Councilman Bill Farnsworth (center) confered with Law Director Paul Bertram (left) and Councilwoman Susan Boyer (right) at Thursday night’s Marietta City Council meeting. (Photo by Michele Newbanks)

After several years, residents on the lower west side will better be able to walk, ride bikes or drive wheelchairs in their neighborhood.

Safety Service Director Steve Wetz told the Marietta City Council on Thursday night that $200,000 was available through Community Development Block Grants to fix the broken sidewalks and curb ramps.

“Instead of doing numerous projects with the money, we’ll do sidewalks and curb ramps,” he said.

Fourth Ward Councilman Geoff Schenkel said the CDBG money is “beautiful proof that if we learn the rules, good things can happen.”

A number of ordinances were introduced during the meeting, with some pertaining to the ADA compliance project.

¯ Ordinance 25 authorizes Wetz to contract with Pickering Associates for architectural and professional engineering services for the project. The fee of $15,100 will be paid through American Rescue Plan Act funds.

¯ Ordinance 28 allows for a contract with DLZ of Columbus to provide professional consulting services, including conducting a self-evaluation of city facilities for compliance with ADA standards. Along with reporting on the self-evaluation, they will also prepare a transition plan for completing projects to bring city facilities into ADA compliance. The fee of $105,155 will also be paid using ARPA funds.

Other ordinances introduced were:

¯ Ordinance 24 to waive or modify the operation of the Disturbing the Peace ordinance from 11 p.m. to midnight for this summer’s Adelphia Outdoor Concert Series.

¯ Ordinance 26 for an F Permit Application to give the city’s consent for sale and consumption of beer on city-owned land during the Marietta Riverfront Roar Inc. this summer.

¯ Ordinance 29, which allows Wetz to enter into a contract with Mapped Out GIS Services LLC for geographic information system mapping of the city.

Chairman Mike Scales said this project “fell to the wayside with other projects,” but they suspended the second and third readings of the ordinance so during the next meeting on March 17, the council can vote on it.

¯ Ordinance 30 allows the sale of a Jaws of Life extrication tool set by the Marietta Fire Department. Police and Fire Chairman Bill Gossett said the equipment was old and no longer useful.