BELPRE — Belpre City officials are in talks with the Washington County Commission on issues involving sewer service and 911 dispatching.
At Monday’s meeting of Belpre City Council, Mayor Mike Lorentz said he, Safety Service Director Connie Hoblitzell and City Law Director Tom Webster met at the end of June with the Washington County Commission to discuss the contract between Belpre and the county regarding sewer service provided by the city to the county in the area north of the city.
Lorentz said he felt it was a productive meeting, but there is more work needed to reach agreement for both sides on several sewer related issues.
The commissioners are suggesting a county-wide 911 system for Washington County. Lorentz said Belpre officials cannot find a reason that this will be a benefit to Belpre, but will continue the discussion and he will keep council up to date.
Councilmember Lyndsay Dennis, chair of council’s Police and Fire Committee, said she accepted an invitation to serve on the county 911 committee to make sure the two systems can work together and maintain lines of communication.
Lorentz said work on the water line on Farson Street should be winding up soon. The sewer line on the west end has just begun and hopefully will complete so as not to interfere with the Washington Boulevard re-paving project.
“Be prepared for traffic delays in this area. Braun to Poplar, Poplar to Putnam Howe and Putnam Howe to Belrock will be the first paving job so to give the sewer line project more time to complete,” he said.
Lorentz said the Mayor’s Partnership sent him a list of possibilities that Belpre could use its Appalachian Community Grant Money for. He told council the administration wants to seek the opinions of councilmembers and will also place the issue on the city’s Facebook page to get community input.
Lorentz said city officials and the Belpre Area Chamber of Commerce has met with a group from one of the large river cruise lines.
“Hopefully we can entice them to make Belpre one of their stops on the Ohio River. Everything so far is a go for Sept. 8 from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. The American Countess will be docked at the Shrine Building. More info to follow as we get all the permissions,” he said.
Lorentz asked council to consider discussing and possibly drafting legislation to require all future utility hook-up requests from outside city limits agree to annexing inside the city limits. The issue was assigned to Councilmember Alan Milhone, chair of the Utilities Committee, for further study. Milhone scheduled a committee meeting for 7 p.m. Aug. 8 to begin discussions.
Two committee meetings were scheduled. The Finance/Audit Committee will meet at 7 p.m. July 25 to continue discussion which began at Monday’s committee meeting prior to the council meeting. The meeting involved a donation request for $5,000 for Discovery World on Market, a children’s museum and learning center scheduled to open this fall in downtown Parkersburg. Additional information was requested and Committee Chair Dave Ferguson hopes to invited a Discovery World representative to the next committee meeting to answer questions.
Wayne Towner can be reached at wtowner@newsandsentinel.com
Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox
