Monday, January 21, 2002
Council to vote on plan to improve city sewers
By Cathy Willoughby
Staff Writer
cwilloughby@advertiser-tribune.com
The Tiffin City Council will act on a resolution adopting a long-range sewer system improvement plan today.
The council will meet earlier than usual, at 5 p.m., in observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
The passage of the resolution will allow the city to begin the process of separating the remaining combined storm and sanitary sewers in the city. To actually begin the process, council will need to approve entering an agreement with Jones and Henry Engineers LTD for the preparation of the specifications of the bids to begin phase one. That ordinance will face a second reading during this week's meeting.
The area would involve a portion of the northern section of the city, detailed as Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO) 5 and 7, in the Tomb and Douglas street areas, including a section of North Washington St.
Mayor Bernard Hohman said last week that the specifications for the first phase would not be ready to be bid until late spring. The design phase of the project would take about six months, with construction not beginning until the winter months. Construction was estimated to take 12 to 15 months.
The council also will vote on the vacation of an alley in the third ward, a request made by Tiffin University to begin work on their proposed chapel. The 16 1/2 foot alley runs parallel to Clay Street, between properties owned by the university.
A third reading will also be on the posting of ordinances and resolutions. In the past, council was required by the city's charter to place in the local newspaper's legal advertisements all ordinances and resolutions that were passed by council.
Following the passage of proposed charter amendments in November, ordinances and resolutions will only need to be posted in four locations. Those will be at Tiffin City Hall, 51 E. Market St.; the Seneca County RTA building, 109 S. Washington; Tiffin-Seneca Public Library, 77 Jefferson St., and the U.S. Post Office at 175 Monroe St.
The council will consider for the first time authorizing the city administrator to receive bids for the construction of Fair Lane. The Streets, Sidewalks and Sewers Committee met last week to recommend that the new street have curbs on both sides and sidewalk and delineated walk/bike pathway on the north side of the road.
The council will also introduce legislation to advertise for bids and execute contracts for the purchase of salt for roadways during the winter months of 2002-03.