Panel backs tests on sewer system

Niles is looking to spend $1.6 million on rehabilitating a sanitary sewer line.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- City council's finance committee will recommend to the full body that $220,183 be spent to perform soil tests on the city's sanitary sewer system.
If council approves, the work by Montgomery, Watson and Harza, a Cleveland-based environmental and construction firm, will be used in designing the upgrade of about 5,500 feet of sewer lines.
The cost of the long-range project has been estimated at $1.6 million.
Randy Fabrizio, city superintendent of water and waste water, told the committee Wednesday that MWH will perform subsurface testing of sections of the 42-inch interception lines.
The testing will be done on Summit and Wade avenues and East Drive.
On East, Fabrizio said, MWH will rehabilitate the line between Park and Difford drive because it has partially collapsed.
Fabrizio said the lines are old and some rest on unstable ground. The estimated $1.6 million will be used to reline the inside of some sewer lines, make spot repairs on others and remove an obstruction near Kennedy Park.
The lines need to be rehabilitated, Fabrizio said, or sections could collapse, resulting in "catastrophic failure" of the city's sewer system.
Roof repairs
The committee will also recommend that $75,000 be appropriated to make roof repairs at the sewage treatment plant.
Boak & amp; Sons Inc. of Austintown was the only company to bid on the work.
Fabrizio said repairs will be done primarily to the administration building and a building used by workers at a cost of $63,280.
An additional $11,720 will be appropriated to cover the cost of any additional repairs that may be needed to the roof structure but have not been seen during an inspection.