Hoi Wah, fiscal officer, Wellsville, pins her son’s new badge on him after he was sworn in from a part-time to full-time police officer with the Wellsville Police Department. (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)

WELLSVILLE — Wellsville Village Council has promoted an officer within the police department following a recent resignation.

Police Lt. Marsha Eisenhart told the council Tuesday that she had an officer resign the department to go to Steubenville Police Department because he got married and has a child and needed health insurance. Eisenhart noted the officer said he couldn’t make it here with the Wellsville department and was going to Steubenville strictly for the insurance.

She also said they have one officer assigned to the Columbiana County Drug Task Force, and he is out with them three days a week and Police Chief Eddy Wilson had spoken with some of the council members saying the officers need a raise.

Eisenhart requested that the council approve, and the mayor swear in part-time officer Justus Black, who has been with the department since January, as a full-time officer.

Council approved Black’s move to full time and Mayor Bob Boley swore him in. Black’s mother, Fiscal Officer Hoi Wah Yu, pinned his badge on him after he was sworn in.

When it came time for ordinances, Thorn said that the ordinance for the pay raises did not come through a committee and he did not approach the village solicitor John Gamble to draw the ordinance up, and since he has told people before that if they go outside of the rules, he will not vote for it.

He noted he doesn’t know who called Gamble and who had the ordinance drawn up, and he is not against a raise for the police department at this time, but he is against the procedure in which the ordinance was done.

Councilman Bill Taft expressed his concerns over the pay ordinance since the General Election was still going at the time of the meeting with people voting on the village’s levies and he wanted to know the levies passed and the village has money to work with before discussion raises.

Taft noted that the fire department has also come forward asking for a raise and if the police and fire departments get raises, the street department would also need one.

Taft recommended a finance committee meeting be held to determine what if any finances are available to provide raises.

Councilman Keith Thorn said the finance committee should hold a joint meeting with the Claims, Rules and Ordinance Committee. The meeting had not been scheduled prior to the end of the council meeting.

Eisenhart said she believed the chief requested the raise and wants the council to understand that in December four officers can retire, one officer is talking about possibly going to Weirton Police Department and they just lost an officer and the DTF officer has also been offered another job which pays more money, the department at this time is working to stay in the game.

Thorn said he understands that and he talked to the chief and the problem is their department raises pay rates and then other departments raise pay rates and it just goes back and forth with no winners and there is no way to say if they allow the raises it will guarantee officers will stay or they will get new officers in. He listed several law enforcement departments that are understaffed or have recently lost an officer.

Eisenhart responded that she has some officers who are working six days a week, 12-hour shifts and that they try to keep the overtime down, but it is going to be out of sight.

Taft said he didn’t understand why they have all the overtime with 11 full-time officers.

Councilman Aaron Smith said he is all for the raises, if the funds are available and wants to sit down and look at the finances and schedule a committee meeting to discuss it.

Thorn motioned that the police pay raise ordinances which would provide the officers a $1.50 an hour raise be tabled. His motion was seconded by Council Member Karen Dash, and the council voted in favor to table it.

Thorn said when the finance committee meets to discuss the pay raise, he would also like to see discussion on pay raises for the fire and street departments.

Wah said she spoke with OMEGA about the CBDG Flex Dollars for the marina, and they want to know if the village is moving forward with using the grant for a playground and to upgrade the restrooms at the marina, if so they need to look into having environmental and engineering studies completed. This grant has a deadline of August 2026.

Taft noted that he felt the restrooms and playground would still be usable even if the marina isn’t developed, and they might as well use the money while they have it. Council was in agreement to move forward with the steps needed to get the work done.

Boley said the village needs to figure out what to do the trailers and motorhomes parked on or near the streets that people are living in. There was some discussion on looking into what the villages ordinances say can or can’t be done and discussion on the possibility of towing some of them.

Boley also said some of the landlords in the village need to be looked into due to shady activities. He noted one family went to move into a rental and was told by the landlord that they would need to pay the $500 water bill left by the previous tenant before they could move in.

Boley said that he received a call from a man who owns a dumpster company wanted to bring dumpsters into the village and he told him that the village ordinance limits the amount of companies they can have at one time in the village is three and they are required to pay the village $500 a year to be there. The village currently has three companies providing these services.

Council members approved a resolution authorizing the village mayor or fiscal officer to submit an application to the Ohio Public Works Commission State Capital Improvement and/or Local Transportation Improvement Program(s) and execute any contracts required.

The grant application for $750,000 would be used for capital improvements to the state Route 45 above ground water storage tank replacement project.

The project is being done by Buckeye Water District, and the village is applying for the grant on their behalf as it benefits the village to have the project done.

The resolution had been tabled at the previous council meeting to give council members who had received it that night, time to review and consider the application.

Village Administrator Jeff Cope told council members that the village’s roller has been broken for a year and it was needed to properly patch holes in the road and that without the roller the road crew was putting patch materials in the holes to repair them but without being able to properly tamp the material down it was coming right back out.

Cope said he found a roller for $$14,000, for which council approved the purchase.

The closure of Main Street between 5th Street and Cherry Alley on Dec. 6 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the Christmas Market was also approved.

There was no one to speak during public speaking and no old or new business.

The Wellsville Village Council meets the first and third Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m., in council chambers at Wellsville Village Hall. The next regular meeting is scheduled for Nov. 18.

kgarabrandt@mojonews.com

Wellsville Mayor Bob Boley swears in part-time police officer Justus Black as a full-time officer. (Photo by Kristi R. Garabrandt)