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STEUBENVILLE -- The Jefferson County Port Authority discussed several ongoing projects at its monthly meeting Wednesday, the several of them are making positive progress.
Addressing the board of directors, participating both in person inside the Brooke-Hancock-Jefferson Metropolitan Planning Commission Conference Room and by video conference, Executive Director Robert Naylor detailed the status of the ongoing work with Bully Tools' expansion and JSW Steel's bonds among other topics.
According to Naylor, documents for the Bully Tools expansion project are "ready for finalization and execution."
"That will be accomplished, hopefully, to have the final documents for approval and ratification at the next board meeting," Naylor said.
The project, a 60,000 square foot expansion to the company's operation in the Jefferson County Industrial Park, was formally announced by the company in January and has been in the works with county officials for several months. The company's announcement said it is a $6.7 million investment that will create 30 jobs. Also continuing to make progress is JSW Steel. In December, the port authority passed a reimbursement resolution to be a conduit issuer of $41 million in bonds for a project to modernize the Mingo Junction facility's arc furnace and caster line.
Naylor told the board the process to complete the bond issuance is "moving very quickly." He said the New York Mellon Bank was chosen as the trustee and a final working draft of the agreements will come before the board at the next meeting.
"It's moving along quite nicely," Naylor said.
A public hearing will be held on March 10 to meet tax provision requirements prior to the March meeting of the port authority, which the board moved to that date from March 17 to accommodate the hearing for the JSW Steel process.
The hearing and meeting will again be in the BHJ conference room. Naylor said more details about the hearing will be advertised on Monday or Tuesday.
Another project that had been in the works for some time, the transfer of land on North Fifth Street to Habitat for Humanity for the building of two homes, Naylor said the deeds had been transferred.
"Ground should be broken (soon)," Naylor said.
A previously discussed project in Adena was also said to be moving forward with a due diligence period extended and Naylor told the board he went before the Jefferson County Commissioners two weeks ago and they approved the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to begin work on the 26 acre piece of land in the industrial park that has been mitigated from a wetland for future development. He said he is going to have discussions with the school superintendents in the county about using it as a potential education tool.
"I want to present this option for an educational learning experience to them," he said, noting it could be a good opportunity to inform the future workforce about potential vocational careers.
Naylor told the board he had a business retention and expansion meeting with Tidewater Logistics in Steubenville about a potential future project in its early stages and called the company a "premier employer in our area."
Mike Gill, who was appointed to the board by the Jefferson County Commissioners appointed to the board last month, participated in his first meeting.
The aforementioned March meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. on March 10 on the second floor of 124 N. Fourth Street.