Taxpayers are funding a number of different projects in the Friendly City this year thanks, in part, to funds made available by the federal American Rescue Plan Act.
The City of Wheeling received $14.75 million in 2021 and will be allotted the same amount his year, according to City Manager Bob Herron. The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act was approved by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021.
How municipalities are permitted to expend the funds is now under by Herron, Mayor Glenn Elliott, and the six members of Wheeling Council.
“We have just received this week the federal guidelines as far as how those funds can be used, and we are reviewing those specifics right now so Council can make their decisions,” he explained on River Talk – Wheeling 100.1 FM. “Last year, we used the funds in ways that made the most sense, and the number one those dollars were used for lost revenue because of the pandemic.
“And right now, we are in the midst of about $1 million worth of paving in all areas of the city, and we’ll award bids in the spring for more paving that will cost about $500,000,” Herron said. “Outdoor dining was also one of the approved uses of the money, and we had several businesses who applied for those funds. We also are researching how other cities are using these dollars so we can make the best use of the money.”
Groundbreakings and Ribbon Cuttings
The effort to find new headquarter locations for the city’s fire and police departments had taken multiple years until the city acquired the properties that made up the former Ohio Valley Medical Center campus from Medical Properties Trust.
The Ohio Valley Professional Center was one of them, and the three-story structure is currently under a $6.5 million renovation to transform the building into the police department’s new, 30,000-square-foot headquarters. Waller Corporation from Washington, Pa., was awarded the contract after Wheeling-based M&G Architects and Engineers completed the design.
Herron confirmed on River Talk – Wheeling that the project is “about 30 percent” complete. The extensive renovation is funded by the city’s service fee. The weekly, $2 is collected from employees of businesses in Wheeling, and half of it is allowed to be used for public safety projects.
The development of the new police headquarters, however, is only one of several projects under Herron’s supervision at this time.
“We do have a lot going on right now, and that includes the upcoming streetscape project,” the city manager said. “Even though we’re in the midst of a pandemic that just doesn’t seem to want to go away, it doesn’t seem as if it is affecting the economy the way it did in the very beginning, so we want to continue that momentum.
“Along with the streetscape, we have some large projects coming up including the parking structure project downtown, and we also have the OVMC campus that we deal with on a daily basis. Plus, the renovation of the new police department headquarters is moving along very well, and we’ll also be building a new fire department headquarters in East Wheeling this year,” Herron explained. “We have a couple of dog parks that we’ll be building, and we also have some underground infrastructure on the schedule, as well.”
On the Block
There are the original hospital and the West Tower that housed the newer one. There is the original Nurse Residence and, again, the newer one. There is a building that housed a behavioral health agency, and also a headquarters structure known as the Education and Administration Building.
Each of the structures fell silent more than two years after Alecto-West Virginia ceased all operations after just two years of residency, a decision that left more than 700 employees without a job and a city with just one full-service medical facility.
In all, the six large, multi-floor structures measure about 800,000 square feet, and not even a tenth of that space has been utilized since the closure.
“There is a lot of square footage on that campus, and there are multiple buildings that we are maintaining every day,” Herron said. “Only a couple of the buildings are heated right now because the utilities are off in some of the others that are not being utilized right now, and (Youth Services System) does have its Winter Freeze Shelter again in the former Hillcrest building.”
Before accepting the president’s position with the Wheeling Chamber of Commerce, Kurt Zende was the economic development specialist for the city of Wheeling, and he guided several interested parties on tours of the property.
“We’ll continue conversations with interested entities this year with hopes that some of them will either want to acquire or lease parts or all of it,” Herron added. “We believe there is a lot of potential on that campus.”
