VIENNA — A proposed $3.2 million maintenance plan to bring the county’s seven water tanks up to code cannot be proposed to the Trumbull County Commissioners until a quorum is present.

The 12-person Water Advisory Panel hosted a recent meeting at the Trumbull County Sanitary Engineer’s Office.

The panel is only able to bring recommendations before the county commissioners for their approval, but it couldn’t vote to bring any before them at the meeting because not enough representatives were present to have a quorum.

Sanitary Engineer Gary Newbrough said Bob Maiorano, the office’s comptroller, ran the numbers and a maintenance plan for the county’s seven water tanks to get them up to code would cost about $300,000 a year for the next decade, for a total of $3.6 million, with the baseline contract numbers locked in at $3.2 million.

The contract terms allow the maintenance fee to be reevaluated every three years, with a potential 3% increase after each period.

The plan would include repainting, inspections, washouts and emergency services, as well as the EPA’s sanitary surveys and any upgrades.

“But Bob, trying to make that payment, we looked at it, and the only way we’re going to be able to afford it is that we would have to increase our Replacement and Improvement Fund from $5 a month to $6.50,” Newbrough said. “A dollar and a half per account.”

Maiorano recalled plans to perform engineering and rehab work on Brookfield’s single tank, and the project value, the engineer concluded, was $1.5 million.

“When Dan (Frum of USG Water Solutions) came in with $3.2 million to do seven tanks as opposed to us doing one at a million and a half, but the million and a half is all I presented to the commissioners,” Maiorano said. “Going from $1.5 to $3.2 is not something we’re able to do financially without addressing it through RIF.”

“We didn’t lowball it; this wasn’t something we considered. We were looking at a million and a half, and it ballooned to $3.2,” he added.

Maiorano said if the commissioners don’t pass it, the sanitary engineer’s office can’t afford it.

It couldn’t be proposed to them until the panel could form a quorum, Newbrough said.

Vienna Trustee Phil Pegg said he would be okay with the RIF increase if they can show a tangible return.

“They’re going to need to be done — you change the oil in your car. Well, we need to maintain the same way on these water towers,” Pegg said. “If you want water, you want your pressure, you’ve gotta have it.”

“And $1.50 more to me, okay, I’m just speaking for me, but we’re talking $18 a year — (it) seems like it’s pretty much a decent deal to make sure we’re getting decent water pressure and the water is reliable.”

In terms of pricing for a new tank, Frum, who was present, said Portage County officials built one that cost approximately $10.50 per gallon to construct.

“It’s a $10 million project, $15 million project, for a $1 million bill,” Frum said.

Newbrough said a tank alone for Mineral Ridge cost $2.5 million, and that project included the tank and a pump station.

“The preventative maintenance — instead of, you don’t do the liners, you don’t keep the paint up — it’s going to rust, it’s going to pit, then the minimum thickness in the shell, it’s not always maintained,” Newbrough said. “Next thing you know, you’re in there trying to cut out new sheets and weld in new plates and everything else; it’s something you don’t want to do.”

PASS THROUGH

WATER RATE

Newbrough said his office calculated the pass-through water rate experienced this year through the cities of Niles and Warren, as suppliers, equates to 43 cents per thousand gallons that should have passed through.

Newbrough said Braceville’s public water system experienced no changes over the past year, but the Southeast PWS experienced a 22-cent increase; Howland went up 28 cents and Warren Township went up 48 cents.

The price increases were not passed on to consumers, according to a note on a page displaying the year-to-year costs since 2015, which was provided to board members.

“The City of Youngstown went up, but we’re trying to close that valve, so we’re moving on that. Niles, for Mineral Ridge (PWS) went up 33 cents,” Newbrough said. “You can just see how they went up, everything (water) supplied by Warren and Niles.”

“They had their inside rates go up, which corresponds to the corresponding increase for us, but it equates to about 43 cents,” Newbrough added.

Newbrough said his office has been losing that money since the beginning of the year.

Maiorano said Bazetta/Champion PWS’s 61-cent increase is based on the office handling the passthrough rate per district.

“If we get it by the district, so basically the average that we would need is 43 cents across every district,” Maiorano said, adding that they flush a lot of water in that particular district.