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LISBON -- Columbiana County commissioners on Wednesday awarded the Dresden Avenue manhole rehabilitation and replacement Phase 1 project to the lone bidder, Advanced Rehabilitation Technology.
County Sanitary Engineer Bert Dawson recommended the awarding of the contract to the company headquartered in Bryan, Ohio for $408,525.
Chief Deputy Sanitary Engineer Troy Graft said the project will begin within a month. The bid was higher than the funding lined up for Phase 1 of the project, so he said the contractor will just do the amount of manholes covered by the funding and the county will apply for more funding for the next phases.
Graft previously talked about what created the need for the project, explaining that hydrogen sulfide gas from the sewer was traveling up the line along Dresden and eating the concrete for the manholes, causing at least two to collapse which had to be replaced in emergency jobs two years ago.
The plan is to do the project in phases to replace 40-plus manholes and to spray on a thick epoxy liner on the inside wall that's resistant to sewer gas. He said that will shield the concrete. The first phase will start at the state Route 170 end of Dresden Avenue and travel south.
When the issue was discovered, the engineer's department decided to come up with a way to fix all the manholes, with Graft saying that the manholes are in different degrees of condition.
An Ohio Public Works Commission grant was lined up and requires a 15% local match.
Traffic will be maintained during construction.
In other business, before approving multiple resolutions for permits to Charter/Spectrum for more fiber optic lines on county roads, Commissioner Mike Halleck said commissioners received some phone calls from residents regarding the company subcontracting with Spectrum. He noted that the right-of-way is specified in these agreements and does not include someone's back yard.
Apparently a resident called complaining one of these companies was in his back yard.
Chief Deputy Highway Engineer Bill Helscel attended the meeting and pointed out the county only handles county roads and has specific instructions the companies must follow, including notifying him at least 48 hours prior to starting construction and following a certain depth. He said the companies have the right to be in the right of way.
"On county roads, I keep after them to make sure they're doing it right," Helscel said.
The county has no control over the projects being done on township roads, in villages or cities or along the state highways.
For county roads, all fiber optic line installations must have a permit approved through a county commissioners meeting and must follow the construction standards set by the county engineer and submit a plan showing the road and location of work to be done and mark the location of the work area.
The commissioners approved several permits at the meeting for Charter/Spectrum for fiber optic line installations, including sections of Valley Road in Butler Township, County Home Road in Center Township, Clarkson Road in Elkrun Township and Middleton Township, Westville Lake Road in Knox Township, Georgetown Road in Knox Township, Leetonia Road in Salem Township, Hadley Road in Unity Township and Knox School Road in Knox Township.
The commissioners also hosted the Investment Advisory Board meeting, which includes the three county commissioners, Treasurer Bryan Blakeman and Clerk of Courts Anthony Dattilio, with Jim McCourt of Meeder Public Funds presenting the report regarding the county's investments.
He talked briefly about the new fed chairman's recent rate hike, which had not been expected but is good for the county's investments because now they'll be at a higher rate for a longer period.
He noted the county's portfolio includes $12,009,183 in STAR Ohio, which is a liquid reserve, noting the total is lower than usual. Blakeman said normally there's about $20 million in STAR Ohio, but that number is down due to the late tax collection for the second half.
The securities portion of the portfolio totaled $125 million as of Aug. 32, with a weighted average yield of 4.15%, a percentage he expects will continue to climb.
The investment income from the securities totaled $3.3 million so far this year, with a total expected to grow to more than $5 million by the end of this year. Last year's total investment income for the year for the securities totaled $3.8 million.
The next meeting for country commissioners will be 9 a.m. Sept. 30 at the downtown courthouse.