MARTINS FERRY — As the calendar turns to 2026, Martins Ferry city leaders are reflecting on a year marked by both significant accomplishments and a serious challenge, while expressing optimism about the city’s future.

Mayor John Davies described 2025 as “an up and down year” for the city, pointing first to the continued closure of East Ohio Regional Hospital as a major setback.

“On the downside obviously was the hospital. It was a really powerful blow to the city,” Davies said during council’s first meeting of the year on Wednesday. “But we are continuing to work to hopefully secure somebody into that hospital, which is a lot harder than people believe or think it is. Basically, it’s a $20 million adventure. It’s hard to find somebody to put $20 million into something that went defunct twice.”

Despite that loss, Davies said cooperation among city officials, employees and council helped Martins Ferry make progress on long-standing issues.

“The upside is working together with city council — the response was tremendous and the outcome tremendous,” he said. “Our employees, our union and our administrative staff have been pretty much hand-in-glove. Even though we don’t always agree, it doesn’t matter how we get there, because we usually get there.”

Davies credited City Service Director Andy Sutak and City Auditor Jack Regis for helping guide the city through difficult decisions — particularly on infrastructure projects and more specifically the upgrades to the city’s water plant.

“Our city budget is pretty good, and we had a lot of discussions on a lot of things,” Davies said. “Andy is spearheading the water plant deal. This is a $6 million undertaking. To put it in perspective, when that plant was built it was only $20 million, and now we’ve put $6 million into it.”

Davies noted the scope of the work has brought unexpected challenges.

“We put $6 million on the inside and now the roof leaks,” he said. “Andy comes back and says, ‘I need another $170,000 for the roof.’ But the cooperation to get what we have accomplished has just been phenomenal.”

Sutak said the city is entering 2026 with momentum on multiple infrastructure projects.

“Starting into the new year, we had a meeting with our engineers on several projects,” he said. “Our engineering company has expanded, which will give us more technical support, especially with upgrades to the water plant.”

According to Sutak, work on Beretta Road – funded by $800,000 from Ohio Public Works — is expected to resume as weather improves, while environmental drilling on North Ridge Drive and Overlook Drive is nearing completion.

“Once we get those reports back, we can start moving forward,” he said, noting both road repairs are partially federally funded.

The total cost of the North Ridge and Overlook road-slip projects is $1 million, with the city responsible for 25% after Sutak secured a flood relief grant to cover the remainder.

At the water treatment plant, Sutak said the final phases of the major upgrade which he called “puzzle pieces” are underway, including completion of the SCADA system, filter beds and ozone treatment process. The city took out a $6 million loan to replace nearly all major components of the plant, which was completed in 1997 and serves more than 15,000 customers daily.

And there’s other projects in the works.

“We got another project where we are going to work with the EPA on water consumption that will hopefully be able to save the city money on this project if it can go through,” Sutak said. “That will help cut our costs and put that money back into our water operation and keep it more solvent.

The mayor also praised recent leadership changes, including the appointment of Police Chief Vincent West. West was named interim police chief immediately after former police chief Jerry Murphy retired in October. West was officially sworn in later that month.

“We had a new police chief come in and hit the ground running, and the department never missed a beat,” Davies said. “People are in and out of his office all the time. He’s reachable.”

Davies stressed accessibility as a priority for city leadership.

“If you have a question, walk into my office — the door is open,” he said. “If I’m not there, they’ll call me and I’ll come. That’s what we get paid to do.”

Looking ahead, Davies said the city must continue adapting to economic realities.

“We’re probably not going to see the big industry come back like it was years ago,” he said. “We have to transform to technology or some other line of job creation. Change is hard, but without it, the city will die a slow death.”

And while infrastructure improvements continue and the leaders are open to embracing change with the hope of “moving the Martins Ferry” forward, the closure of East Ohio Regional Hospital remains a cloud over the city.

The hospital, which reopened in 2021 under former owner Dr. John Johnson, closed again in March 2025 after months of financial troubles, unpaid wages and canceled insurance coverage. More than 200 employees later joined a class-action lawsuit alleging violations of federal labor laws.

Although the hospital was sold to 360 Healthcare Inc. in June with hopes of reopening by fall, additional lawsuits, loan disputes and an involuntary bankruptcy filing halted progress. As of the start of 2026, the hospital remains closed, with no timeline for reopening.

Despite that uncertainty, Davies said city leaders remain focused on progress.

“There’s a lot of projects that have been going on for years that we’re finally getting accomplished. That’s because of the people in this room and the city workers. I think we have the right people,” he said. “Once we get acclimated and bring everyone up to speed, I think this ball is going to start rolling and you are going to see jobs come in. You may not see the steel mills come or the big jobs that were here in the ’70s, ’80s and even ’90s, but you may see some tech jobs come.”

Regis added that the city should take pride in what they accomplished in 2025 and have faith in how far they can go in 2026, emphasizing the cooperation Davies lauded.

“Hats off to council and to John and Andy on working together. We did all this on a limited budget and you didn’t see any big headlines where we were shutting things down,” he said. “Yes, John is right. We disagree and we may get a little bit upset while we’re doing it. But the bottom line is we get it done. We work together to make sure the city keeps moving.”