Published: Saturday, December 9, 2006
Project worries Girard official
A vote was expected for Monday to advertise for bids for the project.
By ED RUNYAN
GIRARD — Utilities Committee Chairman Dan Moadus says Mayor James Melfi recently gave him a large packet of background on the 8,000-foot Keefer Road/Tibbetts Wick Road waterline project in Liberty that is due to come before city council Monday for a vote on advertising for bids for its construction.
Moadus, who has been on council for about a year, said the information inside caused him a great deal of concern, so he called a meeting Friday night between the utility committee and Gary Newbrough, Trumbull County sanitary engineer, to better understand the project.
More concerns
After the meeting in council chambers, Moadus said he has even more concerns than before.
One of them is whether planned improvements to the city's water system, including upgrades to the control system in the city's pump house, should be complete before the city moves forward with a project that will put even more demands on its water system.
Girard will supply the water to the area and make money off the sales.
Moadus said the current equipment will provide only enough pressure to fill a new water tower on Shannon Road halfway, and that will not be sufficient to serve the Keefer/Tibbetts-Wick project area, he said.
Moadus said he wants to make sure the project is sound before the city moves forward. He said he will ask council to hold off on advertising for bids on the project until he is convinced it is feasible.
Cost
Newbrough said the project's total cost is $867,000, with $105,000 coming from Liberty, $81,919 from Girard, $81,919 from Trumbull County and the rest coming from a $598,405 Issue 2 grant approved early this year.
The waterline would extend from Goist Lane to Tibbetts Wick along Keefer Road, then east along Tibbetts Wick to state Route 193 (Belmont Avenue). There are waterlines at each end of the proposed connection.
Mayor James Melfi, who was not invited to Friday's meeting, said he believes the project should move forward as quickly as possible because most of the funding comes from a state grant.
He said deadlines are attached to such money, and there are other communities that would love to have the money.
Melfi said the project will allow Girard to expand its water service, which lowers the cost to Girard residents, and provide water to about 70 homes and several businesses in Liberty that currently have problems with wells. The project meets the goals of the county commissioners by helping county residents, he said.
The mayor said improvements to the water system are being made now and will be in place in plenty of time to serve the additional customers when they come online.
runyan@vindy.com
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