STEUBENVILLE — New signs celebrating the legacy of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. will be going up along one downtown street.

City Council agreed Tuesday to spend roughly $6,100 on five new street signs designating Seventh Street as “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard,” and approved plans for a Facebook page where vetted items pertaining to the city, be it a road project or water line leak, could be posted.

Council also agreed to hear the first reading of an ordinance authorizing the wastewater department and City Manager Jim Mavromatis to apply for a loan from the Ohio Water Pollution Control funds for the city’s CSO12, a hot-button topic three weeks ago when efforts to pass it as an emergency failed.

Wastewater Superintendent Chuck Murphy previously described to council a “big, visible sinkhole” on the old Weirton Steel property at the south end of town, very close to Norfolk Southern’s rail line, and said there’s a hole in the side of a sewage pipe at the site “that looks like a crater.” He’d said the pipe itself “actually looks like an eggshell” with cracks running through it and is in danger of collapsing, jeopardizing the stability of rail cars transporting a multitude of products, some of them hazardous, through the comåmunity.

The CSO12 fix would reroute the sewer flow from Slack Street to the Permars Run line near state Route 7. To protect the integrity of the railroad tracks, they’d also fill the old sewage line under the tracks and the sink hole with low strength mortar.

Planning and design will cost the city about $198,918, Murphy said. Until it’s done, he said they won’t know how much the actual fix is going to cost them. Norfolk Southern, however, will have to sign off on the site repairs since their lines are at risk.

At this week’s meeting, several council members who’d previously voted against filing the loan application said they’d discussed the project’s grant potential with Ohio Mid-Eastern Government Association officials. Second Ward Councilman Tracy McManamon reported Norfolk-Southern representatives had been in town to inspect the problem area and “indicated they would be kicking it to their higher ups.”

“I’m asking you to sunshine the ordinance so we can proceed with getting the loan for planning and design squared away so we can go forward,” Murphy said.

City Engineer Mike Dolak, meanwhile, said the steering committee originally requested four signs proclaiming Seventh Street to be MLK Boulevard — one by the North End ballfield, one at the south end of town and two at the intersection of Seventh and Washington streets. During the meeting, however, a Martin Luther King Jr. Association member requested a fifth sign, on Market Street, where the MLK Recreation Center is, saying it makes a lot of sense.

After a brief discussion, council directed Dolak to add a sign on Market Street to the project list. Dolak pointed out they aren’t actually renaming the street, a time-consuming process that would involve changing the addresses of businesses and residents living on that street. Rather, he said the Martin Luther King Jr. designation is honorary.

Funding will come from the street fund and the work will likely be done in late October, along with regularly scheduled street sign replacements.

Council agreed to launch a Facebook page where residents can find factual information like when bulk pickups will be, water line breaks and street closings.

“I think the more communication we do in a timely fashion, the better off we’re going to be,” McManamon said. “If something happens on a Friday night now, nobody finds out about it until Monday when the IT guy comes in.”

First Ward Councilman Dave Albaugh asked Mavromatis to readvertise for a parking enforcement officer, explaining he’s getting calls from residents who are upset about parking on Fourth Streets.

“Most cars are sitting there all day long, despite the signs that say it’s two-hour parking,” he said, adding that the city needs the ability to “enforce our ordinance and make people pay parking tickets.”

Mavromatis said they also could look into parking kiosks, though that wouldn’t eliminate the need for enforcement.

“The kiosk will pay for itself over time,” Albaugh said. “And eventually, it will pay for the officer.”

Council passed the third reading of ordinances adopting the engineer’s four-year plan for hot-mix street resurfacing.

Second readings were heard of ordinances repealing the existing table of organization and replacing it with an updated version; authorizing the urban projects director to issue a request for qualifications for professional/consulting services under the state’s Community Housing Impact and Preservation Program; and a resolution creating a search committee for the next city manager.

First reading was given to legislation that would convey a property in the 500 block of Lawson Avenue to a neighboring property owner who has been maintaining it for years.

A recreation committee meeting to discuss Beatty Park activities was set for 6:45 p.m. March 4.