T-L Photo/CARRI GRAHAM Martins Ferry Mayor John Davies, right, swears in James Agnew to Martins Ferry Council during Wednesday’s meeting.

MARTINS FERRY — Martins Ferry City Council now has a full slate of members once again as it welcomed its newest member, James Agnew, on Wednesday.

Agnew, who is also a member of the Martins Ferry City School District Board of Education, took his seat at his first council meeting Wednesday evening. Agnew, who was appointed by the Martins Ferry Democratic Committee, filled the vacancy left by former councilman Jack Regis Sr. after he was appointed to the city auditor’s post in late January.

Phil Wallace, chairman of the Martins Ferry Democratic Committee, announced the new appointee to council at the start of the meeting. He said the committee recently met and interviewed two “well qualified” candidates for the position before choosing Agnew to fill the seat.

Wallace also said he wanted to address a question that had previously come up regarding Agnew holding two elected positions in the city.

“According to the Ohio Ethics Commission, yes they can. There are some stipulations, though. Those stipulations are if there are no contracts with the school board, he can hold that position; and if anything does come up with that … he would have to abstain and also, would not be able to email or talk about any contract in the position that he’s sitting in. So that’s the opinion of the Ohio Ethics Commission,” he said.

Council members did not have any questions regarding the appointment.

Mayor John Davies then swore Agnew into office.

After the meeting concluded, Agnew said he heard about the opening and the need to fill the seat and decided to go for it.

“I like helping, I like serving. I consider myself a servant leader and just want to make Martins Ferry better. I always like a challenge,” he said.

Agnew also works as pastor of Tree of Life Apostolic Church in the city.

Toward the end of the meeting, acting council President Rick Rodgers, who was filling in for council President Kristine Davis in her absence, brought up a resolution. He said due to a spelling error in the title of the resolution, he was “hesitant” about taking a formal vote, though he said he would like to see it passed informally.

Clerk Kay McFarlan read the resolution title of the legislation, which is “strongly urging the Ohio Governor and members of the Ohio General Assembly to restore the local government fund to pre-recession levels.”

Service Director Andy Sutak, who is a former Belmont County auditor, spoke up about the document.

“Years and years and years ago when I worried at the county level, local government funds that just came into Martins Ferry at that time was approximately around $420,000. Now we’re approximately down to around $200,000 or right around there,” he said, adding that the city also received government assistance of around $12,000 annually that helped fund townships, villages and cities with police departments.

Sutak urged council members and residents — both locally and throughout the state — to contact state representatives to voice support for the legislation.

“Here’s the thing, that money goes into the general fund for safety services. … It will help our budgets, it’ll make things a little bit easier in trying to make the budgets and help our police force, our fire force, our EMS squads,” he said.

Councilman Bruce Shrodes made a motion to amend the resolution and correct the spelling of the misspelled word; it was unanimously passed.

Shrodes then made a motion to pass the resolution as corrected. It was unanimously passed.