T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK Joseph Vavra is selected Tuesday as the new law director for St. Clairsville.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Joseph Vavra is now handling legal affairs for the city as its new law director.

Vavra was recommended by Mayor Kathryn Thalman on Tuesday, and St. Clairsville City Council unanimously voted in favor. He replaces Elizabeth Glick. Thalman said Glick chose not to reapply for the law director position.

“Elizabeth has taken a new job and decided right now her attention needs to be there, and I can certainly appreciate that, and I want to thank Elizabeth for her four years of unwavering service and work. With her assistance we’ve made some momentous leaps forward, and we wish her much success,” Thalman said. “She’s got to focus on her new opportunities.”

Afterward, Thalman said five people had applied, but Vavra’s expertise and experience stood out. He is an assistant Belmont County prosecutor and worked at the Vavra Law Office in St. Clairsville.

Vavra has served as solicitor for the villages of Rayland and Bellaire. This is his sole present post as a law director for a municipality.

Vavra said he looks forward to “hitting the ground running.”

“I know this city has a lot of good things going right now, and it interested me to get back involved at this level and to help out with the city,” he said.

Vavra said he expects to work on the legal matters regarding the ongoing waterline replacement project as one of the city’s most significant undertakings. Other tasks will include working to update the city’s permits for temporary businesses.

He said he is familiar with researching a wide variety of legal topics.

“I’m pretty flexible, and I know a lot of the areas to go to to find the answers,” he said. “Thank the mayor and council.”

Prior to the vote, council members had the opportunity to ask questions of Vavra.

Councilwoman Terra Butler asked if he had any concern about a conflict between his role as an assistant prosecutor and the city’s law director. Vavra said he does not believe so, adding that he consulted with Prosecutor Kevin Flangan and a prior assistant prosecutor, Dan Fry who later served as prosecutor, who was also Martin Ferry’s attorney while working in that office.

Vavra said he handles criminal matters in the western part of Belmont County and is already familiar with operations and area law enforcement.

Councilman Mike Smith asked if Vavra was familiar with the city charter. Vavra said he had familiarized himself with the city charter, adding that he has concerns.

“Sometimes I feel it’s not being followed,” Smith said.

Vavra said he had grown familiar with the charter in the past few months through his legal research.

Council also approved the reappointment of Annette Whealdon as finance director. Thalman said Whealdon has brought the finance department “up to date” in her four years on the job and that audits have been clean.

Smith had expressed an interest in conferring with the new law director before the appointments were made, but Whealdon had already been nominated and the vote proceeded. Whealdon was unanimously approved.

Thalman also nominated Jeremy Greenwood as safety and service director for another four years. She said he has tackled long-time infrastructure issues such as the water system, and helped to acquire grants and negotiated with city workers.

Smith abstained from the vote. The other council members voted in favor of reappointing Greenwood.

Afterward, Smith reiterated that he wanted to confer with the law director about the charter.

“I just want some clarification,” he said. “We have some minor things we don’t do correctly according to the charter, and I wanted to verify that. … I notice a couple things procedure-wise.”