During the April 7th water and sewer Committee meeting, we reviewed the sewer replacement projects and the three bids that the Village Administrator received from local contractors to repair damaged sanitary sewer lines on Locust Street and Meadowbrook Drive. The work will involve the replacement of over two hundred feet of sewer piping. This will not be an easy task as some of the piping is very deep. The piping will be removed and laid back is in some locations seventeen feet below the surface. This will require the use of OSHA approved trenching to protect workers during removal and installation.
The two projects will cost the village just under $35,000 but will restore the sewer lines to their original design flow rates. Later on the same evening, council approved the expenditure and selected the contractor. The contractor should be starting the work shortly now that the winter weather has broken. There will be minor inconveniences to the residents in both areas, but the improvements will be short lived well worth it.
Preliminary design work of the sanitary plant improvements is moving forward. Representatives from W.E. Quicksall were at the village in March for the initial meeting with the administrator and village employees. Village employees have pulled all the available engineering drawings of the sanitary plant. Quicksall representatives are reviewing these drawings and have plotted preliminary equipment designs on new drawings.
With the break in the weather, field work has begun. Quicksall Engineers and a local surveyor are locating, verifying and marking all existing utility runs at the treatment plant. This past week, a drilling contractor came on site to get core samples of the soils where equipment will be located. While we are encountering some obstacles, the delays have been minor and we are still hoping to see a preliminary design from W. E. Quicksall within the next month or two.
A very important milestone is coming upon us very quickly - grant funding from the state will be announced in May. Our application received a favorable rating from the regional committee and should score well enough against other competing projects in Ohio to receive state funds. Walt Ziemba, our administrator, will be attending the meeting in Columbus when the grant announcements are made. Receipt of this small government grant is an integral part of our funding plan for this project as it is our intention to complete the WWTP upgrade without an additional financial burden placed on our residents.
(Bottorf is a village councilman and chairman of the water and sewer committee.)
