×

Contractor hired for sewer project

LISBON –A contractor has been hired for the Kensington sewer project, which may be expanded to include more homes.

Columbiana County commissioners on Wednesday awarded the contract to J.S. Bova Excavating of Struthers, which bid $2.7 million, the second lowest of the six bids received. The lowest bid of $2.6 million was submitted by Wenger Excavation of Dalton, but the company withdrew its bid within the allowed 48-hour period after discovering it had made a mistake.

Bova’s bid is still well below the $3.2 million project estimate.

The project includes construction of a mini-sewage treatment plant along U.S. Route 30 near the township park in Kensington, with the main sewer lines being run south to and through the intersection along state Route 9. The plant is expected to serve 77 homes and 11 businesses.

At the meeting officials indicated they are considering expanding the line farther south on Route 9 to pick up between 12 and 23 more homes based on requests from property owners, which Commissioner Mike Halleck said would be a good thing since additional participants would lower costs.

“I’m all for helping them out there,” he added, noting the county would likely have to extend sewer service to that area someday anyway, so it only makes sense to do it now, if possible. “They want it, and it’s good for the county and good for development.”

Troy Graft, the chief county sanitary engineer, said he needs to first determine whether they can afford to extend services to that many additional residences with the funding they have and then get permission from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is the project’s chief funding source.

Construction is expected to begin as soon as possible, weather permitting, and will take 12 months.

County Engineer Bert Dawson told commissioners once the project is completed he will focus on working with Hanoverton in developing a plan to provide sewer service to the nearby village, which is also under an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency order to provide sanitary sewer service. Dawson said the Kensington plant is being built in a way that it can be expanded to take in Hanoverton.

In other action, commissioners:

— Awarded the contract for the Negley storm sewer project to Allison Contracting of Wellsville, which submitted the low bid of $59,375. The project is being funded mostly with a share of the commissioners’ 2015 federal CDBG allocation.

— Declined to request a public hearing on a liquor permit transfer application because Perry Township trustees did not ask them to hold a hearing. MACS Holding Co., doing business as the Circle K on South Lincoln Avenue, is transferring its liquor permit to MACS Convenience Stores.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.39/week.

Subscribe Today