(Photo by Amber Phipps) Washington County Clerk Ben Cowdery and Washington County Commissioners Charlie Schilling and Eddie Place go through the new business items on the agenda Thursday.

Washington County celebrated the completion of the Devola Sanitary Sewer Improvements Project during Thursday’s Washington County Commission meeting Thursday.

The project was officially completed on Wednesday.

The engineer department has been waiting on the final two tanks to ship in from out west after discovering their tanks were damaged.

“This deserves a round of applause,” said Commissioner Charlie Schilling. “This is how many years in the making?”

A general plan for the project was made in November 2019. From 2020-22, there were many meetings and approvals required before the project construction could begin. The opening bid for the Devola project began in 2022 with construction starting late summer 2022.

Over the course of three years, Devola underwent extensive sanitary sewer installations with completion in October.

“I know you guys put a lot of work into that,” said Schilling.

Attendees at the county commissioner regular meeting applauded the announcement from the county Wastewater Department Superintendent Joseph White.

The project plan was to provide cost effective sewer treatment for a population of approximately 2,652 residents located on the east side of the Muskingum River and north of Marietta.

The commissioners also brought the CEBCO (County Employee Benefits Consortium of Ohio) renewal from prior meetings in September back to the table for discussion and approval Thursday.

Schilling said they had tabled the renewal because they wanted to discuss options with department supervisors and gain more feedback before coming to a decision.

“I want to express gratitude to the other elected officials and department supervisors that we reached out to within the last couple of days to provide their input,” said Schilling. “The response was let’s stick with the current plan and not look at increasing any deductibles or copays.”

The CEBCO renewal results in an 18% increase that will be taken into consideration in the overall budget for the county. Commissioner Eddie Place said the CEBCO renewal was at an 18% increase last year as well so the renewal rates will continue as is.

There were discussions on whether or not to change the plan and raise deductibles by $500 or by $1,500 for a total savings of $96,000 or $196,000. Based on feedback, the commissioners decided to keep the current deductible.

Director of AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP Carla Westfall requested to look for a county vehicle to be used for medical transportation. The county vehicle would be added to county insurance but RSVP would be responsible for maintenance and purchase of the vehicle.

“Already in the last year we spent $30,000 just getting people where they need to get to,” said Westfall. “We’re the only long distance medical transportation service for citizens of Washington County other than insurance.”

Westfall said they have been trying to find a county vehicle with handicap accessibility so they could cut down on the volunteer mileage on their own cars. She said they’re a Title 20 transportation service for Jobs and Family Services but they’re wanting to expand their services to other departments.

“We’re taking people to places like Cleveland, OSU, Charleston,” she said. “We take a lot of people to CAMC Cancer Center in Beckley.”

After discussion with the commissioners and Westfall, the request to purchase a vehicle was approved.