LORDSTOWN — Village council has decided to not seek a grant for a sanitary sewer extension, noting they are not sure what the local share will be and if the village can even afford it.

Village Engineer Chris Kogelnik spoke at Monday’s council meeting about a project for six sanitary sewer extensions to serve the nonsewered areas of the village that would cost $8 million.

He said there is a request out from the office of Congressman Dave Joyce, R-Bainbridge, for a community project financing grant up to $5 million.

Kogelnik said Joyce’s office is requesting any requests for project funding by Friday.

He said the sanitary sewer extensions have been submitted before, but did not receive funding.

Kogelnik said there are six areas, with the largest being on North Highland Avenue near Tait Road and Burnett East Road, which would serve 26 sewer connections.

“This is a high-dollar project. If you don’t have funding lined up for projects like this, there is not much return on investment,” he said.

Kogelnik said the six areas have a total of 62 sewer connections.

When asked by council about the local share, Koglenik said it would be 80-20, with 80% coming from the funding program and 20% minimum local share. Councilman Ron Radtka suggested just seeking funds for the North Highland Avenue area.

Koglenik said the Highland Avenue project would be $4 million and the other five areas combined would be $4 million.

Finance Director Bill Blank said the village does not have $1 million or more for the local share for the project.

Mayor Jackie Woodward said some of the residents in the areas may not want sewers, as they have their own working, updated septic systems. Council members decided against seeking the grant.

ROAD RESTORATION

Council is also reviewing whether to pay between $5,000 and $7,000 to have Kogelnik meet with Ultium Cell officials on restoring a section of state Route 45, the village road adjacent to the company.

Woodward said Kogelnik could speak to Ultium Cells officials on the village’s behalf.

Kogelnik said parts of the road have been worn down by heavy traffic going in and out of Ultium Cells over the past four years.

He said the Ohio Department of Transportation had originally striped the road to have a center turn lane, and the outer lane ended up being located on the shoulder, which has worn down.

“The shoulder on the east side of the road is in the worst condition right now. The west side is not far behind,” Kogelnik said. “They need to be rebuilt as travel lanes. This is a safety issue.”

Solicitor Matt Ries said he will look into the situation to see who would need to cover the costs to make the changes to Route 45.

Officials said while the road may be the village’s, it was ODOT that made the changes when striping the road.

Street Superintendent Martin Nelder said ODOT is not expected to repave that section of Route 45 until 2029.

K9 CRUISER

In other matters, police Chief Brent Milhoan said the K9 cruiser is approaching 100,000 miles and will need to be replaced or used as a backup vehicle. The cruiser has been in service for four years.

“When that car goes down, we do not have a backup,” Milhoan said. “It is different because it is for housing the dog. If we don’t have that vehicle, the dog is taken out of service. We can’t put that dog in another car.”

If the police department can get a new K9-serviced vehicle, Milhoan said, the current one can be used as a backup when needed. The safety committee will review the matter.

In other action, council:

• Approved an agreement with Dynegy Energy Services East LLC for electric aggregation at a rate not to exceed 10.1 mcf per kilowatt-hour. Residents and businesses can opt out of the service.

• Approved amending the school resource officer agreement where the SRO works during the school year and does not need to work the summers when schools are closed.