T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA Belmont County Commissioner J.P. Dutton awards the McKeever Tank repainting project to Worldwide Industries for $547,565.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The Belmont County Board of Commissioners and Worldwide Industries Corp. of Butler, Pennsylvania, entered into a $547,565 contract Wednesday.

The contract was awarded to Worldwide Industries to repaint the Belmont County Water and Sewer District’s McKeever Tank, based on the recommendation of water and sewer district Director Kelly Porter.

In December, the board seeked bids for the project. Fifteen companies throughout the country submitted bids. Worldwide Industries’ bid was selected based on the recommendation of project engineer Jeff Vaughn.

“I’m happy to see this project move forward. We obviously were dealing with this for the last couple weeks. It’s a great project, and we’ve worked with Worldwide Industries in the past and I’m happy to have them on the project as well,” Commissioner J.P. Dutton said.

Dutton then made a motion to enter into an agreement with Dr. Christopher Gooch, M.D., for medical director services for the Belmont County Jail. That agreement is in the amount of $30,000 per year and will begin today and be effective until Feb. 19, 2026.

“I’ll note for the record this contract will auto renew for an additional year unless a 60-day written notice is given by either party,” he said.

He added that the commissioners, not the Belmont County Sheriff James Zusack, oversee the nursing staff at the Belmont County Jail.

“This agreement is fairly similar to agreements for past medical directors,” Dutton said.

He next moved to enter a subsurface use agreement between the commissioners and Ascent Resources – Utica LLC. The agreement is for the amount of $20,000 and took effect immediately. The agreement pertains to the roadways of Bel-Haven, Fulton Hill and Poplar Drive and to Bel-Haven Second Addition located in Pultney Township.

Dutton said that the agreement will extend past the initial terms if Ascent Resources is producing oil, gas, and or associated hydrocarbons from Robinson SW Well.

According to Pheasant Energy’s website, subsurface rights are the legal ownership to control anything that lies in the ground beneath the property/land.

The commissioners then voted to move the regularly scheduled meeting at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26, to 9 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25, due to a scheduling conflict.