BELLAIRE — Twenty-six people signed a petition seeking to declare a Bellaire resident’s overloaded property a public nuisance.

Village Clerk Mary Haglioizou read the petition at Thursday evening’s council meeting. It asks the village to enforce building, housing, safety and zoning codes and to declare 137 Second Ave. a public nuisance because of the amount of junk on the property.

Residents who signed the petition want to take the public nuisance issue to Belmont County Common Pleas Court. The property is owned by Michael Longwell, who they allege is in violation of the building, housing, safety and zoning codes of the village. According to discussion at the meeting, the village can go to court with the public nuisance declaration request and then clean up the property.

Two weeks ago, Longwell appeared in Mayor’s Court for property code violations and pleaded innocent. Police Chief J.J. Watson said Longwell’s case is now in Belmont County Eastern Division Court.

Watson added that this issue has been going on for five or six years.

The village plans to obtain a status from the Eastern Division Court and to possibly send the petition to the court. The village also plans to issue a condemnation of the lot. Watson told council he will take pictures of the property and condemn it; however, he said people can still live in the house even if it is condemned.

Watson said condemning the house has nothing to do with the problem of the junk on the lawn, so the village is dealing with two different issues.

Meanwhile, Haglioizou read Resolution 2024-1114 to appoint a village administrator and set the salary. Council hired new Village Administrator Jay Binger at the last council meeting at a salary of $60,000 a year. He will also receive a cellphone issued by the village and all other standard employee benefits, such as health insurance, dental insurance and life insurance.

Binger will go through a six-month probationary period. After the six months, his salary will increase to $65,000, as long as council approves of his performance during the probationary period.

Council members including Robert “Bubba” Kapral, Mike Doyle, Jerry Olack, Janet Richardson and Elizabeth Dugmore voted to declare the measure an emergency and approved the resolution. Councilman Bill Schmitt was not present at the meeting.

Council also approved Resolution 24-1115 authorizing fiscal officer Marla Krupnik to prepare and submit applications to participate in the Ohio Department of Natural Resources capital improvement community park recreation or conservation project pass-through grant. ODNR will administer financial assistance for public recreation purposes, and the village will purchase new lights for Union Square Park.

The Bellaire Police Department will be having its first-ever “Fill the Cruiser” event from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday at Nelson Field parking lot. The department is looking to get gifts for children who need them this Christmas. Watson said the department would like for people to donate toys for these children, so they will receive toys on Christmas.

The village will continue charging for rental parking spaces at the East 32nd Street parking lot, and people can get a ticket from the village to park in the spots. Free parking will be offered on the back row that is closest to Ohio 7. The properties committee will meet at 9 a.m. Monday to discuss rental signs for the parking spots.

Council also entered a closed-door session to discuss potential litigation.

The next regular scheduled meeting will be moved from Dec. 19 to Dec. 23 at 6 p.m. at the municipal building.