Lordstown sewer repairs to start

Staff report

LORDSTOWN

Village officials now hope the $11 million East Side sewer project will be ready for residents to use in three phases starting in May.

The village hired the engineering company Hatch Mott and McDonald about one month ago to examine and correct problems with a 9,700-foot force main running along Hallock-Young Road, said Arno Hill, chairman of the utilities committee, which met Tuesday.

In recent months, officials have been unable to determine why the force main does not provide enough pressure to force the waste to pass through the pipes sufficiently.

Hatch Mott and McDonald has been working on the problem, and Hill is hopeful the company will solve the problem without having to dig up the force main lines already in the ground.

Other parts of the sewer project appear to be working correctly, including four pump stations and 40 grinder pumps, Hill said.

The project, which is a year overdue and more than $2 million over budget, eventually will serve about 600 homes and businesses, including about 300 homes in the Imperial mobile-home park off Bailey Road near the General Motors plant.

The project’s cost rose from $8.5 million to about $11 million because of changes made to the project after construction had begun.

The village sued James A. Farina, the engineer who supervised construction of the project, and his company, JFE Consultants of North Lima, in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. The case is pending.

The suit said Farina failed to secure a $2 million insurance bond, failed to produce written change orders and several other types of construction documents to the village and failed to conduct certain construction tests.