Girard council OKs hiring of company to find grants

The city got a favorable decision in its fight against a landfill.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
GIRARD -- City council is looking for government money to finance sanitary sewer and waterlines for the residential development around Upper Girard Lake.
Lawmakers voted Monday night to give the administration authority to contract with a company to find and apply for grants to pay for the lines.
The authorization comes on the heels of a preliminary study by Thomas Fok & amp; Associates Inc. of Warren that shows it would cost nearly 4.6 million to construct the lines to the area.
The area has long been seen as ripe for development and is one of the few areas left in the city for expansion.
Councilman Thomas Seidler, D-3rd, chairman of council's community development committee, made the motion allowing the administration to seek professional services.
"It's in our best interest to look at all free money," Seidler said.
Seidler said he has met with Alan Knapp, director of the Trumbull County Planning Commission, who told him government money is hard to come by.
"That may be a tough nut to crack," Seidler added of the chances of getting grants for the project.
Councilman Frank Migliozzi, D-1st, chairman of the finance committee, noted that county commissioners have entered into an agreement with the Ohio Attorney General's Office to abate health nuisances caused by sewage problems by 2013. This is estimated to cost about 100 million countywide, Migliozzi explained.
Landfill fight
In other business, city Law Director Mark Standohar told lawmakers that the city health department has won a decision in its fight to keep a Total Waste Logistics proposed landfill out of the city.
In mid-December, the Ohio EPA ruled that Total Waste would not have to meet new state regulations addressing construction and demolition debris landfills before it could begin operations off U.S. Route 422.
Standohar filed an appeal to the ruling, but the Attorney General's Office asked that the appeal be dismissed because it was not filed by the health department within a 30-day time limit.
The board of health, represented by Standohar and Atty. Kurt D. Latell, who offered his services for free, appealed to the Environmental Review Appeals Commission in Columbus.
The attorney general argued that the health department did not appeal the Ohio EPA ruling within the 30 days, and that the EPA had given the city proper notice.
The city says a letter was sent by the EPA to the Trumbull County Health Department rather than the city health department. By the time it got to the city department, the 30 days had lapsed.
Standohar said the ERAC agreed with the city health department that it did not receive notice of the EPA's ruling. With that decision, the law director added, the city can continue its fight to get the landfill to adhere to stricter operating standards if it becomes operational.
yovich@vindy.com