Several projects didn’t make the cut, largely because they are piecemeal fixes to larger issues. The villages of Millville and Seven Mile were looking for money, $78,000 and $45,000 respectively, to fix drainage problems. Development Director David Fehr said the county engineer wants to take a look at the big picture.
“Greg Wilkens recommended instead of doing these sort of patchwork repairs he felt the village would be better to get an actual study done and look at the entire system,” Fehr said. “So that’s why we are not recommending we do individual repairs, we need to take a wider view of the entire village.”
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Wilkens told the Journal-News his office has already started a study on the Seven Mile issue, much like one he did in the Five Points area of Fairfield Twp. He said in some of these areas of the county there are no drainage systems that carry the water away, it just flows into “dry wells.”
“We did a whole comprehensive study of that area and incrementally there’s probably been four or five CDBG projects up there that they’ve started,” Wilkens said. “They start at the bottom and continue to work up, that’s the same thing I’m looking at in Millville. Rather than come in and fix this, let’s do a comprehensive study and incrementally complete a system.”
A $235,000 project to fix failing sewers on Fairfax Avenue in the Five Points area is on the list of recommended projects for this year.
A $109,000 project for more water system improvements in New Miami was left off the list because it didn’t fit the profile of CDBG-worthy projects. The commissioners have already allocated $203,114 for critical improvements to the village’s water system.
New Miami’s water system became a focus after the commissioners learned in 2015 the new $1 million water tower the village installed sat dormant for almost six years because of a missing pressure reducing valve.
“The committee felt that those were more maintenance items that the village should take care of themselves versus a block grant project,” Fehr said of the latest request.
Shawn Campbell, an engineer who works on the village’s water system projects, said the request was for valve upgrades and replacing a couple ancient fire hydrants wasn’t all maintenance related, but he understands funds are limited.
“It’s just the way things were approached this year and the village is always thankful for the support the county has given them over the years, through block grant,” Campbell said.
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