Harrison News Herald 07-27-19

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SATURDAY, JULY 27, 2019

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Improvements and approvals mount for MWCD By JD LONG

jim@harrisonnewsherald.com

NEW PHILADELPHIA – With the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District’s (MWCD) Master Plan into its second phase the approvals are rolling in and numerous approvals were heard at last Friday’s meeting, held at their Annex Building in New Philadelphia. Three Tappan projects, with two announced bid awards for a final Phase I project were among the handful of approvals seen at the meeting. First was a change order ratification sought for their campground renovations. Chief Engineer Boris Slogar said this project came in under the original amount of $4.75 million. But the project was awarded at just over $3.1 million with the final contract

amount even lower at $2.7 million. Chief Engineer Michael Rekstis called the project bidding very competitive. He told the board that GLR, of Dayton, had attempted to win bids on previous projects but were coming up short until they won this one. “They really low-balled it…that was our opinion on it,” Rekstis said after he was told they found a different way to estimate the project. But Slogar felt their experience was not a good one and said he didn’t think they would be back. “They were out of their comfort zone in working this project,” he said of GLR. “We got through it [and] we had a successful project.” Slogar announced an estimate for their RV and boat storage area on Deersville Road to be $578,000. He said the bid was awarded for $536,000 after bids were opened at

the end of June. Also, the grading improvements and support facilities project at Tappan Marina was estimated at $219,000plus, according to Slogar. A contract was executed with Tucson in the amount of $337,000 including “asphalt paving around the boat area.” The projects at Atwood Lake led off after a short break, where the restroom improvements for Camp Area 4 needed approval for advertising, and the awarding of a bid was also presented by Slogar. He explained this as a prefabricated restroom and shower building. He announced an estimate of $495,000 and told the board that this was standard prefab construction. Rekstis told the board that the building itself was estimated at $205,000 after board member Clark Sprang inquired of the cost.

Veterans office adds new D.A.V. vans Veterans will have more help getting to their V.A. appointments, thanks to the acquisition of two Ford Transit Connect vans. “We utilized the Disabled American Veterans Transportation Network and partnered with the D.A.V. on the purchase of two new vans to be used for Pittsburgh and Cleveland V.A. appointments.” Said Lisa Tuchek, Harrison County

Veterans Office Administrator. “We will now have two vans for each of the V.A. Hospitals we support, giving us more flexibility to help our Veterans with their appointment locations.” added Veterans Service Officer Patricia Largent. Currently the Veterans office employs four veterans, hired on as part-time county employees with part-time

benefits to drive the veterans to their appointments. “We are hiring drivers in order for us to maintain a pool of qualified drivers in case any of them can’t drive that day.” said Veterans Service Officer Jeff Pesta. Applicants must be an honorably discharged veteran and pass a V.A. physical. Applications are available at the Veterans office.

Regarding the Atwood shoreline stabilization project a request for a change order ratification was asked of the board. Slogar said the estimate was just above $1.5 million but the “original contract amount came in at a little over $1.3 (million) with the final contract amount coming in at “$1.4 and change.” Also, a bid award was approved for advertising for Piedmont Lake’s sanitary pump station replacement. Slogar explained that bids were originally sent out and received back in April but were not “awardable.” The new bids were revealed on May 10 with Tucson being the low bid at just under $2 million. He said picnic a shelter was added raising the cost to just above $2.1 million and the award has been “executed.” The Piedmont Lake Marina also saw bid results for their sanitary pump station replacement project. Slogar

announced this one at $195,000, which the board approved the advertising and awarding of the bid. Four campground playgrounds were also approved at an estimated cost of $217,000, as stated by Deputy Chief of Planning and Projects Eric Stechschulte. The four are to be located at Seneca, Tappan, Pleasant Hill Parks and the fourth at Piedmont Marina. He said they are putting in swings wherever they can even though they take up a lot of space, “so wherever we can we are putting swings in.” Sprang commented on how important implementing equipment that people like to use, as opposed to waiting in line for things, or equipment they don’t want to use. He called swings the “most desirable thing in a playground, kids love to swing.” The board approved all of the requests.

Columbia Gas pays for sinkhole repair in Scio by BONNIE HIGGINS NH Contributor

SCIO — Scio announced at Wednesday’s council meeting that Columbia Gas agreed to repair the Maple Street sinkhole that has burdened drivers for weeks. During excavation, the village discovered that Columbia has a gas line running through the storm drain, which collapsed and ruptured weeks ago due to excessive rain. Columbia has now referred the project to their engineer and it is expected to be completed in 4-6 weeks. Representatives from the park committee spoke to the new location of the recently purchased playground equipment from the Scio schoolhouse auction. The volleyball courts, which have been unusable for some time, were proposed as the foundation for the large playset. This would allow parents to have ideal supervision and would reclaim some lost park ground. The village will have to measure the area to ensure that it complies with various regulations because the new equipment is “bigger than anything down there now,” said Village Administrator

Jake Tabaugh. The council has decided to pursue Quicksall Engineering to complete Phase II of the water project. The company is currently preparing bidding packages, scope of work and documentation for prevailing wage rates. Tabaugh explained that legal advertising will be done in the next several months, and hopefully by September Scio will bid out to Quicksall as Phase II is planned to be completed by the end of the year. The village now has new technology that functions on a smart phone or tablet to track hydrant flushing. This is within EPA standards. Hydrant flushing is being paired back to every other week, the first and third Thursdays of the month, due to favorable water results. Spot painting the water tower is also on the list of water-related projects in attempt to stay up to code with the EPA. Council members also signed the annual liability release form for the Scio Street Fair, they addressed mosquito spraying on Aug. 5 and they announced that State Route 151 would be closed with local traffic only on Aug. 6 -11 as they set up for festivities.

Harrison named one of 63 Ohio counties declared state of emergency By JD LONG

jim@harrisonnewsherald.com

COLUMBUS – Last month’s severe damage has led to 63 Ohio counties being declared a state of emergency and Harrison County is one of them. What it means, according to Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) District 11 Public Information Officer Lauren Borell, is this now allows these 63 counties, including Harrison, to apply for federal assistance for any damages incurred during the rough weather.

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That’s the good news. The bad news, if one wants to call it such is that Harrison County has not suffered anything severe enough to apply for that federal assistance, according to Borell. “It allows those counties to apply for federal funding but right now there is nothing to report (in Harrison County),” Borell said. She added that there is still the possibility “down the road” to apply in case any damages materialize that were due to the June inclement weather. “The 63 counties covered by the emergency declaration have suffered

damage to roads and/or bridges from significant weather events in June that began with mild temperatures and significant rains which thoroughly saturated the ground causing dangerous roadway damage. Some roadways still have lane restrictions or are closed completely,” Monday’s press release states. But again Borell does not see significant enough damage to seek federal funding, though she does see it for Jefferson and Belmont Counties. “It’s just in case,” she said describing the Governor’s declaration. Further statements within the press release

Index

OBITUARIES

Area: . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pg. 2 Correspondence: . . . .Pg. 4 Obits . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pg. 5 Sports: . . . . . . . . . . .Pg. 6 In Memory . . . . . . . .Pg. 7 Events: . . . . . . . . . . .Pg. 10 Classifieds: . . . . . . . .Pg. 11

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Crystal Lee Burgett Carrollton, Ohio Jason Tubaugh Scio, Ohio Barbara Sue Potter Sacramento, California

include: "Continued heavy rains on top of the saturated ground and flash flooding caused significant damage to roads all over the state," said Governor DeWine. "This emergency proclamation will allow the Ohio Department of Transportation and local governments to access federal emergency relief funds that are needed to help fix road damage caused by these weather events. “Counties included in today's proclamation are: Adams, Ashland, Ashtabula, Athens, Belmont, Brown, Butler, Carroll, Clermont, Clinton,

Columbiana, Coshocton, Crawford, Cuyahoga, Delaware, Erie, Fairfield, Fayette, Franklin, Gallia, Geauga, Greene, Guernsey, Hamilton, Harrison, Highland, Hocking, Holmes, Huron, Jackson, Jefferson, Knox, Lake, Lawrence, Licking, Lorain, Madison, Mahoning, Marion, Medina, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Morrow, Muskingum, Noble, Perry, Pickaway, Pike, Portage, Preble, Richland, Ross, Scioto, Stark, Summit, Trumbull, Tuscarawas, Union, Vinton, Warren, Washington, and Wayne.

Question of the week

Last week’s question

Next week’s question

Do you agree with the smoking age being raised to 21?

Do you agree with government subsidies for coal and nuclear power?

YES 57% (8 VOTES) NO 43% (6 VOTES)

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Yes or No

Vote@HarrisonNewsHerald.com

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