By Peter H. Milliken

milliken@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County commissioners approved a five-year water supply agreement with Aqua Ohio, with annual rate increases of 4.2 percent in the first two years and 4.5 percent in the third and fourth years.

There’s also an optional 4.5 percent increase in the fifth year.

The communities served may suspend that final year increase, triggering rate negotiations for that year.

The average household, which uses 3,900 gallons a month, will see a $1.80 increase in its monthly bill from $43.04 to $44.84 with the 4.2 percent increase at the start of the agreement Jan. 1.

Aqua serves customers in Lowellville, Struthers, Poland, and Boardman and in Coitsville, Springfield, Beaver and Canfield townships.

Governing bodies of all the communities served have approved the new rates, said Bill Coleman, office manager in the county sanitary engineer’s office, who recommended the agreement to commissioners Thursday.

Getting rates approved by local communities served is an easier and cheaper process than the alternative of applying for Public Utilities Commission of Ohio approval, Coleman said.

The rate increases will help pay for $28 million in county in improvements at the dams impounding Aqua Ohio lakes, at Aqua’s Poland water treatment plant, and in the company’s water distribution system.

Evans Lake is Aqua’s primary local water supply.

“The rate negotiation process is a win-win for Aqua and our customers in the communities we serve because it allows us to make substantial capital improvements to sustain service reliability, regulatory compliance and water quality without rate shock” [without very large rate increases], said Jennifer Johnson, Aqua Ohio Struthers Division area manager.

Aqua’s Struthers Division covers all Aqua’s county service area.

Aqua, which serves about 20,000 county customers, has been negotiating rates locally in the county for more than 30 years, Johnson said.

Sheriff Jerry Greene told commissioners that unclaimed gold left behind by county jail inmates has a total value of $14,000 to $16,000.

After it is melted down and processing costs are paid, the proceeds will be divided equally among Friends of Fido, the Second Harvest Foodbank of the Mahoning Valley and Akron Children’s Hospital, Greene said.

The sheriff recently announced the disposal of unclaimed jail inmate property, some of it dating back to 1972, and some of it not claimed by family members of inmates who went from the jail to prison.

As of Monday, answering of 911 calls originating from the village of Poland and Jackson Township switched from the county’s emergency dispatching center in downtown Youngstown to the Boardman and Austintown police answering points, respectively.

In its 911 consolidation effort, the county will close the downtown answering point, likely next spring, said Boardman Police Chief Jack Nichols.

The county is gradually switching call answering from that answering point to Boardman and Austintown.

The emergency responder radio system upgrade accompanying the transition already is improving the clarity of radio transmissions, Greene said.

Youngstown State University has agreed to allow rent-free placement of a law-enforcement communications antenna atop Stambaugh Stadium, he added.