Sewer problems still persist for commissioners

0

By Wayne Allen

[email protected]

Some upset residents of the Minford area, addressed the Scioto County Commissioners on Tuesday about ongoing issues they are having associated with the Minford Sanitary Sewer System.

The residents went to the commissioners after trying to get answers from project contractors, with no success.

The commissioners acknowledged the frustration and lack of answers.

Scioto County Commissioner Doug Coleman said the county is withholding $500,000 from the contractor until the punch-list of roughly 15 issues is addressed.

“Me and Joe (Delong, Scioto County Sanitary Engineer) went out there and there are some bad spots,” Coleman said.

Coleman said it would not do any good to complete the work now, because the weather would damage what’s done. His idea was to do the work in the spring.

“We’ve ran into a lot of problems on this (Minford Sewer Project), next time it will never happen again,” Coleman said.

Commissioner Mike Crabtree expressed his frustration over the situation.

“Those contractors get those jobs and they’re supposed to dress things back up, they are supposed to be as good as they were originally. We (Scioto County) don’t have the equipment to do that,” Crabtree said. “We had the same problems with Eden Park (Sanitary Sewer System Installation) and there is still problems with Eden Park because of the contractor. We can’t stick a gun to their ribs and make them do something.”

The origins of the Minford Sanitary Sewer System dates back to 2010 when the county was awarded a $14,912,000 low-interest loan and $14,507,000 grant to the Scioto Board of Commissioners. Additional leverage for the project included $944,000 from the county and just over $638,000 from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The project called for the installation of 30 miles of sewer mains, a new waste water treatment plant and other items. The project is estimated to provide sewage service to 1,327 existing homes along with modest growth capacity for the entire service area.

Crabtree said sewer issues have become a never ending problem for the county and assured the residents their issues would be looked at.

Wayne Allen can be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 1933 or on Twitter @WayneallenPDT

No posts to display