The reason I scheduled this meeting is I want to hear what (the city’s Aspire consultant) wants to do, I want to hear what everyone wants to do, and they want to hear (from us) … We’re coming together to have a conversation, that’s all. It’s a conversation with those two people. If you don’t want to get involved in the conversation, then don’t show up.

Councilwoman Heather Hoover agreed, telling Mayo she hopes “all of us are coming with community-based projects and not personal projects, but I think that they need to be actively looking for grants.”

She also pointed out Aspire is a paid consultant, and as such it doesn’t matter whether she’s asked to write three grant applications or three hundred, adding she’d like to see the focus on “projects to help the city move forward as a whole” rather than “pet projects” keying on one particular ward or neighborhood. Topping her list, she said, would be “transportation projects and improving our walkways” as well as a walking trail connector through Alikanna via Belleview Park.

“I think (those) benefit the entire city, they don’t benefit myself and they don’t benefit only my ward,” Hoover said.

Councilman at large Joel Walker agreed, saying it’s “what the city needs, not what we want.”

“And if we don’t have the money (for a local match), then it’s a moot point,” he added. “It’s no use arguing over it. If they need a million dollars as a match and we don’t have the million dollars, we’re not going to move forward with anything.”