The Village of North Lewisburg will be exploring other options for sewer regionalization after cost quotes from Logan County came back higher than expected.
Village Administrator Todd Freyhof told council Tuesday that he has met with representatives of Marysville and sending the village sewage to the nearby city might be the better option.
Regionalization of smaller, aging wastewater operations is an idea being pushed by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Currently Plain City, Richwood and Magnetic Springs are involved in planning for future regionalization of wastewater operations.
The village hired engineering firm DLZ to compile a report on the possible paths forward for North Lewisburg’s wastewater operations.
That report focused on three solutions, pumping the sewage to either Marysville or a planned facility in the East Liberty area operated by Logan County, or upgrading the village’s existing plant.
Upgrading the existing plant was believed to be too expensive.
The report indicated that Marysville’s per-resident rate would be lower than the East Liberty plant, but would require more up front costs. Once negotiations began, the cost to use the Logan County operation was higher than expected.
Freyhoff said the Logan County Commissioners said they did not want North Lewisburg residents to pay less than residents of their own county, so the per-household rate to process the sewage would be at least $50 per month. When factoring in expenses to service the village’s existing sewer operation debt, residents would need to be charged by $58 to $60 per month for sewage alone.
Without mentioning exact rates, Freyhof said Marysville offers a cheaper per month rate, but the closest tie-in to the village lines is considerably farther away.
At a previous meeting, Freyhof said the closest tie-in for the East Liberty plant would be 3.5 miles away while Marysville would be 7 or 8 miles away, requiring more material and easements for line installation.
The initial report indicated it would cost nearly $2 million more to extend lines to Marysville rather than the East Liberty plant. That expense may have been reduced, however, because of a recent annexation by the city of Marysville
Marysville agreed to annex a piece of land west of the city earlier this week in preparation for a 635-home development. In doing so, it agreed to expend city utilities to that area, which could move the closest tie-in up to a mile closer to North Lewisburg, according to Freyhof.
The engineer said he would continue to negotiate with Marysville in order to determine the best course of action for the village.
The village will also be performing a study in the coming months to determine the accuracy of the recent census in regard to the number of low to moderate income residents. Freyhof said if the village can determine at least 51% of residents fall in the category North Lewisburg would be eligible for more funding opportunities for projects.
Freyhof said a random sampling of 400 residents will be created and those people will be mailed notification and then physically presented with a confidential form soliciting income information
Freyhof said the entire village does not need to meet the criteria, noting that if certain streets are deemed low to moderate income projects in those area could qualify for funding.
Freyhof noted that St. Paris recently completed a similar study and found it had more low to moderate income residents than the census reported. That study, however, cost $20,000 to complete whereas North Lewisburg’s will incur minimal expense.
In other business, council:
-Approved the transfer of $100,000 for the purchase of equipment from wastewater funds.
– Voted 5-0 to discontinue mayor’s court and run citations through municipal court in Urbana.
-Decided to return to hosting a village Christmas party after the December council meeting. The event has not been held in recent years because of COVID concerns.
-Voted to extended the contract with IGS Electric for village facilities. The village currently pays .049 cents per kilowatt through 2025. The new extension secures a rate of .059 cents per kilowatt from 2025-2027.
-Began to explore the option of providing online bill pay for village utilities.
-Discussed purchase of a pole barn kit to be used to house police and street department vehicles. Freyhof said village staff would construct the building.