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Boardman, Canfield commit funds for water district study
By Susan Tebben
BOARDMAN
Canfield Township has formally joined the ABC water district, and will help Boardman pay for an engineering study to determine how to calculate fees for the ABC Water and Storm Water District’s work.
The district board formally approved Canfield Township as a member Wednesday. Austintown is the third township member. The move was made after a feasibility study concluded that Canfield Township could be included within the district.
The district board members approved a resolution to fund the engineering services of CDM Smith, which will provide a method to calculate fees and “distribute the costs of ABC water resource projects in Boardman and Canfield” townships.
The district’s purpose is oversight of water and stormwater projects.
The company will calculate a rate based on equivalent residential units (ERU). The fees will be assessed on owners per ERU they own.
“So if you have a house that’s, say, 2,500 square feet, that’s going to be considered one ERU,” said Boardman Township Administrator Jason Loree. “If you have a mall, obviously that’s going to be bigger, that might be 16 ERUs or more, so that’s what the study is going to find out.”
The district also approved a resolution bringing in loans from Boardman and Canfield townships to pay for the engineering and studies.
“You need this to certify you have the funds to pay, and presuming they make money in the future, the district will pay this money back,” said Atty. Eric Luckage, with whom the district consulted about the study.
Boardman Township will loan the district 75 percent of the funds, or $51,656. The amount loaned was based on the size of the township and census figures.
Canfield Township will loan the remaining 25 percent, or $17,218 under a separate agreement.
The engineering services are set to take 12 weeks, Loree said.
At the district’s April 3 meeting, representatives from the engineering firm are scheduled to come and make a presentation on the study.