WATERLINE County, Girard seek funding

This water project is the first piece of a bigger picture.
WARREN -- Bringing Girard water to 57 Liberty Township residences and nine businesses is an important step toward eventually bringing water to the Tibbetts Wick Road and state Route 11 interchange, officials said.
Trumbull County commissioners, along with Girard, applied to the Ohio Public Works Commission on Wednesday for funding of the Keefer Road and Tibbetts Wick Road waterline projects in the township.
This waterline would extend from Goist Lane to Tibbetts Wick along Keefer Road, then east along Tibbetts Wick to state Route 193 (Belmont Avenue). There are existing waterlines at each end of the proposed connection.
"This is a very important element of the water grid," explained Gary Newbrough, county sanitary engineer.
From there, he said, officials hope to eventually run water to the Tibbetts Wick-Route 11 interchange in a future phase of work. Newbrough said they will look at priorities for next year's round of funding. "We want to cross Route 11 and hopefully get that water down to Girard Lakes," he added.
The Keefer Road and Tibbetts Wick projects, meanwhile, will bring Girard water to 57 Liberty Township residences that now have well water, and nine businesses.
The total project cost is $867,255, with $598,405 sought from state Issue 2 funds, $213,000 shared between Girard and Trumbull County and $55,465 from Liberty.
Buying Fords
Also Wednesday, commissioners authorized the county Adult Probation Department to buy two 2005 Ford Taurus vehicles from 32 Ford Mercury Inc. in Batavia through the state purchasing program at a cost of $13,035 per vehicle.
Commissioner Daniel Polivka said the cars were "a compromise" after some discussion of buying new Lordstown-built Cobalts. The county is trying to get better mileage from its vehicles; one of the vehicles to be replaced by a Taurus is a larger Pontiac Bonneville, for example.