Trumbull officials celebrate partial completion of Kinsman sewer line

By Ed Runyan | February 5, 2016 at 12:00a.m.

KINSMAN

The Trumbull County commissioners and other officials Wednesday celebrated the near-completion of part of the $10.6 million Kinsman sewer project, despite problems with the construction that resulted in legal action being taken against the contractor.

The lawsuit against Marucci & Gaffney Excavating of Youngstown has gotten a lot of attention, but the county quietly employed Kirila Contractors of Brookfield and two other companies last year, and they have worked the past few months to replace and repair sewer lines installed by Marucci and Gaffney.

The result is that 44 percent of the project’s customers will be able to tie in to the line in the coming weeks.

One of those customers is the Peter Allen Inn & Event Center, 8581 State St., just north of the Kinsman Square, where the commissioners had their regular weekly meeting Wednesday.

The next step will be for property owners in the area that is ready to have the tie-in line constructed, said Scott Verner, Trumbull County assistant sanitary engineer.

Verner said Kirila and a couple other companies were authorized to handle most of the repairs in a resolution approved by commissioners about a year ago.

Verner said he doesn’t know how much the repairs have cost so far because the county has not yet been billed. Officials hope the cost to have the line repaired will be recouped in the Marucci and Gaffney lawsuit, Verner said. The suit is pending in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Kirila will begin work to repair problems with the smaller sewer project along state Route 193 in Vienna Township as soon as the company is finished in Kinsman, Verner said. That project ran into similar problems as the one in Kinsman and also was constructed by Marucci and Gaffney.

The commissioners terminated the county’s contract with Marucci and Gaffney in early October 2015, citing sewer lines the company installed that were not level, as evidenced by videos from inside the pipes showing water at various depths.