MAHONING COUNTY Trustees discuss need for sewers

Low-interest EPA-sponsored loans can help homeowners pay tie-in costs.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- Township Trustee William Reese wants to get a state grant for sanitary sewer installation in the northeastern corner of the township to keep costs reasonable for local residents.
He said he also hopes to head off a government mandate to install sewers, which could short-circuit the grant application process and raise costs.
To inform local residents of his plan, Reese called a public meeting Wednesday at the fire station on Messerly Road, which was attended by about 100 residents.
"Eventually, this area is going to have to be sewered. And it's better to do it now before these people spend a lot of money on their septic systems," Reese said after the meeting. "There is no choice. The board of health and the Ohio EPA are going to come in and mandate that we do it if we don't do something about it," he added.
At the meeting, Joseph Warino, Mahoning County sanitary engineer, presented a series of proposals for new sewer line installations under U.S. Route 62, Clearview, Orlando and McCarty drives, and Raccoon and Messerly roads that would have a combined cost of about $4 million.
The sewers are being planned because that portion of the township is considered a problem area for septic system failures, a problem compounded when heavy rains carry sewage across other people's property, Warino explained.
Deadline looms
Reese said he wanted to meet this year's October deadline for applying for State Issue 2 money to build the first phase of the proposed sewers. The first phase might be under U.S. Route 62, he said.
If there's an EPA or health department mandate, the sewer lines would have to be built so quickly there wouldn't be time to apply for grants, and local residents would be assessed to pay the construction costs in addition to tie-in and user fees, he said.
Under the proposals Warino described, households would pay a $1,300 tap-in fee, followed by user fees averaging $27 a month. He estimated the additional cost of running a pipe from the house to the sewer and filling in the septic system at about $2,000.
Homeowners within 200 feet of any new sewer line would be required to tap in within six months of its completion at their own expense, he said.
Tying into a new sewer line would be considerably less expensive than the $9,000 to $14,000 it would cost to replace a failing septic system, Reese said.
Residents' views
Donna Dahman of Canfield Road (U.S. Route 62) said she still owes money toward the $10,000 septic system she installed only three years ago and objects to having to abandon it and tap into a new sewer line at her own expense.
However, Warino said the county board of health would likely grant her an extension of time to tap in as long as her septic system functions properly.
Anthony Vross of Fox Haven Drive said he thinks sewers are needed in the area. "There's a problem that exists, and we've exhausted all the steps in trying to resolve the problem," he said, complaining of foul odors from septic systems. "We've got sewage runoff coming into our neighborhoods," he said.