MOUNT VERNON — City council members waived the required three readings and gave an emergency green light on Monday night for Safety-service Director Joel Daniels to contract for design services for sanitary sewer projects. Two of the projects, according to City Engineer Brian Ball, are “ticking time bombs.”
“We have three locations, three historic problems,” Ball told council members.
According to Ball, Green Alley, located between 303 and 305 E. High St., is one of the time bombs and “an area where the city should have extended a sewer main years ago but did not.” The existing pipes have broken multiple times and collapsed. Four structures in the area have experienced flooding. The landlord of one home cannot rent it because of basement flooding.
Ball said the project has been ignored over the years due to lack of money; with the recently passed tax increase easing the strain on the general fund, the problem can now be addressed.
The sewer lines in Spice Alley, which runs between 109 E. High St. and the courthouse, are all tied into one defective pipe that connects to the Main Street storm sewer and dispenses into the Kokosing River.
Ball said that when the city discovered the problem during an emergency repair, it had to self-report to the Environmental Protection Agency that the city was dumping sewage into a scenic river. The plan is to replace the pipes, go under High Street and tie into the Vine Street sanitary sewer.
Ball said that both alleys need to be repaired before the Ohio Department of Transportation does its paving project on U.S. Route 36 this year. ODOT bids its paving projects in the spring.
The third project is on Wooster Road north of Mound View Cemetery. Three homes are tied into the same line; in fact, the line from the house in the back goes through the lines in the other two homes in front. Repairs have been delayed for three years.
“Those folks have suffered significant damage and cost,” said Ball.
Ball said the project involves getting an easement to be able to tie into the McKenzie Street sewer line. “It’s also a ticking time bomb, but we might have to delay construction due to the easement,” he said.
Ball plans to contract with CT Consultants for the design services. He does not yet have an estimate for design costs. He cited the urgency to get the designs created, bids awarded and projects completed on the East High Street projects before ODOT’s paving project, as well as multiple sewer backups in all three locations, as the reason to waive the three readings and pass the legislation as an emergency.
