MAHONING COUNTY Funding sought for Petersburg waterline

Trustees also awarded a contract for safety force dispatching.
NEW SPRINGFIELD -- Preliminary work has begun to secure funding for a proposed $1.2 million waterline project in Petersburg.
Springfield Township Trustee Shirley Heck announced when trustees met Wednesday that the township is applying for $150,000 in Community Development Block Grant Funds for the project. Heck said she is exploring sources which could provide additional funding.
She said that in January, AquaOhio sent a survey to Petersburg residents to gauge support for the line. While she did not have survey results, she said support is strong because 31 percent of water wells in that area are contaminated with fecal coliform bacteria.
Heck said the biggest need right now is letters of support from township residents for the waterline. These can be sent or dropped off to trustees at the Springfield Township Administration Building, 3475 E. South Range Road.
Police, fire dispatch
Also Wednesday, trustees approved a three-year contract with Beaver Township for dispatching services for Springfield Township's police and fire departments.
Trustees approved the contract after an executive session which they called after Fire Chief Brian Hughes voiced unhappiness with current dispatching by Beaver. However, Trustee Chairman Jim Holleran said the contract is the "best we can get at present." He said it is not all the township wants but that changing over to another service would mean changing all radios and frequencies, which would be too expensive.
Hughes, in a letter to trustees Wednesday, recommended only a one-year contract with a provision for grievances and improvements and an "out" clause with 90 days notice. He objected that the fire department pays the same cost for dispatching as police despite the police department's higher volume of calls, questioned whether the dispatching meets national standards for fire and EMS and said that paging varies with dispatchers.
The new contract calls for a $1,200 per year increase over three years. This is the first increase in five years. Annual totals for the service were not available last night.
Contract bids
Trustees also opened bids on several projects.
Submitting bids for sidewalk construction in New Springfield were: USA Concrete Specialists Inc., no address available, $105,985; Ivan Law Inc., Hubbard, $113,964; Parella Pannunzio, Youngstown, $104,482; Terreri & amp; Sons, North Jackson, $89,280; Tinkler Construction, Warren, $125,291; Foust Construction, Girard, $85,279; and Joe Lofaro Concrete, Girard, $106,310. The bids will be given to the township's engineering firm, Thomas Fok & amp; Associates, Youngstown, to study.
Trustees accepted a bid from Clean Sweep, New Middletown, for sweeping township roads. Clean Sweep was the low bidder offering to do the job for $73 an hour. The only other bidder was Cleveland Asphalt, Bessemer, which bid $78 per hour.
And they received only one bid to install new lighting in the Road Department garage. B & amp;J Electric, New Springfield, offered to do the job for $1,348. Action is expected to be taken later on the bid.
New hires
Richard Nelson, Curtis Massey, Jason Reinke, Andrea Landis and Mike Philibin were welcomed as the newest members of the fire and EMS Departments.
And contracts to mow township cemeteries were renewed with Rick Logan, Buzz Gebhart and the Springfield Township Historical Society. Rates are the same as last year but the amounts were not available.