TRUMBULL COUNTY Repaving project's problems irritate mayor of Hubbard

City officials walked away in frustration from the final inspection.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
HUBBARD -- Mayor Arthur U. Magee says he's getting nowhere in his effort to remedy what he says are deficiencies in a $1 million state resurfacing job.
"It's a bad job and they know it's a bad job," Magee said Thursday about the Ohio Department of Transportation.
In fact, the relationship between city officials and ODOT has deteriorated to such an extent that the city officials walked off during the Aug. 24 final inspection of the project with ODOT officials.
The project involves the repaving of West Liberty Street (state Route 304), from the square to Jacobs Road; East Liberty Street, from downtown to the city limits; and North Main Street (state Routes 7 and 62), from the square to the city limits.
ODOT is paying $896,312 to Shelly Co. of Thornville for the work. The city has paid $144,002 as the local share.
Grievances aired
Magee first aired his grievances about the resurfacing in July when he sent to ODOT a list of work he and his staff didn't believe was properly done.
Magee now says he'll look at other options to correct the deficiencies, but won't be specific.
Jennifer Richmond, an ODOT spokeswoman, said she doesn't know of any alternatives the city can pursue.
In July, the mayor said that if the job isn't made right, he'd turn it over to the law director.
One of Magee's strongest criticisms of the work is that some of the rubberized asphalt compound used for resurfacing has already peeled away to the subsurface.
An ODOT spokeswoman said in July that the surfaced peeled in some spots because cars were on it prematurely.
Shelly has heated the areas to repair them, but Magee said the effort just made it worse to drive on.
Service Director Al Patrick said that during the Aug. 24 inspection, ODOT wasn't interested in listening to the city's grievances.
Why officials left
Patrick said he and Paul Collins, city street superintendent, "decided we were just wasting our time, so we left."
Patrick said that during the inspection, he told Michael J. Williams, an ODOT engineer, that he wouldn't pay for the paving job if it were done on his driveway.
Patrick claims Williams responded that he wouldn't pay, either.
On Aug. 25, a day after the final inspection, Williams wrote a letter to Shelly Co., the contractor, saying that five areas of corrective work need done before the company would be relieved of all maintenance responsibility on the project.
Magee argued that the five areas noted by Williams don't address the major problems.
yovich@vindy.com