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BELPRE – Belpre city officials praised the efforts of city employees and first responders in helping residents and the community deal with last week's floodwaters.
"I would like to start with thanking the city workers for their efforts during the recent flood event," Mayor Susan Abdella said during Monday's Belpre City Council meeting.
"Everyone contributed and did an amazing job. Our hearts and prayers go out to those now facing all the cleanup. Here at the city we have cleaning supplies to help those affected by the flood," she said.
Abdella said it has been a very busy couple of weeks for her as she met with each department to do long range planning while determining critical needs. She will be presenting the information during the State of the City address. That will be held at 6:30 p.m. April 22, prior to the next regular council meeting.
She told council the new water tower project has hit a few snags and is moving slower than anticipated after completing the loan documents.
Council will be required to take some action for this project to move forward after bidding, she said.
Abdella said the city is almost ready to go live on its website for the lead service lines survey.
The City of Belpre received the Tree City designation again for 2023. The swards will be April 18 at Vinton Furnace Experimental Furnace.
Several members of the Tree Commission will be attending to accept the award, she said.
As part of the celebration, Girl Scouts with the Black Diamond Council worked Saturday on an orchard planting on Boulevard Drive, planting several apple and peach trees and several berry bushes. They read the Arbor Day proclamation and the Scouts voted on the name "Friendship Orchard."
In other business, council approved the third reading of the city's annual manpower ordinance setting the manpower limits for the City of Belpre for 2024. It also approved the first reading of a resolution authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract with Wirt County 911 to install a radio repeater on the Belpre Radio Tower to provide coverage when Wirt personnel are in range. Additional readings will take place at future council meetings.
The Finance Committee will meet at 6 p.m. April 15 followed by the Rules Committee which will discuss political signs on city property.
Wayne Towner can be reached at wtowner@newsandsentinel.com