Incoming Councilwoman Jade Thompson, left, was sworn into Marietta City Council prior to the start of Thursday evening’s meeting, Thompson was supported by fellow Spanish teacher Kristen Goeller and sworn in by Councilman Jon Grimm. Read the full story in the weekend edition of The Marietta Times and online at mariettatimes.com. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

Marietta City Council held a brief meeting Thursday evening and scheduled a special meeting to address emergency legislation tied to water treatment plant funding due to several members being absent.

Council introduced Ordinance 28 (26-27), an emergency measure authorizing the city to apply for and enter into a revised cooperative agreement for supplemental funds for continued administrative and construction work and further design for treatment of so-called forever chemicals at the water treatment plant in an amount not to exceed $1.48 million through the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the Ohio Water Development Authority.

Forever chemicals is the name given to a family of chemicals called polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, that have been linked to thyroid cancer and birth defects and break down very slowly in the environment. They were used for years in the Teflon-manufacturing process at the Washington Works facility in Wood County and have been detected in water supplies around the area.

“This piece of legislation is on a fast track. We need to get it done,” said Councilman Jon Grimm. “Which means we need to schedule a special council meeting.”

Council scheduled a special meeting for 4:30 p.m. Monday and also set a contingent meeting for 5 p.m. Tuesday, if needed.

Council also introduced Ordinance 26 (26-27), an emergency measure authorizing the director of public safety and service to apply for and enter into an agreement for a freshwater design loan through the Ohio Water Development Authority for the Acme Street water main and sanitary sewer improvements project for an amount not to exceed $2,166,557.

Councilman Ron Wesel raised questions about the status of work on Maple Street, where the road was closed due to damage. Mayor Josh Schlicher stated that construction is on hold but deferred to City Law Director Paul Bertram for further detail. Bertram said the city is seeking engineering guidance.

“There were some issues that have come up,” he said. “There’s not really any engineering about it, and the mayor and I had a long conversation about it – it would be a lot better to have some engineering done so that Maple Street doesn’t become a part of State Route 7; that would really tick off ODOT.”

Bertram said an engineering group is consulting with the city before the project moves forward.

“There is a group … that are supposed to be coming down and taking a look,” he said.

When questioned about a timeframe, Bertram said it was unclear as there will be new Geographic Information System photos taken for the Maple Street site.

Council also welcomed a new at-large member, Jade Thompson, a Spanish teacher at Marietta High School, who was nominated to replace former Councilman Ben Rutherford after he stepped down from his position earlier in the month.

Gwen Sour can be reached at gsour@newsandsentinel.com