Wintersville plans paving project and continues water pump house work
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WINTERSVILLE -- A late-season paving project, a possible loan for a water connection and a request to purchase a metal detector were among several items approved during Friday’s Village Council meeting.
Council members approved a bid of $362,937 from NLS Paving of St. Clairsville to resurface Garden Drive and Meadow Road. Mayor Mike Petrella said the decision to seek the bid so late in the year was made after he and Village Administrator Jesse Kosegi had worked to ensure the paving and water line replacement schedules matched up.
Three companies bid on the project, with Jim Davis Enterprises submitting a bid of $399,860 and Barbacis Construction of Akron submitting a bid of $432,866.50. The engineer’s estimate was $344,605.
All of the contractors had been told in advance the work had to be completed before Dec. 31. If it can’t be, the project will be rebid with the expected completion set for April or early May.
“We all know that the weather is changing this time of year,” Petrella said. “All three of the companies that submitted bids told us they could do it, depending on the weather. I don’t want to promise the citizens this is going to be done this year. I cannot control the weather, and neither can the paving companies.”
After Council President Randy Spence questioned whether asphalt would be available so late in the year, Petrella explained the companies submitting bids already had spoken with the region’s asphalt plants.
“They know it is a significant amount of asphalt, so they adjusted their prices because the plants normally close down around Thanksgiving and they switch to cold mix. We have spoken with everyone, and they told us they had talked with the plants, and if they were to win the bid, the plants would try to stay open to be able to make it happen, depending on the weather,” he said.
Council also OK’d an ordinance which allows Petrella to enter into a water supply revolving loan agreement as work on the reestablishment of a water connection between the village and Steubenville gets started.
Work at the pump house at the edge of the Chase Bank property on Main Street began several years ago. The village and Steubenville secured $868,000 in a principal forgiveness loan and a $242,000 Governor’s Office of Appalachia grant to improve the facility, which has not been used since the village began buying water from Jefferson County. The connection will provide a way for Wintersville and Steubenville to supply water to each other in the event of an emergency in either community.
The upgrade will include new valves, new monitoring equipment and a new building. The communities are splitting the costs of the project.
Depending on the final cost, that loan might not be needed, Kosegi said.
Work on the project has been dormant, Kosegi said, because of issues with personnel changes after the village’s engineering consultant, W.E. Quicksall and Associates of New Philadelphia was purchased by the Spicer Group in January.
Once the work gets started, it’s expected to take about nine months to complete, Kosegi said, adding they hope to have it finished by next fall.
Council also approved a request from Petrella for $8,000 to purchase and install a metal detector at the entrance to council chambers. About $5,000 will come from the general fund for buildings and other structures, $2,000 will come fund the police funds and $1,000 will come from magistrate court funds. The unit chosen by Petrella and Police Chief Lou Vandeborne will include a wand.
“In this area, we always say it’s not going to happen here because we’re small-town America, so I prefer to be prepared for the unexpected,” Petrella said after the meeting. “I tell our police officers to prepare for things that we say aren’t going to happen here. Same with this. It’s just a time and a place where we have to be safe,” Petrella said after the meeting.
Petrella also told council that the law firm that handles the village’s oil and gas rights had renegotiated a lease with Ascent Energy and Purple Land Management. The agreement will bring in $6,795 per acre for what is now 58.95 acres, for a total of $397,912.50. With 9.5% taken for the legal fee, the village is left with about $360,000, 25% of which -- about $90,000 -- will go into the perpetual fund.
The mayor reported the first 30-day yield for that fund came in at 4%.
Also during the meeting:
• Petrella remembered Joe Cucarese, a longtime village resident who died Oct. 29 at the age of 87. Councilman Jason Mattern remembered the work Cucarese did with youth baseball in the village in the early 1980s, helping to direct the players down a good moral path.
• Petrella said he had received a text thanking the police department and Officer Hannah Easterday for her work on a potential fraud case involving an elderly village resident.
• Council learned that the Environmental Protection Agency was set to sign off on the Cadiz Road project no later the Dec. 17. Once that happens, the village will receive paperwork to sign by Jan. 1. Once signed, a preconstruction meeting will be held, with construction starting shortly after that. Plans call for the project to be completed in nine months.
• Council learned that the village’s marijuana tax money for September was $68,312.82.
• A reminder was issued on village offices being closed Wednesday for Veterans Day, however the sanitation department would work on its normal schedule.
• Kosegi thanked the Jefferson County Water and Sewer Department for its help with a village project.
• Village residents were reminded the final leaf pickup will be Monday for residents whose trash is collected on Thursdays or Fridays. All residents were reminded anyone in the village who still has leaves on the ground should rake them to the curb by Monday and they will be collected.
• It was announced the Wintersville Christmas Parade will be held at 4 p.m. Dec. 6. Anyone who wants to participate is asked to contact the village building.
• Petrella issued a reminder on judging for the annual village light-up contest being held Dec. 12-13, with the winners to be announced at the Dec. 17 council meeting.
• Kosegi reported three candidates have been interviewed for the fiscal officer’s position, which has been vacant since the Oct. 9 resignation of Trish Proffitt.
Council’s next meeting has been tentatively set for 7 p.m. Nov. 18, Petrella said.