City Council discusses procurement of materials for upcoming street repairs
(Photo by Gwen Sour) Marietta City Council reviews several ordinances prior to the start of the council meeting Thursday.
(Photo by Gwen Sour) Bob Carr, right, addresses Marietta City Council on the repair status of the Harmar Bridge.
(Photo by Gwen Sour) Marietta City Council reviews several ordinances prior to the start of the council meeting Thursday.
(Photo by Gwen Sour) Bob Carr, right, addresses Marietta City Council on the repair status of the Harmar Bridge.
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The Marietta City Council met Thursday to discuss several ongoing projects for the city such as the procurement of materials for upcoming street repairs.
Additionally, council discussed issues surrounding the water infrastructure issues on Gilman Avenue.
At the start of the meeting, Mayor Joshua Schlicher discussed the challenges caused by mechanical failures in the city's water system, which resulted in interruptions in service on Gilman Avenue. These issues have been exacerbated by the winter weather, which is expected to remain a challenge through the next week.
"We have an emergency team coming down from out of state to make some repairs there due to numerous valves that are stuck or inoperable," said Schlicher. "There will be some construction in the area...we're hoping to get that repaired as soon as possible, as of right now we don't anticipate any downtime in service in that area."
Several ordinances and resolutions were introduced during the meeting, some of which required immediate attention due to their importance in city operations.
Ordinance 139 authorizes the director of public safety and service to advertise for bids and enter into a contract for purchasing 400 tons of road salt for use by the street department. Ordinance 138 authorized the public safety and service director to open bids to sell boat docks at Indian Acres for no less than $1,000. Two additional ordinances passed which allowed the director of public safety and service to open for the contract or purchase of 20,000 gallons of diesel and 40,000 gallons of gasoline. These ordinance were adopted by council.
Council members were torn on an ordinance regarding the salary for Marietta Council members. According to the ordinance, the current salary is $8,976 annually. Councilman Michael Scales spoke with other members on council to alter the amount and made a motion to amend the ordinance.
"Make it $9,000 for the first year and $9,100 for the second," said Scales.
The conversation became divisive within the council, with some arguing that the pay increase was important for transparency for those who may want to fill council seats in the future while others argued that the ordinance felt as if it was shown to the council at last minute and that it would be more appropriate to go through the finance committee prior to presentation to the council. Ultimately the ordinance was tabled.
The city of Marietta also received a grant of $9.4 million from the Appalachian Community Grant to work toward the Ohio River Levee Park Improvements Project. This project is dedicated toward the area surrounding Greene Street, Ohio Street, Front Street and Second Street with the goal to support infrastructure improvements and beautification efforts in the park area.
During the public forum section of the meeting, Bob Carr, a Marietta resident, shared his concerns regarding the historic Harmar Bridge. According to Carr, he has previous experience with working in the tourism industry and wanted to focus on revitalizing Harmar Bridge to encourage tourism to Marietta.
"I'm suggesting that we make sure that we're restoring this bridge in its entirety," said Carr.
Councilwoman Erin O'Neill asked that Carr stay after so she could connect him with the Historic Harmar Bridge committee.
The next regular Marietta City Council meeting will take place on Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m. in the Armory.