Carey approves street paving projects

CAREY — Carey Village Council on Monday approved two ordinances as an emergency for asphalt paving projects.

The first ordinance is for paving asphalt on Ohio 199 in Wyandot County from the north corporation limits of Upper Sandusky to Ohio 103. The second ordinance is for paving asphalt on Ohio 103 from U.S. 23 in the village to Ohio 199.

“The first one, they are going to be working on East Findlay Street from Vance Street clear out to Vaughn (Industries),” Village Administrator Roy Johnson said. “And then where that project ends is on (Ohio) 199, they’re going to continue that clear to Upper, so there’s a small section of that project that was ours, so those are the two on that first ordinance.

“The second one isn’t our say, but it’s the highway out where (U.S.) 23 goes from four lane to two lane by the Shell station, the Carey exit. They’re going to pave across that Carey exit that exists over the highway. That’s all they’re doing from one side to the other for the user ramp to entrance ramp.”

The ordinances were passed as an emergency due to the fact that ODOT requested they get returned by Sept. 19, which doesn’t allow enough time for three readings in the 30-day referendum.

In other news, the interior coating of the Ogg Street tower has been completed.

“I had noted that it was put back in service, but that’s not true,” Johnson said. “They had it filled, and they had to dechlorinate it, so they’ve got a high-wash chlorine in there now, a high concentration, so it will kill any bacteria, make sure that new paint job and all that water is good and then they’ll drain it and then they’ll fill it again and put it back in service. It’s within a day or so of being in service.”

Councilors also approved the third reading of an ordinance authorizing and directing the village administrator to make application to enter into an agreement with the Ohio Public Works Commission, round 34, or the Small Government Commission, in an amount not to exceed $426,000 combined local share and grant.

“We applied for 50% and put 50% down, so there would be $213,000 we pay and $213,000 we’re asking for, and that would be the nest phase of the culvert project form the Senior Depot to the right of way that ODOT stopped when they redid the street scape downtown. It would be right there in front of the depot to the back of the depot basically, so East Findlay Street to where we left off with the last project.”

In other news, there are currently water meters located indoors which will need to be accessed to upgrade to the new standardized meter and protocols. The work, as a part of the automated information system project, will be performed by Pro-Meter Inc., a private contractor.

“There are probably about 60 of them out of our 1,450 that are indoors, so they either have to have access from the owner or permission to be on the site,” Johnson said. “We’re sending notices that they’re going to be around and they need to make arrangements to let them in and they are a part of the project for the city.”

The village received the new rates for Buckeye Ohio Risk Management Association health insurance for the village for 2020. It went up 6.45%, which would have been a total of $6,574 from employees added all together. Councilors, however, voted to absorb it.

“That would have been a total of $6,574 from the employees added altogether,” Johnson said. “Then the council voted to absorb that, so they’re not going to have any rate increase to the employee, but we will have a 6.45% increase to us.”

The Carey Community Improvement Corporation is being reactivated. The CIC is not part of the village, but is working with the village for the good of its economic development. Its first meeting was Monday, and it accepted and approved taking over as the agent to handle the facade improvement program for downtown.

“If somebody wants to fix up their building, they can get 50% of the cost up to $3,000,” Johnson said. “If you have a $6,000 project, you can apply to the facade improvement group, and depending on how many applicants they get, they are going to give $20,000 from the city. We opted in the village about five, six months that they donate $20,000 to the CIC and that would be support disbursement to these people that they deem the accepted award.”

Councilors also approved:

— A resolution accepting the amounts and rates as determined by the Budget Commission and authorizing the necessary tax levies and certifying them to the auditor. It was passed to meet the deadline.

— The Public Works Department has set the Fall Cleanup Day for Oct. 4. There will be a three-bag limit with no furniture, no auto parts including tires, no TVs or electronics, no liquid paint and generally no items larger than a single person can handle. Residents are asked to have items curbside by 7:30 a.m. and to remember for yard waste, there is a yard waste transfer station for disposal of tree limbs, pruning, shrubs, leaves and grass clippings.

 

By ANDREW WILSON
Staff writer