MOUNT VERNON — After making several requests, Council member Tammy Woods has the answer as to how the city will pay for replacing the two lime silos at the water treatment plant.
One silo is not operable. The other silo, as Tom Marshall, director of public utilities put it, is “limping along.”
Replacing the two silos will cost $1.488 million. City Engineer Brian Ball said the city has $2.075 million available through two funds:
•Transfer to water utility reserve fund, which has a balance of $931,020
•Clinton Township surcharge fund, which has a balance of nearly $1.445 million
The money now targeted for silo replacement originally was slated for several other projects: the Mansfield Avenue water line, a new water tower, and Phase 2 of the New Gambier Road reservoir.
“We put the brakes on those projects to be able to respond [to the silo emergency],” Ball said.
In their legislative session, council members approved a contract with Integrity Municipal Systems to replace the two silos. There is about a 45-week wait to get the silos.
Also in their legislative session, council members heard from Lyle David Daniels about the lack of dust control and lime sludge cleanup on his property.
Daniels lives adjacent to the field on Old Delaware Road where the city is temporarily storing lime material. The city is hauling some of the material to farm fields for use as fertilizer.
He sent council a video recorded at 6:30 pm Monday showing a “massive” cloud of dust. He said lime material is spread like flour across the road.
“If you run your finger across my car, you can see how much is there,” he said. “Some of that is dirt, some of that is lime. I don’t know if it’s lime sludge or lime gravel.”
Daniels noted that stormwater and construction documents require the city to minimize dust while working with the lime material.
“I do not know of one instance — not one instance — of anyone making any attempt to minimize dust. Not one,” he said. “There’s been no water trucks; there has barely been any slowing down.”
Daniels also said the sludge that spilled onto his property in July is burning up his grass and turning it brown.
“I don’t want it on my property, and they promised they would get it off my property,” he told council.
Daniels previously asked the city to do more science work relating to metals in the lime material and establish a beneficial use committee to come in and fix his yard.
“Nothing’s been taken care of at all. It’s still there,” he said. “My grass is dying; it’s not been beneficial for it at all.”
Daniels said there is “wonderful integrity” on the part of council members.
“But unless you do something with that integrity, nobody’s going to be held responsible,” he said.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has ordered the city to remove the lime material from the site. Under the directive, 7,500 cubic yards must be removed by Dec. 31. Another 7,500 cubic yards must be removed by March 31, 2023, and the rest by Dec. 31, 2023.
The city has appealed that order.
