Council Expedites Projects to Get Work Completed This Fall
Photo by Eric Ayres Trending
WHEELING - Members of Wheeling City Council this week put several new pieces of legislation on the fast track this week to expedite projects in order to get them completed before this winter.
Four original propositions that were introduced this week were given two separate readings and were unanimously approved by votes before council, per recommendation by Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron.
One ordinance that was approved authorizes the expenditure of $55,000 with Savage Construction Co. of Wheeling for sidewalk replacement on Eoff Street. Savage Construction was the low bidder for the project. By comparison, Blackstone Landscape and Construction submitted a bid for $65,177. The cost for this work will be charged to the city’s Water Pollution Control District.
"There are sidewalks in Centre Wheeling that have been taken out as a result of a sewer project," Herron explained. "That has created a safety hazard. These are all in front of residential structures. So they all need to be replaced as soon as possible."
Another ordinance that was approved following two readings this week authorizes the expenditure of $48,800 with Cast & Baker Corporation of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, for street paving related to water line repairs on 17th Street, McColloch Street, Elmwood Place and Monroe Avenue. The cost of this work is to be paid by the city’s Water Department.
"We would like to get these repairs made so that the streets that the repairs are being made on can be paved before winter," Herron said, noting that the process needed to be expedited before winter weather arrives and puts a halt to paving season.
Cast & Baker was the low bidder for this project. By comparison, Wilson Blacktop Corporation bid $51,950 and Semper Fi Paving LLC bid $78,400.
Council also approved new legislation to stabilize the hillside where one of a handful of slips occurred on Glenwood Road. The ordinance authorizes the expenditure with Ohio-West Virginia Excavating Company of Powhatan Point for emergency repairs on a slip where a previous, temporary fix had been performed.
"As you know, there’s only one way up Glenwood Road and one way back," Herron said. "We made a repair on this particular location. It has failed. We’re proposing a piling wall. The original ordinance on this was $392,000. It has now been revised down to $346,606. So before that repair fails any further, we would like to get a piling wall up there."
Herron said in light of this situation, work needs to move forward as soon as possible.
The city will pay for this project through the city’s Restricted Capital Improvement Project fund.
Lastly, council fast-tracked an original proposition that will bring new lighting to the historic Centre Market.
"You may recall that many years ago, there were lights that outlined Centre Market during Christmas time," Herron told council members. "There’s been advancements in lights to the point where they are LED and can be permanently mounted."
This project will mount lights on both the upper and lower market houses. The programmable lights will not only be available during the Christmas season but will be used throughout the year, Herron said.
"It’s a very professional application and one that we would like to get done before Christmas," he explained. "The lights and the tracks that they’ll be in have been cleared by the State Historic Preservation Office, so they are in line with the historic nature of the market houses."
A $22,877 contract with Rally Exterior Solutions of Tiltonsville was approved for the Centre Market lighting installation, which will be paid through the city’s Project Fund.
Herron noted that the lights will be used nightly and can be programmed to change color for special occasions such as Christmas, the Fourth of July, Halloween and other holidays.
"It’s a very diverse system," he said. "I think it will look great at night at Centre Market, plus it is also security lighting during the evening hours."
In other action this week, council approved the nomination of Wheeling resident Elliott Albert to fill a vacancy on the Wheeling Planning Commission.
"A planning commission member moved out of the city limits, and by charter, planning commission members do have to be residents of the city of Wheeling," Herron explained. The city manager recommended Elliott to fill the vacancy left by the former planning commission member, architect Christina Schessler.