A petition by Millcreek, Liberty and Paris townships to clean up the logjam in Mill Creek has been approved by the Union County Commissioners. Officials are hoping the cleanout, affecting nearly 12,000 parcels, will curb flooding like the section of creek pictured above.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Kevin Behrens)
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A major step was made in the Mill Creek logjam cleanout project this week.
Officials in Millcreek, Liberty and Paris townships filed a petition to get the project moving forward, which was approved by the Union County Commissioners during their regular meeting on Wednesday.
County Administrator Bill Narducci said this step was a necessary procedural action to jumpstart the project according to the Ohio Revised Code.
“As part of the ORC, for a ditch project, you need a petitioner, someone to reach out and say, ‘hey, we want this project to be initiated,’” he said.
Paris Township Trustee Tony Eufinger, present for the petition approval, told the commissioners that he’s happy to see the board approve the measure. He said he’s had residents as recently as this week come to the township meetings to express concern and frustration with the increased flooding over the years and an increased desire for this to be fixed. One resident in particular, he said, had $10,000 in damage to her home.
“She now has three sump pumps. I don’t know anyone who has two sump pumps let along three,” he said. “It’s just a few examples of how this really affects people’s lives.”
Also part of the process, and included in the resolution, was a bond from Millcreek Township for $63,080, put in place pending the green light from the commissioners on the project overall.
“Part of that requires some engineering work, some due diligence to kind of kick that off, even if it doesn’t move forward,” Narducci said. “So, that’s the purpose of the bond, as per the ORC, the petitioner has to put up the bond to cover that initial process.”
He said in the event of the project not moving forward, which he said is unlikely, the bond would pay for those first steps.
The $60,000 number is calculated based on a percentage of the overall project cost, which is projected to be over $1 million.
Typically bonds of this type are not that high but given the scope of the project, covering some 12,000 parcels, the numbers are a bit higher.
“Being that this project is very well supported and is being paid for with ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act), we’re very confident the commissioners are going to move it forward,” Narducci said. “What we’ve told the bond provider, which would be the township in this case, is that essentially they have to basically appropriate or encumber funds for it but there will be no payment.”
He said it’s not a traditional bond where you pay a certain percentage, rather a surety “that the money’s there” if this project doesn’t move forward. Though, he added, since it’s more than likely going to be approved, the bond will be unnecessary.
If it doesn’t happen to move forward, he said the county would work with Millcreek on a solution but alternative scenarios haven’t really been considered since the project is so likely to proceed.
Now that the petition has been filed and the bond is in place, the next step is a public viewing, which Engineer Jeff Stauch said is scheduled for early next month.
He said work on the logjam got moving after his office hired Dean Otworth, the former Highland County engineer, to head the project.
The planning has still been difficult, however, given the public nature of the viewing process and the number of affected property owners, he said. The likely plan would be to have the viewing across three separate hours at the county building at 940 London Ave. as a way to catch as many people as possible.
“We’ve got some work to do to prepare for the view,” he said.
Beyond the viewing, the county is also planning the first hearing, scheduled for early December.
In addition to the required public hearing dates, the county is also doing three consecutive meetings Oct. 17-19 as a way to provide as much information as they can.
“It would be kind of an open house session where people can come in for an hour and a half and we will have them look at the (maps and graphics) and answer some questions and have a little presentation,” Stauch said. “We’d like, obviously, to get the public that’s interested to come out for those events.”
He said there will also be more information online in the coming weeks for residents to be able to view.