Mayor Scott Jerew told Richwood Village council members at Monday night’s meeting, that the village has received a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). The grant money will be used for the upcoming Downtown Revitalization Project.
The project involves new storm sewer lines, street repaving and sidewalks for Franklin Street. If the amount of money allows, the project will include North and South Franklin Street from Tawa Road to Landon Road.
There will be four phases to the project, which will coincide with the Ohio Department of Transportation’s plan to resurface State Route 37 (Franklin Street through the village). The plan could take up to four years to complete.
Council was excited to hear the announcement of the grant.
One of the first stages of the project will include the removal of approximately 100 trees that are growing in the tree lawn of the street. It will be easier to have the trees removed now before the project gets gets underway. Jerew stated that he hates to see the trees removed, but it is a necessity for the progress of the infrastructure of the village.
Village Administrator Monte Asher reviewed the smoke testing results with council during the meeting. The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has been requesting the village to find the thousands of water that has infiltrated the sewer plant through an I & I study. Recently, the village sewer lines were smoked tested to find where some problems are contained.
The results showed that 33 village residents have busted clean outs; 16 homes have downspouts/sump pumps illegally hooked up to the sewer system and six laterals were broken. Asher stated that the crews that performed the smoke testing did an excellent job to check the whole village in just two days. He also mentioned that he expected more problems than what was found.
The village also has some issues to fix. There were five catch basins that need repaired, 14 risers and 17 manhole covers need to be replaced.
The village ordinance states that residents have 30 days to correct any findings that are not up to code, which also includes the village’s responsibility.
Council approved a one-time resolution to give the residents and the village until December 31, 2018 to get corrections made to get problems fixed. Those residents in violation will receive a letter which states the details. Asher said that hopefully getting these corrections made will help reduce the extra water and the extra abuse on the sewer plant. The village has already had to replace two pumps at the sewer plant, which cost nearly $100,000.
Jerew told council members that through a lot of work from outside help, the village has ownership of the deed for the former town hall building, located at 101 S. Franklin Street. Council will host public town meetings to get suggestions as to what to do with the building. There are many needed repairs that need to be done to the building, but does council want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars or consider selling the building. More announcements will be made.
In other business, council;
-Heard that lines were painted in the garage and new lighting was installed by village crews.
-Was told a tree was trimmed at Ira Bean Parkway that was causing damage with work done by village crews.
-Heard that an abandoned tent was taken down in the park and is held in storage.
-Heard lead and copper testing in the village was done and the results are looking favorable.
-Was told that inventory identification tags may be attached to village equipment.
-Weard that R-16 has been repaired under warranty and is back in service.
-Was told by Asher that the police department is working on hiring a new full-time police officer to replace Officer Walker.
-Heard the Snake Dance last week was well attended and everything went very well.
The next regular meeting of council will be held on Monday, Oct. 22. The Monday, Oct. 8 meeting is Columbus Day, so council will not be held.