City Council OKs street-paving projects

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert City Council approved an ambitious $700,000 street-paving program that will include portions of 14 city streets during its meeting Monday.

Safety-Service Jay Fleming brought a list of street-paving projects to a meeting of City Council’s Streets & Alleys Committee conducted prior to Monday’s regular Council meeting.

Streets to be paved include the following: Franklin Street, from Sycamore to Vantage Career Center; Central Avenue, from Wayne to Jefferson streets; South Avenue, from Washington to Shannon streets; Leeson Avenue, from Fulton to the railroad tracks; George Street, from Lincoln and Shannon streets; Westwood Drive, from Shannon Street to Fox Road; Race Street, from Frothingham to Crawford streets; Spencer Drive, west of Walnut Street; Walnut Street, from Ervin Road to Main Street; Fisher Drive, from Neel Avenue to Shaffer Street; Jennings Road, from the corporation limit to the curve at Wayne Street; Tyler Street, from Sycamore Street to Central Avenue; Garden Drive; and Raymond Street, from Washington to Market streets.

Fleming said Westwood Drive was added because of drainage problems there, noting that work will be done to add a “crown” to the street to allow for better drainage.

The safety-service director added that the work would all start — and hopefully be completed — in September. Plans are to grind down the surface of the streets and then repave.

Council adopted enabling legislation on first and final reading to allow bidding on the projects to proceed. Engineering estimate from Choice One Engineering for the entire project is $733,261, which Fleming said includes a 10 percent “cushion” using cost figures the consulting firm obtained from projects it designed and bid out earlier this summer.

City Council also approved legislation authorizing Fleming to enter into a contract to purchase rock salt for city streets this winter. The safety-service director said salt costs would likely double from the last time salt was purchased, largely because of last winter’s salt usage and the fact the city still “owes” the Ohio Department of Transportation for 100 tons of salt it provided to the city near the end of the winter.

Mayor Don Farmer pointed out the two new flat-screen televisions recently installed in Council Chambers as part of a communications equipment upgrade underway there. Equipment is being purchased after city officials saw what was being done in the Williams County community of Bryan.

Discussions were also held on needed railroad crossing improvements, but Mayor Farmer and Fleming noted the difficulty of getting such projects done, since owners of the railroad have only so many dollars to spend for infrastructure improvements and lots of communities seeking those improvements.

The mayor also noted that city officials aren’t allowed to make any improvements within 15 feet of rail lines.

The next regular City Council meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. Monday, August 11.