STEUBENVILLE — Council voted to delay for one week the final reading Tuesday of legislation clearing the way for the city to move forward with the engineering for the CSO 12 elimination project, a sinkhole on the old Weirton Steel property.

That ordinance would allow City Manager Jim Mavromatis to ink an agreement with HDR Engineering Inc. for the engineering to get the project moving — something Wastewater Supervisor Chuck Murphy said is crucial.

“There’s a sinkhole there, running through the mill property,” he told council. “Weve got to go ahead and get that line abandoned, it’s totally bad all the way through. The least expensive option in terms of dealing with it is to reroute it back to the Permars Run line, that’s what we’re looking to do here.”

Murphy said it’s “already to asphalt under that thing. Somebody drives a truck across that, it’s gone, it’s in the hole.”

Asked if the fix will get more expensive if they don’t address it right away, Murphy replied that “EPA (would) have a conniption, to say the least” and stressed the need to show the regulatory agency that the city intends to live up to its commitments.

“In our permit, OEPA requires us to maintain the plant and collection system so that it meets all of the requirements in the permit in accordance with the Ohio Revised Code,” he said afterward.

That did little to abate council’s concerns.

“Other departments come in and talk to us about ‘options,'” Councilwoman Heather Hoover replied. “I have reservations because every time something happens to water and sewer … you come in and it’s matter of fact, no options. It’s one price (and) we’re not given options.”

Murphy, though, pointed out that for the design phase, “It’s against the law to go out and ask for (quotes). They want to make sure we’re not picking the absolute lowest-cost engineer because if you do, things may not be constructed the way they should.”

“The reason I wanted to table it is (what we’re discussing),” McManamon said. “We don’t get details, we need details (before voting). I would recommend from here on you bring us details in advance because this is not a small chunk of money.”

McManamon said he’s also concerned about the language of the proposed ordinance.

Councilman Royal Mayo, meanwhile, pointed out Steubenville has spent very nearly all of the $14.6 million in federal ARPA funds it receive and city officials can no longer rely on having a multi-million cushion to draw from.

“What did we do in 2020 when we had these kinds of (big-ticket) projects?” he asked. “What would we have done if we didn’t get that kind of money and what are we going to do now that it’s gone?”

Council also had a lengthy discussion on trash pickups and the fees charged for special collections.

By ordinance, special pickups “whether requested or required to keep the city clean,” are to be billed at $5 per trash container, loose bag or bundle of trash or rubbish” collected; $20 per piece of furniture and a $25 minimum charge per trip.

“(We need to be thinking about) how we can make this city more inviting, more friendly,” Councilman Ted Gorman said “Why have little ticky-tracky things like this. We should be thinking about trying to be a welcoming city and how I can make their life better.”

Council members said they want workers to pick up bags or piles of trash they enouncter as a matter of community pride and also were critical of charging $5 to pick up a bag of trash or a $25 fee per trip.

“Give us the rules you want us to follow and I’ll make sure they do it,”Mavromatis told council. “It’s as simple as that.”

Council also:

• Agreed to pick up the additional cost of lighting the green space and the 100 block of N. 4th Street during the Steubenville Nutcracker Village celebration.

• Is considering changing the name of 7th Street north and south to “Martin Luther King Boulevard.”

Earlier, Finance Director Dave Lewis delivered his monthly financial report.

“It’s early in the budget process and we will be monitoring revenues and expenditures closely as we finish this year,” he said. “At this point, revenues and expenses are close to projects and budget.”