MEETING — Jefferson County Commissioners say Georges Run residents will have to pay the same monthly sewer fee other county customers have been paying for more than a decade or their water service will be shut off. -- Linda Harris

STEUBENVILLE — Much as they want to be able to help, Jefferson County Commissioners made it clear Thursday that they can’t take on the failing Warren Township water system unless a healthy financial incentive is built into the deal.

“I think in the past we did this stuff too quick just because OEPA asked us,” Commissioner Tony Morelli said. “I’d love to be able to help Warren Water out and take over, but it just wouldn’t be fair to our other residents.”

Arcadis Engineering Consultant Andrew Dawson said Warren Water “is in rough shape, no money, a failing system.”

“Operators cannot fix it,” he said. “Back in 2023, OEPA asked JCWSD to take it over, like they did in the past with Amsterdam, Smithfield, Bergholz and Irondale. We stayed firm and said we cannot take it over without significant financial support from OEPA.”

Dawson said Warren Township’s sewer system is also in bad shape.

Commissioners also said that, like it or not, Georges Run residents will have to pay the same monthly sewer fee their other customers have to pay — and water service will be shut off to those who don’t.

Georges Run residents have been upset with their new minimum monthly sewer fee, which more than doubled — shooting up to $53.59 per month.

Commissioners, though, point out that their increase was steeper because for the past 11 years they’d been billed less than $23 a month for sewer services while other county customers had been paying a $44.75 monthly minimum bill: When the system was constructed, the commissioners at the time gave them a reduced rate in order to help low- and moderate-income households with the understanding their fee would be normalized once the assessment had been paid. But when the assessment was paid off in 2013, sewer rates in Georges Run never went up.

They said they can’t continue to ask other county customers to carry the burden for Georges Run residents, a significant number of whom aren’t paying their sewer bills.

Kleineke said about 47 percent of their delinquent sewer accounts are in Georges Run. “The problem is, a majority of the people down (there) can’t afford to pay $53 a month,” resident Baci Carpico said. “Theres 160 families down there and some of them are not paying and cannot pay.”

Kleineke said they won’t have a choice soon: While the sewage system is solely the county’s responsibility, the county purchases water for Georges Run customers from the village of Mingo Junction. Up until now the county had no way to bring delinquent customers to heel, but village officials recently agreed to stop to households in arrears.

“I don’t think we need that,” Carpico said.

“That’s why other county residents pay their sewer bills,” Kleineke replied. “If they don’t, their water gets shut off.”

Kleineke told Carpico residents in Georges Run had actually paid about $191,600 into the system from 2022-2025, while the county had spent about $417,000 to repair control panels, pumps and valves — a difference of about $225,400.

“Since 2022, all our other customers have paid $225,000 more than what we’re taking in in Georges Run,” Morelli said.

“When you pay for something, when you buy something new, it doesn’t last forever,” Kleineke said. “The real problem is there’s a sewer rate increase and nobody wants to accept it.”

Carpico suggested they find a way to reduce rates for Georges Run residents, but Dawson pointed out they’d already tried that: He said they’d asked residents to make sure their downspouts weren’t connected to the sewers, but they refused to do it.

He also said replacing aged sewer lines to reduce infiltration would be incredibly expensive.

Commissioners also:

• Were told Facilities Supervisor Patrick Boyles is retiring, effective March 13 after six years on the job.

• Thanked Clerk of Courts Andrew Plesich for tracking down the original 1797 courthouse book, which, beginning Friday, will be on display in the courthouse’s history showcase

• Lauded Franciscan University of Steubenville for its continued investment in the community. FUS “is investing probably another $80 million in residential dorms” on University Boulevard, Morelli said.

“We want to publicly acknowledge them and thank them for investing in our community and our region,” he said.

• Agreed to join Carroll and Harrison counties in seeking the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association’s endorsement of a regional manufacturing industry sector partnership, a workforce development strategy that enables manufacturers within a regional labor market “to work cooperatively to address and develop workforce education, training and development solutions.”

“Manufacturing is one of the larger industry sectors in Jefferson Carroll and Harrison counties with employee compensation ranking near the top of all industry sectors in the tri-county areas,” the petition read. “Despite these rankings, (the three counties) are in a region of Ohio not presently served by an ISP.”

Morelli said it’s “good to see the three counties working together” for the common good.