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STEUBENVILLE - On a night when finances and budget planning dominated discussion, members of City Council found time Tuesday to recognize the efforts of a longtime community activist even as they approved her replacement on the city civil service commission.
Mayor Jerry Barilla said it was a difficult decision, but he recommended appointing Cynthia Lytle to the Civil Service Commission, succeeding the 30-year veteran, Delores Wiggins.
"I've known Delores since we were in high school, we went to Big Red together," he said. "We're about the same age. I had a conversation with Delores about the situation ... there's a time and place we must consider changing. I have the utmost respect for Delores, I've always called her the "Rosa Parks" of Steubenville -- she was such a champion for the civil rights movement and people who were discriminated against. There's no animosity, (but) I told her ... there's a time and place where us older folks need to step aside and let others take our place and move on."
He figures Lytle will be a worthy successor.
First Ward Councilwoman Asantewa Anyabwile recalled when she sang in one of Wiggins' youth choirs.
"Mrs. Wiggins has been a mentor of mine," Anyabwile said. "She's ... always been there, always been at the forefront in fighting for justice for folks."
Lytle agreed, saying Wiggins "has done so much more outside music for this community."
"Outside this opportunity, she's made other opportunities available for me and girls like me in this community," Lytle said.
Councilwoman-at-large Kimberly Hahn said she, too, is "grateful for Delores, grateful for all of her service," and Barilla said plans are already in the works for a fitting tribute.
"I think (Cynthia) is a perfect fit for the civil service commission and my vote will be a 'yes,’" 6th Ward Councilman Bob Villamagna said. "But Delores served this community faithfully for 30 years and has been a personal friend of mine for 50. She's still in the hospital, I just wish this could have been done another way."
"Delores has given 30 to 40 years on that board, I want to make sure we treat her the right way going out," 3rd Ward Councilman Eric Timmons added.
In other business, Finance Director Dave Lewis delivered his monthly budget briefing, telling council income tax collections were much improved in August though the year-to-year comparison is still stark.
Lewis said the city took in a little over $260,000 from income taxes, up 32.91 percent from August 2019, but year-to-date collections are running well behind last year's pace: To date, the city has taken in a little over $6.2 million -- almost $425,000 off the nearly $6.7 million the city took in through August 2019.
Lewis said there's also been a huge improvement tracking water loss.
"We had water loss in the 70 percent plus for quite some time," he said. "In August, we were down to 51.6 percent.
"Huge progress has been made over the last couple years with water loss," he added.
Lewis also pointed out they've made significant inroads in utility delinquencies, filing only 19 liens in 2020. Last year they filed 64.
"We've been doing what we can, trying to work with (customers) before it becomes a lien (situation)," he said. "We're doing what we can."
Lewis said 1,082 customers received disconnect notices in August, and "that's pretty normal." He said work orders were issued for 428 of those customers, with 244 of them eventually paying up and 57 that couldn't be shut off for various reasons. The remaining 127 actually were shut off.
Sanitation Superintendent Bob Baird told council his 2021 wish list is simple: "Essentially we're seeking to stay the course."
He said the department will need to replace overhead doors at the public works building because the existing doors are "old, rotting away, no longer operable." Baird said he'd also like to replace another truck,
"We've been moving along in our equipment replacement needs," he said. "We have several old pieces of equipment. ... Our equipment is aging as it is, in addition the manufacturer went out of business 10 years ago. Parts are extremely difficult to find, sometimes they're not possible to find. And when we are able to find them, increasingly expensive. Our goal is to get equipment replaced."
Baird pointed out AEP is planning to replace poles in the downtown area. While the utility will cover the cost of putting the new poles in, the city has "a lot of traffic signal cabling, holiday decoration (hookups) fiber optics cables ..." that will have to be moved to the new poles.
As AEP goes through town replacing poles, "the city ... has an obligation to transfer our connections," Baird said. He figures as many as 125 poles could be involved.