COLUMBIANA City council will vote on loan for sewers
City officials will sign contracts after the council approves funding.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
COLUMBIANA -- City council will meet in special session at 6:30 p.m. July 25 to vote on borrowing $5.5 million for a sewer extension project.
The council has awarded contracts for both sewer and water extensions along state Route 14 east from the industrial park to state Route 7 and The Links at Firestone Farms property.
Council voted 4-0 Tuesday, with Councilmen Geoff Parsly and Don Vignon absent, to approve the sewer extension.
City Manager Keith Chamberlin said contracts will be signed after council approves borrowing the money for the sewer project.
ContractsMarucci and Gaffney Excavating of Youngstown received a $3.4 million contract for the sewer lines.
Craig Edward Susany of Columbiana received the contracts for the lift station, $1.3 million, and the waterline extension, $197,585.
Several residents and business owners voiced opinions about the sewer assessments, which are based on total acreage of each property owner's land.
The bulk of the assessment will be paid by developer Wayne Bacon, owner of The Links at Firestone Farms, a public golf course. Bacon intends to build 400 to 600 homes on the golf course and develop a stretch along the east side of Route 7 from Route 14 north to Heck Road.
Councilman Devin Witt said he had difficulty deciding how to vote. He is excited about the Firestone development and in general the potential for growth and progress for the city that the sewer extension would bring.
He said, however, he had difficulty approving the project, which would mean senior citizens on fixed income will be faced with assessments of $10,000 or more.
Hearings
Leonard expressed similar concerns and said that not all residents knew about the public hearings required before council took a final vote. He said, however, that the city followed all the legal requirements in advertising the hearings.
Leonard wanted to table the motion to a future meeting, but Mayor Lowell Schloneger and some council members stressed that by law the council had to vote for or against the sewer project at that meeting. They said Ohio law requires that a vote be taken at the same meeting in which a public hearing on the issue takes place.
Problems in delay
Schloneger also said that voting against the project would delay it at least a year, and the city would have to pay the $700,000 in engineering fees.
Schloneger also noted that delaying the project would also make it cost more, because construction costs will only continue to rise in the months ahead.
Assessments are expected to range from $4,000 to $3 million. Anyone who may have difficulty paying the assessments can make a case for financial hardship.
Besides the Firestone development, the extended sewer line will also serve businesses that lie along the extension route.