July 19, 2000
Consultant sees water district by 2003
By Chris Armitage
Correspondent
ATTICA - A rural water district would be feasible for portions of Seneca and Crawford counties, according to information presented Tuesday.
North Central Electric Co-op , which is coordinating efforts to form a water district steering committee, was host to the gathering of officials. Included were the Seneca County commissioners, health district, village and township representatives and District 16 Chairman for State Issue II, Ed Olson.
Engineering Consultant Greg Wright said current plans are to focus on obtaining grant and loan money to build a water district in two phases.
Phase I would include Eastern Seneca County, using Ohio American source water from Tiffin.
The second phase would use Bucyrus water to serve areas of Northern Crawford County.
At a previous meeting the committee determined $1-1.5 million grant assistance would be necessary to make a water district possible.
Current plans are to target the Ohio Water Development Authority, along with State Issue II, in order to obtain money for the first phase of construction.
"I can get the money in the north quicker than I can get the money in the south," Wright said.
Wright said Rural Development money appears to be a better prospect to fund the second phase. He said lower income levels in Northern Crawford County should qualify a water district for the assistance. These funds would take 3-4 years to obtain, however, delaying phase II construction until about 2004.
Wright said the Seneca County portion of the proposed district has better funding options and could come about more quickly.
"If I can get some combination of Issue II Grant and Loan money, I can make this work," he said.
Wright said potential customers would need to accept any water district for it to work. "If the people don't want to sign up, you don't have a project," he said.
One possibility would be to modify phase I piping through Clinton Township to serve more potential customers.
"If I can get 100 more customers, I can get this down to feasibility, assuming they sign up," Wright said.
Current plans are for the committee's study report to be ready by the next meeting, 7 p.m. Aug. 15. Committee representataives are to report to their individual boards and councils, and return next month with suggestions for presenting the water district plan to customers. A petition sign-up by customers would lead to filing for district formation in November. This would take about six months, with the district being officially ready in May 2001.
The proposed district is about two years and nine months away from supplying water to customers in the first phase. The completion traget is May 2003, with the second phase scheduled to be ready two years later.
Olson recommended using a multi-jurisdictional approach to improve funding chances. He said Seneca and Crawford County commissioners could jointly apply for money, then transfer any repayment obligation to the new district.
Olson said the funding agencies would look more favorably on a project serving more than one jurisdiction.
Another possibility would be for city or village officials in the two counties to use the same approach.
"That's simply a mechanism &emdash; as long as it's multiple jurisdictions." "You do everything you can to get all the points you can to get this into feasibility," Olson said.