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STEUBENVILLE -- With the announcement that boil orders ended for all of downtown and University Boulevard with the exception of five homes in the extreme South End, City Council delved into issues of communications with residents during emergencies and snow removal issues Tuesday evening.
City Manager Jim Mavromatis said the tests on water samples were returned clear, so the boil order was lifted as of 5 p.m. Tuesday. He said a new 2-inch line is being run to the new Pilot truck stop off state Route 7 in the South End and a 100-year-old valve on a 20-inch main was replaced. City Water and Sewer Superintendent Chuck Murphy said the new line will give Pilot service while allowing the city to shut off the new 20-inch valve and a 12-inch valve on Bates Street to isolate the 20-inch main. He said that should slow the 200-gallon per minute water flow heading into downtown and ease the need for ongoing conservation.
He said a leak-finding expert on loan from Aqua Ohio, on recommendation of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency director, is working in the South End today to look for leaks. Traffic will be stopped intermittently on Lincoln Avenue beginning at 9 a.m. until about noon to allow use of sonic equipment without noise from vehicles in the leak-finding effort.
Snow removal issues arose as about 8 inches fell on the city while water crews were looking for major leaks, taking potential plow drivers out of rotation last week.
City street Superintendent Bob Baird explained the city has a dozen trucks as its standard snow removal complement, but only six drivers permanently assigned to the street department. Other drivers are called in from other departments, including the water and sewer department, but they were unavailable.
"Under the circumstances, all employees we normally looked to to assist or do a shift with us were off the table because water was in its own 24-hour-a-day situation," he said. Baird said the pattern is to work on main and emergency routes first, then go into neighborhoods, working on hills and intersections. He said the city has not used salt on flat secondary streets since about 2010. He said with more vehicles parked on the streets nowadays, it's difficult to plow in some areas as accumulations increase.
The city has an emergency snow ordinance on the books to require residents to put cars in driveways or keep them off the streets, noted 2nd Ward Councilman Craig Petrella, but 1st Ward Councilman Gerald "Yonk" DiLoreto said enforcement of the ordinance resulted in "chaos" with tickets being thrown out of court.
Petrella asked Baird about pre-treating streets like state road crews do, but Baird said that would take money for equipment. Under questioning from 6th Ward Councilman Bob Villamagna, Baird said there are four positions in his department that are on the books but not budgeted to be filled this year, as well as one vacancy he plans on filling.
"The bottom line is we cannot please everybody, but we do the best we can," Mavromatis said. "This particular date and time was a perfect storm. The water was out downtown, the snow came in, (Baird) clearly relies on drivers from Mr. Murphy's shop but he couldn't because they were out on water leaks."
Councilwoman at large Kimberly Hahn said the water issues highlighted a communication issue that needs to be worked out. She noted the county 911 system was able to place calls to residences with land lines but cell phone information is not provided for reverse 911 calls. She said school systems use closed-loop systems or systems that cost up-front money. She said Robert Herrington, Jefferson County 911 director, said the 911 system made 14,000 calls to city residents about the boil order in four minutes, but those with only cell phones cannot be contacted. Herrington wants to work with the city to put a cell-phone sign-up section on the city's website, which prompted Hahn to ask council to consider having a full-time information technology person work for the city, to improve the website and other issues.
Fire Chief Carlo Capaldi said it will be up to people with cell phones to cooperate when the sign-up is in place. Phone companies will not release cell phone numbers and addresses to the emergency response systems.
"No system is perfect, but the more we have, the more people we can reach. Every time we add something, we reach more people," Capaldi said.
In other matters:
• Mayor Jerry Barilla used his tie-breaking vote for the first time in his term, casting a vote to table an ordinance to repeal the registration requirement for citizens to address council. Villamagna asked the measure be tabled until June to give it time to work, and council voted 3-3, with Petrella, 3rd Ward Councilman Eric Timmons and Hahn voting against tabling the measure. Fourth Ward Councilman Scott Dressel was excused from the meeting. Barilla said seven cities in the area have sign-in requirements for people wishing to speak to their councils.
"I felt we needed to give it a chance to see if it would work, and if it does not, we have the opportunity to bring it back and have it resolved," he said.
• A public hearing will be held by the city planning commission on March 5 with council to vote March 6 on creating the Belleview Boulevard Neighborhood Conservation District. LaBelle View resident Ed Palombizio addressed council, saying the concentration of neighborhood conservation districts, which restrict rentals, grew from one neighborhood with an issue to where a large percentage of the city is under the restrictions.
"Do you realize what it does to your lack of a rental market, and to getting people to move into the city who want to rent? Who will shop in the stores? They will move to Weirton and you will lose business from the city. This program is not business friendly," he said. Villamagna told Palombizio he will be able to address the planning commission during the hearing in March. Palombizio submitted a request for various records as part of his discussion.
(Giannamore may be reached at pgiannamore@heraldstaronline.com. Follow him on Twitter @Pablomg228.)