T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA St. Clairsville Service Director Scott Harvey tells St. Clairsville Mayor Kathryn Thalman that the city currently has 200 tons of salt to treat the roads throughout the winter months.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — With temperatures into the negative digits this week and the recent wildfires in Los Angeles, Mayor Kathryn Thalman told St. Clairsville City Council what she believes the city should do in preparation for a natural disaster.

“What’s going on in California has really caught my attention with how the town is burning around them,” Thalman said.

She added that she recently met with Belmont County Emergency Management Agency Director Dave Ivan.

“I want to know what you guys have done to cover any kind of disaster that we could have, because that’s what we owe our citizens, is to be as prepared as possible,” she said.

She then asked Service Director Scott Harvey how many tons of salt the city has to treat the roads. He informed Thalman the city ordered 320 tons in the spring and still has 200 tons of salt that is still available for use.

The mayor added that the city has six fully operational snow plows and five trucks that have salt spreaders in their beds.

“I’ll tell you what, these guys have done a wonderful job of keeping our roads clear,” Thalman said. “I was in Wheeling last week and their side streets weren’t even plowed, so I think our guys have done a nice job of getting our streets cleaned up.”

She added that she’s been contacted by a few residents who are upset that the city’s roads aren’t completely clear, but she believes when it gets as cold as it has been recently the salt is not going to fully melt the snow and ice on the roads.

She said that she and Ivan spoke about the things that could potentially happen in the city with heavy snow being the most common occurrence when it comes to natural events.

Thalman then said that she would like to see the city purchase a large generator that would put electricity back into the system when the power goes out due to weather or any kind of disaster. The generator would go into the city’s electric department, which would allow the city to restore power with just the flip of a switch.

Harvey said the type of generator the city would need would cost roughly $250,000.

“It does a couple different things. We can shape peak energy, so in the cold winter or hot summer when the people are using the most energy we can run the generator to lower our peak, which will lower our bills which will save us a lot of money,” Harvey said. “The other thing it does is in a situation when you have an ice storm like we had a few years ago, this generator would be able to pick up and carry basically everything from the middle of town and west.”

He added that purchasing the large generator would be the first step in a project that would be able to power the city in the case of an emergency. The next step would be to purchase other smaller generators to power buildings such as the J.B. Martin Recreation Center to use as a place for residents to go in the event of an emergency.

He said he plans to meet with American Municipal Power next week to speak about the possibility of securing grants for the city to purchase the generator.

“Keep your fingers crossed but we do want those generators, I don’t want to see us losing power when we don’t have to,” Thalman said.

She added that there currently is not a building that qualifies as a warming shelter in the city of St. Clairsville due to not being able to meet the requirements set by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

“There’s not a center in town and that bothers me, but we’re looking into fixing that,” Thalman said. “It’s not a sure thing, but we’re trying because I definitely want to see us have an independent supply of heat and electricity if we need it.”

She added that if somebody needs any type of assistance during the frigid temperatures this week, they should contact the St. Clairsville Police Department and an officer will arrive to help any resident in distress. The police department can be reached at 740-695-0123.