Negotiation about plant in Kinsman continues

It's hard to say if negotiations will be successful, the sanitary engineer said.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer Gary Newbrough says there's still a chance that the county can purchase the former Kraft sewage treatment plant in Kinsman for use as part of a sewer project.
Newbrough said negotiations are ongoing with Smearcase LLC of Andover, owner of the plant, and he hopes to have information by the end of the month to indicate whether the sale can proceed.
Newbrough's office discovered in October that a piece of equipment, a dissolved air flotation unit that costs around $350,000 and is the size of a train car, had been removed from the plant. The device was used in waste treatment.
Smearcase officials said removal of the device was indicated in a purchase agreement between Smearcase and Kraft, but county officials say they did not know the device would be removed.
Newbrough said there is a possibility the plant could be used to process sewage without the device, specifically by using an aerobic lagoon at the plant. Officials believe there is a chance the treatment could be done using the lagoon, but there are "a lot of factors" being considered, Newbrough said.
Sludge testing
He said the county will test sludge in the lagoon next week and may have negotiations with Smearcase on whether that sludge needs to be removed to make the lagoon usable for treatment purposes.
He stressed that whatever modifications needed to make the plant usable will be paid for by Smearcase because the county will not spend any money to compensate for the loss of the equipment.
He said it's hard to say whether the negotiations will be successful.
The county intended to buy the plant for $1 but had not yet taken possession. The county received approval from the U.S. Economic Development Agency to receive a $340,000 grant to be used with the sewer project.
The grant was supposed to enable the county to run a sewer line about 2,000 feet from the former plant on Burnett East Road to state Route 5. The line would serve business tenants at the former Kraft plant, a future industrial park across the street owned by Smearcase, and Vinyl Color And Grain. All of the businesses promised to create or retain jobs to get the sewer line.
Years away
A later phase was supposed to provide a sewer line to serve Kinsman Center, but county Commissioner Paul Heltzel has cautioned Kinsman residents that that part of the project would occur several years after the first phase and that funding for that phase has not been secured.
Kinsman is one of about 20 areas in the county the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has called unsewered "areas of concern." Erm Gomes, environmental engineer with the EPA, said Kinsman is number four on the county's list.
He said the Ohio EPA remains concerned that the county do what it can to provide sewers to the Kinsman area but stated that the EPA will not take a position on what steps the county should take.
runyan@vindy.com