Trumbull County officials OK road-maintenance agreement

Staff report

WARREN

The Trumbull County commissioners have approved an agreement that gives responsibility to the county Engineer’s Office for maintaining 18.3 miles of roads in Farmington Township.

County Engineer Randy Smith said this is the first government body in Trumbull County to make use of a provision of Ohio law approved by the Ohio Legislature in 2011 that allows the county engineer to provide such services during regular business hours Monday through Friday.

Previously, the engineer’s office could only provide services such as road maintenance and snow plowing on weekends at overtime rates, which caused the service to be too expensive to be of much use, Smith said.

Starting Aug. 1, the county engineer’s office will handle work being done now by two Farmington Township employees working 32 hours per week, Smith said.

Because the county engineer’s office is larger than the township’s road department and has better equipment, it will be able to provide a better level of service for about the same cost, Smith said.

The county can also apply for grants on the township’s behalf — something the township hasn’t done in recent years.

The result for the township will be to abolish the township road department. The county will bill the township quarterly.

Smith said he’s talking with the village of West Farmington and other governmental bodies about working out this type of arrangement in their areas.