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Mahoning officials award sewer pact for Poland Twp.
YOUNGSTOWN
Mahoning County commissioners have awarded the first phase of installation of the new South Struthers Interceptor Sewer, which will serve Poland Township, to Rudzik Excavating Inc. of Struthers at a cost of $1,587,446.
Thursday’s contract award was $117,887, or 7 percent, below the sanitary engineer’s estimate of $1,705,333 for the first phase. Rudzik was the lowest of seven bidders for phase one.
Serving 64 homes, phase one will begin at U.S. Route 224 and run by gravity down Struthers and Arrel-Smith roads to the Struthers Wastewater Treatment Plant, and it will have a branch along Kennedy Road.
The first phase, which consists of about 21/2 miles of pipe, is being funded by a $700,000 grant from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and by state and local money.
J. Robert Lyden, county sanitary engineer, said construction likely will start within 30 days and can occur through the winter, with the first phase being ready to accept connections in the summer.
Ohio Public Works Commission funding is being sought for the project’s second phase, which will serve Luteran Lane, James Street, Poland Center Drive and Route 224.
Phase two, which will consist of 3 miles of pipe, also will relieve the overload from a nearby sewer line. Lyden said he hopes phase two can be installed next year.
Phase two will serve 121 customers — about 100 homes and about 21 businesses.
The two phases combined are estimated to cost about $3.5 million.
The project’s goal is to eliminate aging and unhealthful septic systems and promote economic development along Route 224.
At the request of the county engineer’s office, the commissioners also approved the transfer of ownership and maintenance responsibility for the south side of County Line Road between state Route 46 and Four Mile Run Road from Mahoning County to Austintown Township.
The recently repaved road forms the boundary between Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
The engineer’s office, which has maintenance responsibility for 483 miles of county roads, is attempting to reduce that mileage due to recent revenue and staff cuts and higher fuel and salt costs, said Marilyn Kenner, chief deputy county engineer.
That section of County Line and the streets near it are largely residential, she noted. State law calls for the county engineer to concentrate on maintenance of rural roads, she added.
Commissioner David N. Ludt said a meeting of local police and fire chiefs and other interested parties will take place soon to discuss Sheriff Randall Wellington’s proposal to assume control of the county’s 911 dispatching center in the county administration building and move that center to the county jail building. That 911 center is now under the commissioners’ control.
The sheriff said the center can be moved to a room that was designed to accommodate it when the jail was built. The jail building opened in 1996.
The proposed change would save the county $350,000 to $400,000 a year by consolidating some sheriff’s office functions with emergency dispatching, said Lt. Mike Fonda of the sheriff’s department.