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Township trustees use diligence with resurfacing program budget
CANFIELD
A $190,000 resurfacing project is underway in Canfield Township as trustee Chairman Brian Governor takes the lead on infrastructure improvement in the township.
“I just want to get the process going,” Governor said.
Governor and Keith Rogers, township administrator and road superintendent, said they’ve compiled a tentative list of roads for the resurfacing program that will be finalized once they see where the bids fall in comparison to the budget.
“These are roads we feel need to be resurfaced because it’s been 15 to 20 years” since they have been resurfaced, Governor said.
Rogers said the plan is to partner with Boardman to buy in bulk – something he said will get the township better rates.
Boardman will open bids in July, so the townships will know what the cost will be closer to summertime.
The project, however, will be more than just a one-year process.
“There is a whole series of things we need to go through as far as utilities, finding out about road right of ways and trees. This is way more than repaving program – it’s a restructure,” Governor said.
He said fixing and resurfacing all problem roads would take years and several phases – and cost more than $3 million.
“It’ll take a ton of money and a lot of time,” he said. “We can’t just ignore it and we have got to start somewhere.”
Rogers said the restructuring will restore roads to county specifications.
“It comes down to being a safety issue,” Rogers said. “We are trying to stay on top of infrastructure. If you don’t, the only people you hurt are your residents.”
Governor said he is mindful of residents who live on Gibson Road.
Gibson Road is a former cow-pasture road the township took over from Mahoning County. The road is riddled with potholes, and chunks of pavement are missing.
“It’s a shame how bad the road is,” Governor said.
Rogers said the plan for Gibson road is to skim coat, a 1-inch leveler course of pavement to fill in road imperfections, the first 1,500 feet – something Governor said will make it at least passable.
Loran Brooks of Gibson Road said township employees have done what they could in the past with patches.
“Township people really did their best to maintain this road under the limitations they had to work with,” Brooks said. “I applaud the trustees under the leadership of Mr. Governor and his thinking in this direction.”
Governor said he strives for public input on any problems and concerns the trustees might not have thought of.