WEST HILL Sewer work completed over budget

Additional excavation and backfill were required due to poor soils.
BROOKFIELD -- Work is completed on Trumbull County's West Hill sewer project in Brookfield Township, slightly over budget because of a few surprises found during the job.
A year ago, county commissioners awarded a $2,478,000 contract to the low bidder, Kirila Contractors Inc. of Brookfield.
Today the commissioners are expected to approve an additional $145,659.62 in change orders requested by sanitary engineer Gary Newbrough, raising the final cost to $2,623,659.62.
The long-awaited project provides sewers to more than 240 homeowners in the West Hill section of the township that had been using septic tank systems.
"This was our annual large project," the sanitary engineer said.
The project involved construction of 21,500 feet of 8- and 12-inch sewers along 14 streets. The area is bounded by Lincoln Road to the north, Warren-Sharon Road to the south, Yankee Run Road to the west and State Line Road to the east.
West Hill qualified for Ohio Department of Development funds because of the large percentage of residents with low to moderate incomes.
Costs involved
The project involved $300,000 from the county's fiscal 2003 Community Development Block Grant formula program and $600,000 from a competitive CDBG water and sewer grant. The Ohio Department of Development monitored the project.
To fund the project, commissioners borrowed $1.3 million and received $400,000 in state Issue 2 funding.
Newbrough explained among the reasons for the change orders was that a mine shaft was encountered on Meek Road and additional excavation and backfill were required because of poor soils.
"The mine was a complete surprise," Newbrough said, saying it had not been noted in previous engineering studies.
Also, more and more low- and moderate-income people signed on to the project as they noticed the backhoes doing the work. This increased the number of low- and moderate-income people connecting to lateral lines from 60 to 100, he said.
Those households that are not in the low- and moderate-income category paid about $2,000 each to run lateral lines to their homes. CDBGs paid for the laterals for those who qualified because of income status.