LISBON — The village Board of Public Affairs appears to be moving forward with replacing the existing water storage tank at an estimated cost of $3.1 million after discounting an alternate plan that would be considerably cheaper.

The topic came up during last week’s BPA meeting, with Jon Vollnogle of the Salem engineering firm of Howells & Baird saying he did not believe adding another pump at the water plant would solve water pressure problems in the northern part of town.

The idea came up at a February BPA meeting when Vikram Rawal, another engineer used by the BPA, recommended adding a third 50 horsepower pump at the water plant to serve as a backup to the two pumps already in operation.

During that discussion, senior plant operator Chris Peterson pointed out one pump was capable of filling the storage tank once a day. This got BPA member Vito DiIullo to wondering if using two 50-hp pumps would be enough to fill the tank without taxing the system, which would appear to resolve the water pressure problem. Adding a third pump would provide insurance should either of the other pumps breakdown.

Rawal said that was a possibility and he would look into it, but Peterson said at last week’s meeting he does not believe adding a third pump in place of a new and larger water tank would solve the water pressure problems. He noted that every town he knows of uses water tanks to address pressure problems.

“I’m just saying $3 million is a lot of money,” said BPA Chairwoman Carol Petrachkoff.

Peterson said it costs significantly more to maintain high-powered pumps than it does a storage tank. “We can spend $3 million and never have to mess with it again for 40 years,” he told her.

DiIullo also questioned the propriety of charging all residents for the water tank project since it will only benefit customers in the northern part of town. Peterson pointed out the water tank benefits household as far south as the high school.

The BPA also met with Joyce Kessler from the Ohio Rural Community Assistance Program (RCAP) to discuss how it might help with various projects. A non-profit agency funded almost entirely with state and federal dollars, RCAP provides technical assistance to small towns and counties for water and sewer projects.

Village Councilman Peter Wilson invited Kessler to the meeting to discuss helping Lisbon secure funding for the water tank project. She said for the village to qualify for CDBG funding, households in the service area need to exceed 51 percent of the federal low-and-moderate income (LMI) standards, and the last community survey showed Lisbon was at 45 percent LMI.

“I have a hard time believing we don’t meet this,” Petrachkoff said.

Kessler recommended a new household survey be performed to determine if the village exceeds the 51 percent LMI, although she doubted they would pick up the additional 6 percent needed to be eligible for CDBG funding.

Village Fiscal Officer Tracey Wonner suggested they perform a study to determine if they would need to raise rates to pay for the water tank project, and Kessler said RCAP could help with that.

In other action, the BPA voted to seek $100,000 from the Columbiana County commissioners’ federal CDBG allocation to help pay for installing a mini-sewage pump station at the far end of South Jefferson Street at an estimated cost of $160,000. The project also includes a new sanitary sewer line to serve three homes and Shenangan’s Pub. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency only recently approved the project.