Belpre City Council members-at-large, from left, Penne Riffle, B.J. Cassady and Dave Ferguson discuss business at the regular meeting Monday night in council chambers at Belpre City Hall. (Photo by Gretchen Dowler)

BELPRE — Belpre City Council held several readings for ordinances and resolutions at Monday night’s regular meeting.

Ordinances up for second reading included adopting the 2026 annual appropriations and amending a piece of code regarding the annual adjustments of rates. Ordinances and resolutions up for first reading included a resolution authorizing an agreement between the mayor and the Belpre Senior Center, a resolution authorizing an agreement between the mayor and the Washington Soil and Water Conservation District and the readoption of ordinance 20 from the 2020-2021 calendar year.

In other business, committee chairs set up meetings for next week including a parks and recreation committee meeting at 6 p.m. March 16 and a planning and zoning meeting for 6:15 p.m. March 16. Council member-at-large Penne Riffle discussed receiving a BMV scam call that has been reported to the sheriff’s department.

Prior to the regular meeting, a combined utilities committee and finance and audit committee meeting was held to discuss $2 and $4 monthly water fees. The $2 fee is for construction of a new water storage facility and the $4 fee is for the Belpre City water supply system. It was discussed the fees apply to all users, per ordinance, and the ordinance should be revised to state the fees apply to all available dwellings. The committees took into consideration needing to understand all missing locations, such as apartments, trailers and more, and that they need to be added to the water system. There are approximately 600 missing locations. Also discussed at the combined committees meeting was the water tank cost shortfall. It was determined the committees would wait until 2027 before taking action to eliminate the shortfall because they needed more data to better understand how to eliminate it and the tank will be completed within the year and the actual cost will then be known.

During the communication and petition part of Monday night’s meeting, Council President Larry Martin relayed that the water and sewer rates will be increased by 4% April 1 and the increased rates will be reflected on the bills due by May 18.

In his regular report to council, Safety Service Director Brian Rhodes said since the last meeting, there have been four code violations and ten permits issued. He said the roof repair has been completed on the city building and there is an opening at the Waste Water Treatment Plant.

Rhodes also had Belpre Police Chief Michael Stump give his department head report.

Stump announced that several rounds of training have been completed throughout the Belpre Police Department and the department is fully staffed. He also said the department has passed its health inspection, they are partnering with the Ohio Highway Patrol to make the roads safer and in collaboration with the local task force, a successful drug bust was conducted.

During her regular report to council, Belpre Mayor Susan Abdella announced several updates on ongoing work within the city.

“We have had a busy start to March. During the last council meeting, I was attending the Headworks academy to learn about grit removal and screening of a water reclamation facility. This was great information on how to improve the life of our equipment while treating less water,” said Abdella. “The Housing Technical Assistance Grant project is going very well. In April, the onsite SCADA work will begin. We have had several water leaks over the past two weeks and the water team has been busy fixing them. The street department found several sink holes and are beginning work to correct them. The 10-inch water main project is on track to finish in April and the water tank project is ramping back up. The Farson Street Traffic impact study is underway and we are waiting on feedback from the firm about possible solutions.”

Monday’s meeting ended in an executive session where council discussed purchase or sale of property.

The next Belpre City Council meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. March 23 in council chambers at Belpre City Hall.