DISCUSSION — Patrick Boyles, maintenance director, details issues with the Jefferson County Justice Center during Thursday’s meeting of the Jefferson County commissioners. -- Linda Harris

STEUBENVILLE — Saying they had grown tired of waiting for a prospective buyer to move forward with the purchase of the old Cherry Avenue armory property, the Jefferson County commissioners Thursday decided to convey the site to the Jefferson County Port Authority, contingent on them securing grant funding to remediate and ultimately demolish the existing structure.

Earlier, commissioners had learned they’ll have to find hundreds of thousands of dollars — anywhere from $350,000 to $500,000, based on current estimates — to shore up and repair failing brickwork at the Jefferson County Justice Center, a building county officials have considered a financial boondoggle from the day it opened three decades ago. Maintenance Director Patrick Boyles, though, said they could lessen the fiscal pain by doing the repairs in stages, beginning with the most serious problem areas.

Boyles said the repairs needed are extensive: Angelina Stone and Marble, the county’s current contractor, reports the sealant on the vertical and horizontal expansion joints is failing. The company also found vertical cracking to nearly all of the bricks at the corner of the building, brickwork on three outside corners at the top of the building that “has moved and needs to be rebuilt,” two sections of parapet walls “that are bulging and need to be removed and re-laid” and columns at the alcove area with vertical cracking.

“Most of the issues are being caused by the settlement and the freeze-thaw effect,” Boyles said after the meeting. “Cracks occurring from settlement and then water entering the opening, freezing and causing deterioration of the brick. There are also issues with the parapet walls bulging due to not being tied into the building correctly during construction.”

Boyles showed commissioners photographs of the problem areas — directing their attention to the alcove at the front of the building, where brickwork on the corners and pillars is literally crumbling. He said the main challenge during the repair process will be “safety and access,” since exterior areas will need to be blocked off for long periods while crews do the repairs.

“I’d take care of those pillars first and the corners that are failing (and) there’s some parapet walls that are failing that need to be done,” he said. “Of course those are the most important (areas), then we can move on to bricks that are cracked.”

Morelli suggested finding out exactly what their contractor recommends, “but we’re not going to do it all at one time.”

The decision to convey the Cherry Avenue property to the port authority, meanwhile, followed a brief, closed-door meeting with port authority Executive Director Robert Naylor. If all goes as hoped, it could bring the more than two-year long effort to package the property for resale and get it off the county’s balance sheet to a close.

Originally constructed as a post-World War II training center, the property, including a massive building, was deeded to the county when it was no longer needed by the military. Once in the county’s fold it was the home of the old Jeffco Workshop, but the building has been empty since the Board of Developmental Disabilities moved that operation to a John Scott Highway site in mid-2020.

Morelli admitted he was frustrated that they’d spent the past eight months waiting for a local buyer to complete due diligence based on assurances that an architect and contractor had already been lined up to oversee renovations.

“We had a local parish that was very interested in it, we had multiple meetings,” Commissioner Tony Morelli said after the meeting. “The last time we spoke, (we were told) they had a contractor, they’d hired an architect. We gave them a deadline but they never called back, so I called them again and gave them another date and they (still) didn’t get back to us.”

The decision to convey the property to the port authority for the hoped-for remediation makes a lot of sense, he said. If the brownfield funding comes through, the structure would be cleared of asbestos and then razed to make way for development.

Morelli said there’s a “new type of grant” in Ohio “used mostly for land banks tearing stuff down.”

“But now, with those sites, they’ll give money to build homes on, but with a lot of stipulations,” he said. “If we get that far, that’s what the port authority and the land bank (have in mind.)”

Interstate Waste Service’s Dave Cieply asked commissioners to consider submitting a letter of support for the landfill’s application for Consolidated Rail Infrastructure Grant money. He said the grant, if they get it, would provide additional on-site storage, so there’d be less need to store rail cars off site in Mingo Junction.

He said the grant money could also be used to pave the intermodal loading and unloading area and modernize the gondola building, as well as to acquire Buy America-compliant heavy equipment and secure associated design and engineering services, all to “help improve freight logistics and strengthen multimodal transportation options in the region.”

Cieply told commissioners the project “represents an important investment in regional rail infrastructure that will enhance operational safety, efficiency and connectivity across Jefferson County and eastern Ohio.”

“We’re not asking for funding, we’re just asking for support letters,” Cieply said Thursday. “It would allow us to show we have industries, commissioners’ support.”

Commissioners said they will take time to review the ISW-provided information packet before making a decision.

Also Thursday, commissioners:

• Signed off on a new contract with the Communications Workers of America for employees at the animal shelter. The new pact, which expires Dec. 31, 2008, addresses wages and adjusts longevity pay. Union members have already ratified the agreement, commissioners said.

“I think it’s a good contract for everybody,” said Commissioner Eric Timmons, who helped negotiate the agreement.

• Agreed to purchase a new fire panel for the justice center for a little more than $57,000. Boyles said it will replace the existing panel, installed when the building was built in the mid-1990s. He said they’ve been “having some issues with it” and could change the card for substantially less — around $6,000 — but it would still be an antiquated model no longer in production. He said it was already outdated when it was installed.

• Agreed to advertise for a grant writer, a position created after months of consideration to help department heads apply for funding for eligible projects. Commissioners said they’ll also make the grant writer’s services available to township officials and other communities for a small fee.