photo by: Eric Ayres

Wheeling Mayor Denny Magruder, left, and Vice Mayor Jerry Sklavounakis attend a meeting this week in council chambers at the City-County Building.

WHEELING — Projects are already in motion to bring some major improvements to the city of Wheeling’s Wastewater Treatment Plant, and officials are hopeful that upcoming work on the plant’s digesters will help address some of the nagging odor issues that have troubled the facility in recent years.

Last week, it was announced that a 38% rate increase for Wheeling’s water and sewer customers is being eyed for the near future in order to pay for more than $65 million worth of prioritized projects for the municipal utility systems. City leaders plan to issue 30-year bonds to finance $21,495,000 worth of projects for the water department and $43,850,000 for projects in the wastewater department.

Members of the Public Utilities Committee of Council forwarded a recommendation about the projects and the proposed rate increase to city council, which is expected to soon see legislation regarding a bond issue and action regarding the proposed rate hike for services.

In the meantime, city officials are already moving forward with needed work that will be part of the overall improvements at the Wastewater Treatment Plant in Center Wheeling. Officials are using bond anticipation notes in order to finance various work at the plant.

This week, a number of ordinances were approved in order to move forward with necessary work at the plant.

A $1,330,630 contract with Grae-Con Construction Inc. of Steubenville was approved for digester cleaning, inspection, repair and valve replacement at the facility under “Contract B.” Grae-Con submitted the low bid for the project. By comparison, TS Elliot Contracting bid $4,450,488 for the work.

City council also approved a $332,250 contract with Mobile Solid Solutions of Somerset, Pennsylvania, also for digester cleaning, inspection, repair and valve replacement at the plant under “Contract A.” By comparison of Mobile Solid Solution’s low bid, Marrel Brothers bid $676,900 and Synagro Central LLC bid $814,295 for the project.

An ordinance was also approved authorizing an agreement with Verdantas Engineering of Wheeling for wastewater treatment sludge and dewatering services and centrifuge design in the amount of $382,640.

City Manager Robert Herron noted that the digesters in the plant are due for cleaning and repairs, and in light of their current condition, efforts to reduce the level of odor coming from the plant are basically futile.

“What has happened is that our digesters have filled up,” Herron said. “We’ve had some issues with being able to empty them. Typically, you clean out digesters every 10 to 15 years, and it has probably been at least 15 years since they have been cleaned out.”

The Wastewater Treatment Plant was built in the 1950s, and despite nearly $45 million worth of improvements invested in the facility over the last 25 years or so, a lot of the equipment in the facility is still in serious need of an update. These new contracts will start that process by bringing a much-needed cleaning and repairs to the digesters.

“Because of the age and the incredibly difficult environment — you can imagine inside a tank with sludge, etc.– we’ve had some issues,” Herron said. “So this is a complete cleaning of the digesters and then a complete repair of everything that’s in those digesters. The cost of this is included in the proposed bond issue. This would be covered under a bond anticipation note, but that note would be taken out by those bonds.”

Officials indicated that once the work is completed, some of the foul odor issues should be more manageable.

“It is a wastewater treatment plant, so there is always going to be some odor,” Herron said. “We do have ways to treat that that have been effective in the past, but the problem that we currently have is the fact that those digesters are full, and that is creating the odor that is emanating from the wastewater treatment plant that is almost impossible to control.”

Wheeling’s Wastewater Treatment Plant sustained significant damage during the flooding that occurred in April of 2024. A major disaster declaration was issued for that weather event, opening the door for reimbursement through the Federal Emergency Management Agency for costs associated with flood-related damage. Officials estimate that about 30 percent of the repairs that need to be performed at the plant will likely be reimbursable through FEMA.

Until those needed repairs are made, the city has been renting equipment from Centrisys of Kenosha, Wisconsin for a centrifuge that was damaged in the flood. The monthly cost of this rental is $27,000.

“We’ve been spending significant amount of money on rental equipment, and we need to move forward so that we can save money in the long term by having these bonds passed,” said Vice Mayor Jerry Sklavounakis, chairman of the Public Utilities Committee of Council. “This is just a necessary evil of government, and I appreciate everyone in the community for understanding that.

“I know that some people aren’t happy with the rate increases and what we’re doing, but we really don’t have a choice in this matter. It’s not something we want to do, but we have to do this.”

With a number of communities in the Ohio Valley and beyond dealing with challenges to aging public utility systems, Wheeling Mayor Denny Magruder stressed the importance of keeping these vital services up to date. In recent weeks, communities from Cadiz to McMechen have grabbed headlines because of water problems.

“I think if you’ve been watching the media over the last couple of months, there have been a number of water and sewer issues all around us, and I think that one of the things we’re doing to stay ahead of that is to do these bond issues, to make sure that we do deliver clean water and wastewater that’s able to be put back into the Ohio River,” Magruder said.