Mayor says paving awaits funding from the state

The mayor said ODOT is holding the project purse strings.

STAFF REPORT

CAMPBELL — Paving on two streets will begin in the spring, said Mayor John Dill, adding that he wants to dispel rumors about why it hasn’t started yet.

Dill said the Ohio Department of Transportation has not yet released the money — $500,000 in federal-stimulus money for Twelfth Street, and $500,000 for Struthers-Liberty Road from federal money that the state distributes as Issue 1 grants.

The money for the projects was earmarked several months ago, Dill said.

Some people believe the city has the money in a bank and is trying to collect interest on it, he said.

“We don’t have the money for the project,” he said. Money problems have forced ODOT to ask its employees to take unpaid leave amid many pending stimulus projects, which delayed the release of the money, he said.

“I’ve heard, ‘The mayor is hiding the money,’” Dill told the city council at its meeting Wednesday night.

“This is an election year,” he continued. “There’s nobody that would like to see those streets done more than the council and the administration.”

Dill said the paving projects are funded, and the money can’t be diverted away from them. He said the engineering has already been done. ODOT, not the city, will solicit bids for the projects, he said.