STEUBENVILLE — City Council approved several ordinances Tuesday, honored a local high school athlete and heard from two citizens.
City Manager Bruce Williams can begin to advertise for bids for the Sunset Boulevard and John Scott Highway intersection safety upgrade project.
City Engineer Michael Dolak said the project will include “resurfacing the lanes approaching the intersection, additional signage and lights to warn motorists of the intersection. We will also install thermal plastic lane markers at the intersection.”
Dolak said the project will be funded by 90 percent in federal dollars and the remaining 10 percent in local money.
Other legislation approved by council Tuesday included the proposed sale of a city-owned lot at the corner of North and North Fourth streets.
The owner of the building gave the lot to the city last year in exchange for the city paying to have a contractor demolish the building.
The demolition contractor covered the lot with gravel and city officials now are interested in selling the property.
Council also formally accepted ownership of 1.80 acres of property on Spencer Avenue from Linda Jean Gretchen, Rose Marie Zelinski and Ronald Joseph Jancura.
According to Urban Projects Director Chris Petrossi, the property is a wooded area in the city’s South End.
The city will advertise for demolition bids after approving additional properties to be torn down.
Those structures are located at 924 Sherman Ave. and 307 and 309 S. Fourth St.
A second reading was heard for a rezoning ordinance that will allow Lamar Advertising of Wheeling to remove two standard existing billboards on state Route 7 near the Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. entrance and replace them with one electronic billboard.
The ordinance will rezone the property from a high density residential area to a heavy industrial district.
The third and final reading of the ordinance is set for June 10.
Also, council approved a resolution of commendation for Steubenville High School senior DeTroy Smith for his achievements in high school basketball this past season.
Smith was one of the top 10 scorers in Big Red basketball history and was named to the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference basketball team as a player and team captain.
The resolution was delayed from earlier this year because Smith has been busy this spring as a member of the Big Red track team.
Under administrative reports, Williams announced he will award the contracts for the latest round of demolition bids for 15 structures in the city.
RSV Inc. of Steubenville was the apparent low bidder on nine of the 16 bids. Seven contractors participated in the latest demolition bid process.
In other matters, Paul Terpenning of Bloomingdale provided council with an explanation as to why he erected an Indian Creek “Best Schools” signs on Sunset Boulevard across from Jefferson Community College.
The president of the Friends of Indian Creek Schools said he first checked with the utility companies and then “received permission from Laura Meeks, president of JCC and Jim Morgan, a vice president of the college, to put up the 3-by-5-foot sign.”
The sign was removed the next day by city employees after the urban projects office made a determination it was illegally placed in the city right of way.
“I don’t want to get into a tiff with Steubenville City Schools. I believe visitors to the community would be impressed by the fact there are two ‘Best Schools’ districts in the city. We should be proud that both Steubenville schools and Indian Creek schools have been declared best schools by the state of Ohio,” said Terpenning.
“The 6th Ward is part of our school district and in fact has the third highest number of voters of any of our areas in the Indian Creek school district,” said Terpenning.
“However I will take no further action on this issue at this time,” concluded Terpenning.
Council also heard from city resident Nathaniel Richmond, who expressed concern about the recent shooting of an alleged shoplifter by a City Police officer.
Michael Chapman of Steubenville was shot in the shoulder by a city policeman, who had responded to a shoplifting report at the Hollywood Center Kroger.
Chapman fled into Union Cemetery where the shooting occurred. He was hospitalized in a Pittsburgh hospital and has since been jailed in the Jefferson County Justice Center facing a robbery charge.
“I ask that the investigation into the shooting be just and equal. A lot of people in the community don’t agree with what happened but they don’t know what happened because the shooting is still under investigation,” Richmond stated.
In other business:
¯ Third Ward Councilman Greg Metcalf commended the urban projects office for its recent work enforcing the property maintenance code and hosting a landlords’ workshop.
“The landlords I talked to after the workshop were very pleased, and I hope next year we can have a similar program to provide more education to landlords and tenants,” Metcalf said.
¯ Fifth Ward Councilman Albert Stasiulewicz commended Fraternal Order of Police Chaplain Shawn Scott and FOP President James Marquis, “and all of our police force for the ’50s concert” sponsored by the organization.
“These people put a lot of time and effort into an event from which a lot of good comes out. The money earned from it is all donated to local charities,” explained Stasiulewicz.
¯ Councilman at large Eddie Joe Chanoski asked Recreation Director Dwan Johnson to have the lights at Field 4 at Belleview Park, “fixed by Monday for the Little League games.”
“Little League opening day is Saturday and the 7 p.m. games will run into dusk. This is our best Little League field and the league president is asking for the lights to be in working condition,” Chanoski said.
¯ Chanoski also urged area residents to attend the Valley Gospel Fest ’08 scheduled May 10 at the Louis and Sandra Berkman Amphitheater from noon to 7 p.m.
“This is a pretty amazing concert that will feature a three-time Grammy Award winner, the Martin Luther King Jr. Choir and other groups. And it is a collaborative effort involving 10 or 15 area churches putting this all together. And Trinity Health System is also collaborating by offering free blood pressure screenings,” Chanoski noted.
(Gossett can be contacted at dgossett@heraldstaronline.com.)
