T-L Photo/LENNY WITTENBROOK Barnesville Councilman Terry McCort, left, explains his reasons for wanting to spend money for upgrades to the interior of the village-owned Bohandy Building while Council President Tony Johnson and Mayor Jake Hershberger listen.

BARNESVILLE — Village leaders discussed a number of upcoming paving projects and approved a budget to make some improvements to the Bohandy Building as well as a series of mayoral appointments.

During the first council meeting of 2025 on Jan. 13, Village Administrator Roger Deal informed council that the village had been approved for funding through the Ohio Public Works Commission for a nine-street paving and improvement project totaling $684,410.

Deal broke down the funding, saying the village would receive $506,463 from OPWC with $379,847 of that being grant funding and $126,616 being a zero percent interest loan, while the village match would be $177,947 for the project.

While Deal didn’t go into specifics about the improvements involved, he noted that adding them to the project was key in securing the funding for this year.

Council authorized Mayor Jake Hershberger to sign an agreement with the Ohio Department of Transportation permitting it to pave Ohio 147 from the intersection of Main and Chestnut streets to the east end of the corporation in 2026.

Deal reminded those present that ODOT will be paving Ohio 147 from the center of town south to where it turns into Leatherwood Road this year, which was why the village had prioritized fixing the storm drain system along that stretch of South Chestnut Street last year.

Meanwhile, Hershberger informed council that he had learned that a previous quote of $196,000 for replacement of the roof of the B&O Depot roof was still “good,” but that breaking the job up into two or more phases would cause a significant cost increase.

He said he had contacted a number of other roofing companies about the project, but that they either didn’t work on that type of tile roof or that Barnesville was outside of their service area.

Fire Chief Tim Hall suggested they pursue a solution similar to what the Presbyterian Church had found a number of years ago, when it replaced the old tile roof with tiles that looked similar but were made of a composite material that was much lighter and therefore reduced the stress on the structure.

Councilman Terry McCort said that had been discussed previously, but as he remembered it the expense would be significantly higher since there already is some tile for the depot on hand and going with the composite option would require the purchase of all new tile.

McCort suggested that Hershberger contact Eerie Roofing about a metal option similar in appearance to the tile, while Councilman Les Tickhill said they would have to make sure any changes made would not jeopardize the depot’s historic designation.

Council also approved McCort’s motion to make some improvements to the village-owned Bohandy Building, saying the village had some estimates from Gregg Williams to do some

work on the building. He added that they could also utilize cemetery crew members during the winter months, suggesting that bathrooms, drywall and flooring upgrades could make the building more marketable and “spark interest” while making the space better for when the Barnesville Chamber of Commerce utilizes it.

Council approved spending up to $45,000 on the building in a 4-0 vote. Councilmen Brian Yarnall and Steve Hill were both absent from the meeting.

Chief Hall warned that if that building were sold or leased, the work and money they were putting into it might have to be taken back out depending on the intended use.

Meanwhile, at the suggestion of Tickhill, Village Solicitor Richard Myser said he would “dust off” the Village Business Loan Program that had been worked on and discussed frequently during 2024 but had never received enough votes to be enacted.

Tickhill explained that the program had ended up being more complicated than they had wanted, but that having the program in place might better enable the village to help the State Theatre Company with its request for assistance.

Hershberger also presented a year-end report for 2024, verbally noting a number of highlights.

“Financially the village is in good, healthy condition. In 2024 we received approximately $1.5 million in bonuses on gas and oil leases,” he reported. “The Tunnel and Trail Project is active and hopefully will get rolling pretty soon. We successfully completed a number of projects including the South Chestnut storm drain repairs. We are also working with our EMS department and WVU (Medicine) Barnesville Hospital to update our transport agreement. We also enhanced our village employee pay and benefit package, making us very competitive within the Ohio Valley. I’m grateful for all the collaboration from council this past year, and hopefully we can do even better and continue to do so this year.”

After choosing Councilman Tony Johnson to again serve as council president for 2025, council approved a number of appointments made by Hershberger.

Ronna Allen and John Duch were reappointed to the Park Board for three-year terms. Brad Hudson was reappointed to the Planning Commission for a six-year term. Melissa Leach was reappointed to the Architectural Review Board for a three-year term, and Councilman Terry McCort was reappointed to the Board of Appeals for a two-year term.

Tickhill was chosen to replace Bill Knox as the village representative to the Joint Economic Development District I, since Knox no longer serves as the Village development director after council voted to eliminate that position last year and Tickhill already served as the village representative for JEDD II.

After Hershberger read a request for a uniform allowance increase from Police Chief Rocky Sirianni, who was absent from the meeting, Deal said he would like to see an increase for his crew as well.

After a lengthy discussion, council authorized Myser to prepare ordinances to increase the allowances so they can be approved at the next council meeting.

Ohio Valley Waste Systems owner Dwayne Pielech addressed council about his firm’s recent acquisition of Picken’s Hauling and plans to continue to serve the Barnesville community.

Barnesville Village Council’s next meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Monday in the Municipal Building on Arch Street.