Trending
WHEELING -- After six previous unsuccessful attempts, Wheeling resident Charles Ballouz plans to make his seventh run for a Wheeling City Council seat in 2020.
Ballouz -- a resident of the Windsor Manor apartment complex in downtown Wheeling for the past 37 years -- will seek to represent the 2nd Ward on council.
The area is the most needy of any ward in the city, according to Ballouz. He said it has a higher number of drug users, crimes and dilapidated properties.
"There are good people caught in the middle of what is happening around them," he said. "It's time to take the horns and do something about it."
Ballouz often speaks before council on issues affecting the downtown, but he said it isn't enough for residents to have their say for three minutes and for council to then move on to other topics.
More ward meetings are needed, and preferably near or at the location in question, he said.
"I would call for a ward meeting, evaluate the issues and take them to the appropriate department heads," he said. "I would want to see something done about them.
"They say the squeaky wheel gets the most attention, and it's time to start squeaking."
Ballouz is opposed to council's action in 2019 to institute a $2 a week user fee on those working at jobs in the city. Resulting revenue is to go toward construction of a new public service building, which has been proposed for property at 19th and Jacob street on property owned by Frank Calabrese. Council voted on a purchase option of $150,000 with another $195,000 that would be set aside in escrow for potential environmental cleanup.
"They took the property in East Wheeling by eminent domain to build a football stadium. Why can't they take this property by eminent domain?" he said. "This should be the same thing, except those buildings were occupied and this building is unoccupied."
Ballouz said his efforts in 2018 opposing the change of Main and Market streets from one-way to two-way streets led to a petition drive that forced council to abandon the idea.
While a long-time member of the Ohio Valley Regional Transportation Authority board, he successfully called for more routes taking riders to The Highlands. Ballouz also asked that routes to McMechen be extended as far as Reynolds Memorial Hospital in Glen Dale following the closure of Ohio Valley Medical Center this year.
He has served as a member of the Public Defenders Board in Ohio County, and the Ohio County Deputy Sheriff's Civil Service Commission.