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Marietta City Council committees discuss water, paving, harbor

The building of a new water treatment plant, 2019 asphalt paving funding opportunities and the city’s harbor contract were main topics covered by Marietta City Council’s committees Tuesday.

* Water treatment

Council heard from engineers with Strand Associates Inc. on the long-term plan to replace the current water treatment plant.

Current timelines anticipate the project, estimated to cost around $18 million by the end of design and construction, be online in early 2023.

Thus far, Project Engineer Mac McCauley explained Tuesday that the preliminary requirements and needs of the city’s water supply have been assessed.

The current plant serving more than 8,300 households and businesses in the city and in surrounding developments sits on top of Marietta Memorial Hospital above Upper Fourth Street.

The current plant is split into two treatment systems and a distribution system. The first treatment plant was built in the early 1930s, the distribution building in the 1950s, and the second treatment plant was built in the early 1970s.

But both city water staff and Strand Associates reiterated Tuesday that those infrastructure pieces are hitting a critical point where their age coupled with anticipated regulations will hit the city’s coffers hard.

“We’ve done significant analysis and determined that membrane treatment while a bigger up front cost, will cost 15 percent less to the city over 30 years than sticking with the current lime and soda ash method,” said the project engineer.

The city plans to install a reverse osmosis treatment plant to replace the two treatment systems in the coming years and has determined which membrane manufacturers are most qualified to provide the equipment used.

McCauley explained that now the top three manufacturers, blindly scored based on responses to preliminary equipment proposals, will compete for a contract to pilot test their equipment and ultimately see it installed in the new plant.

After that pilot testing is complete, utilizing a smaller model of the equipment and water sampling, the manufacturer will participate in the final designs of the new plant.

Those new designs should look to prevent further slips on the hill and meet expected nitrate, C8 and other contamination control requirements coming from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, explained City Project Manager Eric Lambert.

* 2019 Paving

City Engineer Joe Tucker notified council Tuesday that the city, while it was not awarded an Ohio Public Works Commission grant for a planned 2019 paving project, has an opportunity to still meet all six planned projects with a zero-interest, 30-year loan.

Originally in August the city applied to the state for a $400,000 grant to make up the bulk of a $553,232 project to pave parts of Fourth, Seventh, Washington, East Eighth and Lancaster streets and Cisler Drive.

In that initial plan the city had no intention of using the 2019 additional income tax revenue authorized by voters in November–to the tune of $316,900.

But after county discretionary scoring left the city without the points needed to get that OPWC grant, Fourth and Seventh streets were dropped off the list with the net loss of $83,100 in anticipated funding and $149,860 of the anticipated income tax revenues restricted to paving was earmarked for the rest of the list.

“But now we have the opportunity to follow the original plan with a good loan option,” noted Tucker.

Streets Chairwoman Kathy Downer said while she is not usually a fan of taking out loans to supply streets projects, in this case she could support the measure as it means additional streets that would otherwise not qualify for grant funding may be paid for in 2019 by the new income tax revenue.

The remaining plan for the rest of the income tax earmarked for paving in 2019 is:

¯ $112,040 to supplement an urban paving project led by the Ohio Department of Transportation repaving Third Street between Greene and Putnam.

¯ $55,000 to cover another portion of paving on Lancaster Street above planned replacements of water lines.

Tucker said in order to take the offer from OPWC for a loan up to $400,000 the city must deliver on the entire project profile as submitted in August.

All council members said in a poll vote Tuesday they would support the loan at its full amount except Councilwoman Cassidi Shoaf, who noted the city could still deliver on the full project with a lesser loan amount by using some of the new income tax funds.

The local match as outlined by the submitted profile includes permissive tax dollars and highway improvement dollars allotted by the state, federal Community Development Block Grant funds and funding from the water and sewer enterprise funds.

The total local match as outlined is $153,232.

But an official introduction of legislation concerning loan authorization will not appear before council until after the new year.

* Harbor

Council also discussed within Lands, Buildings and Parks Committee edits to a contract for the Harbor lease.

For the past 20 seasons the lease has been held by WASCO Inc., a private nonprofit which employs adults with disabilities in the community.

Both WASCO Inc. and a private team of investors led by Chip Coffin have voiced interest in a new lease with profit parameters which may benefit the city.

Council approved Tuesday to have a new lease written with a six-year term with a six-year option to renew.

That lease with an authorization to advertise for bids is anticipated in early in 2019.

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