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Marietta City Council adopted several ordinances and resolutions on the topic of wastewater and water treatment departments at its regular meeting Thursday night.
Seven ordinances were declared to be of an emergency nature and expedited to adoption. Two resolutions were also declared to be an emergency and adopted.
The seven emergency ordinances were:
≤ An emergency ordinance to abolish the position of Wastewater Operations Manager in the Wastewater Department of the City of Marietta, and to amend the current Table of Organization to reflect said abolishment.
≤ An emergency ordinance to create the position of Wastewater Collections Foreman in the Wastewater Department of the City of Marietta, and to amend the current Table of Organization to reflect the creation of said position.
≤ An emergency ordinance to abolish the position of Assistant Water Superintendent in the Water Treatment Department of the City of Marietta, effective Feb. 7, and to amend the current Table of Organization to reflect said abolishment.
≤ An emergency ordinance to abolish the position of one Water Treatment Plant Operator in the Water Treatment Department of the City of Marietta, and to amend the current Table of Organization to reflect said abolishment.
≤ An emergency ordinance to create the position of Lead Operator/109 in the WaterTreatment Department for the City of Marietta, and to designate the duties thereof, and to amend the current Table of Organization to reflect the creation of said position.
≤ An emergency ordinance to authorize and direct the Director of Public Safety and Service to advertise for bids for the anticipated purchase of various street construction materials for use by the Public Works Department (formerly the Street Department) of the City of Marietta during the coming construction season.
≤ An emergency ordinance to appropriate and/or transfer funds such as the American Rescue Plan Act Fund, Water Facilities Upgrade Fund, Community Development Public Facilities Fund, Community Development Neighborhoods Revitalization Fund, General Fund, Street Income Tax Fund, and the Fire Income Tax Fund from unappropriated funds.
The emergency ordinance that was not adopted Thursday night would authorize and direct the Director of Public Safety and Service to enter into and ratify a Cooperative Agreement for Sanitary Sewer Services on behalf of the City of Marietta with the Board of Commissioners of Washington County to engage in a cooperative effort to expand and improve the city's wastewater treatment plant in order to provide for the acceptance and treatment of effluent from areas located beyond the corporate city limits. This was the first reading of the ordinance and will be up for two more legislative readings before adoption.
Prior to council discussing unfinished business and pending legislation, Washington County Commissioner James Booth spoke briefly of his support for the Cooperative Devola Sewer Agreement and said that himself and other officials had recently spoken of other pending sewer possibilities within Washington County.
"Myself, Councilman (Brett) Allphin, Councilman (Ben) Rutherford, and the Belpre mayor spoke of the possibility of a Memorandum of Understanding for sewer service to Route 7 South," said Booth. "It would be a great opportunity and the State of Ohio has plenty of grant funding."
The two emergency resolutions were:
≤ An emergency resolution authorizing the City of Marietta to participate in the State of Ohio Cooperative Purchasing Program through the Ohio Department of Administrative Services and the Office of Procurement Services.
≤ An emergency resolution by the City Council authorizing and directing the Director of Public Safety and Service to adopt the most recent Ohio Department of Transportation Prequalified Consultant List for Engineering Services for FHWA Federal Aid Projects commencing with the effective date of the resolution and ending Dec. 31.
Before legislation was discussed and adopted, Sheriff candidates Greg Nohe and Mark Warden spoke briefly about their candidacies.
"There are several important characteristics to a good sheriff," Nohe said. "They have to be a leader, which I believe I have proven in my 40 years, and respected. They have to have hiring retention and we need to bring back uniform patrol."
"I have worked my way up during my 37 years and I have worked under three different sheriffs, seeing what to do and what not to do," said Warden. "We have to change if we want growth. I want to have community engagement and let the community know what we see out there. I will bring more resources to the Sheriff's Department.
"Something I've always asked myself that has stuck with me through my time there is 'what can I do to better serve Washington County?'"
In other business, Safety Service Director Steve Wetz had several committee requests for the Land, Buildings, and Parks; Planning, Zoning, Annexation, and Housing; Streets; and Finance committees. Mayor Josh Schlicher asked for patience from the public while current traffic light work is going on within the city and asked the public to be safe and cautious during the winter weather.
Allphin thanked those that helped with the turning of Harmar Bridge and stated that they continue to work towards that project. He also announced that he is trying to bring back Reimagine Marietta to the public and if anyone had any questions or comments, that he would be the voice from council to talk to.
The next regularly scheduled council meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 1 in Armory Room 10.