photo by: Eric Ayres

Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron, left, and Mayor Denny Magruder review a presentation during a city council meeting this month.

WHEELING — Infrastructure upgrades remain a top priority for city leaders in Wheeling, and members of city council are expected to review and move forward with projects on the horizon for the city’s water and sewer services.

Late last year, city council members were given a detailed presentation on future water projects on tap in the city. Staff members of the Wheeling Water Department and representatives of engineering firm CT Consultants met with the Development Committee of Wheeling City Council to provide an outline of prioritized projects eyed for the city water system over the course of the next few years.

In total, about $19.8 million worth of capital improvement projects are being targeted.

In the coming weeks, council members are expected to participate in a similar review of storm sewer projects that lie ahead. City officials are not only expected to discuss the lists of prioritized infrastructure projects, they are also expected to discuss how to fund them.

“About a month or so ago, we discussed water projects that were on the horizon,” Wheeling City Manager told city council members this month. “We still are working on that. We’re just about done with the rate analysis for the Water Pollution Control side of that. We are required under Public Service Commission rules to do a cost of services analysis, and that currently is underway as well.”

The city’s Water Pollution Control Division has a capital improvement plan known as its long-term Water Pollution Control Plan, which not only upgrades the city’s aging storm sewer system but also addresses Environmental Protection Agency mandates. Implementation of the long-term plan has been ongoing with multiple phases of work being performed in neighborhoods throughout the city.

The WPCD long-term control plan has hundreds of millions of dollars worth of projects targeted in phases over the next 20 years.

City officials are set to examine the infrastructure projects that will be considered top priorities over the course of the next few years. The cost analyses for these prioritized projects are expected to be reviewed as well.

“We’re hoping to wrap all of that up and package it, and get it to city council sometime during the month of March or early April,” Herron said. “So that work is continuing, so you can take a look at what we’re looking at for infrastructure improvements on water and sewer in the coming years.”

There are a lot of moving parts involved with providing these services, Herron noted. On the water side, the city of Wheeling services residents throughout Ohio County and even into neighborhoods in Pennsylvania.

As is the case with any utility, things wear out, things need to be updated, things need to be replaced and repaired, the city manager noted.

Herron added that the city has had an accountant look at the rates that would be necessary to pay for these projects. City leaders have indicated that rate adjustments may need to be made in order to help fund the list of capital improvement projects and pending upgrades to the water and sewer services.

“Maintenance has become more expensive and meeting federal requirements has become more stringent,” Mayor Denny Magruder said, stressing the importance of providing reliable utility service to customers on the system. “I don’t think it’s a big secret that somewhere down the road in the near future, we’re going to have to look at some kind of rate increase, because there hasn’t been any for a while. It’s painful when you have to raise rates, but maintaining our infrastructure – our water and sewer – is one of those things that make this city a great place to live.”