Federal Funding To Help Address Elm Run Issues in Wheeling
Trending
Officials in the city of Wheeling said federal earmarks secured for various city projects will go a long way toward bringing forth much-needed upgrades and improvements.
Earlier this month, the U.S. House and Senate approved a bipartisan omnibus bill, a package which included the 2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act and a final list of earmarks for Congressionally Directed Spending projects to be funded during this year’s federal spending cycle.
City leaders thanked U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) for their efforts in making sure funding for a number of Wheeling projects was included in the bill.
Ward 4 Councilman Jerry Sklavounakis said part of the funding will go toward getting the ball rolling on a major improvement project that will ultimately help alleviate basement flooding issues in the neighborhoods of Woodsdale and Edgwood.
Through the earmarks, a total of $546,000 will be used to allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to design and engineer flood control improvements on Elm Run, which during heavy rains can become overburdened and contribute to basement flooding issues in these neighborhoods in Ward 4 and Ward 5.
"I know a lot of people in my ward and Councilman (Ty) Thorngate’s ward are very worried about Elm Run," Sklavounakis said. "I’d hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this money is not going to fix Elm Run. It’s going to be the first step in engineering and designing the fix for Elm Run. This is obviously very necessary and a good first step to getting Elm Run taken care of."
Sklavounakis extended his gratitude to the West Virginia senators who worked to have this earmark included in the omnibus bill.
"We’re getting there," he said. "We’re not there yet. We’re still going to actually need more funding to finish it."
Wheeling Mayor Glenn Elliott said the funding for Elm Run and earmarked money for a number of other projects in the city will bring welcome improvements.
"I also want to thank both Sens. Manchin and Capito for really coming through for the city with some of the earmark requests that we had made and different organizations across the community had made," Elliott said. "It’s great to see some bipartisanship happening in D.C. Those dollars are going to support not only some important city projects, but some other local organizations as well across the community. I do want to thank both senators for their support of that process."
Other earmarks include $150,000 for improvements to the roofs at Centre Market, $1 million for upgrades to the city-owned Wheeling Artisan Center, $500,000 to support reuse and redevelopment of the city-owned former Ohio Valley Medical Center campus and $620,000 for a new Wheeling food hub by Grow Ohio Valley.
Also included in the earmarks was more than $1 million for a Law Enforcement Technology Program for tech upgrades in the new Wheeling Police Department, which is currently being completed inside an existing building on the former OVMC campus.
While tech upgrades will be forthcoming, the city is already moving forward with new systems for wife connectivity for both the city’s police and fire departments.
Legislation is expected to be passed next week by Wheeling City Council authorizing the city manager to spend funds with Dagostino Electronic Services of Pittsburgh for audio visual and wireless access point systems. The cost of the police department system is $167,661 and the cost for the fire department system is $171,181.
Funds from the new City Service Fee are expected to be used to pay for these new systems, but officials indicated that they plan to explore whether or not some of the earmarked funds for the Law Enforcement Technology Program could be used to cover costs of the police headquarters upgrades.