Expansion may be necessary

FORT RECOVERY — A growing local business may influence the outlook of renovations to the village’s wastewater lagoon.
Fort Recovery Village Council discussed Monday evening the effect a proposed expansion of Perham Egg Ohio may have on plans to enhance the village’s wastewater treatment system. Council members were also updated on a recent meeting between Ohio Department of Transportation representatives and Fort Recovery officials to brainstorm possible solutions to streamline truck traffic in the village.
Village administrator Randy Diller told members that with Perham proposing to add an additional line — raising its water use capacity to 100,000 gallons a day — a third lagoon may be necessary to deal with the volume of wastewater that will be traveling through the system.
The original plan was to enhance the two current lagoons by changing the piping and hydraulics to better use the width of the existing pond. But in talks with Choice One Engineering, Diller said it became clear it is time to begin putting together a longer-term solution than just fixing the current facility.
“If they double in size, we’re going to be within 10 percent of our capacity, and that’s not probably a good place to be,” said Diller of Perham. “We’re going to try and put a package together over this winter and try to accommodate whatever we have to do in the next year.”
A wastewater consultant will be brought in to try to find the best solution to improve the treatment quality and expand capacity.
Diller also spoke to council members about a recent meeting with ODOT representatives about ideas for new truck traffic routes in the village now that Fort Site Street is closed to semis.
Potential solutions included rerouting Ohio 49, but everything discussed was preliminary, said Diller.
The most difficult aspect of finding an answer with ODOT is that funding will come from the federal level, which will take more time to receive because of a more extensive application process.
“The problem we face is that any time you use ODOT, you’re using federal funds, highway transportation dollars … you have all those things you have to do for federal dollars,” said Diller. “Unfortunately (people) don’t understand the complications that go with that. Can they all be overcome? Absolutely, but it’s just not something that’s going to move along and be constructed next year.”
To begin the process of narrowing down options, those on the council over the next few weeks will be doing traffic counts at intersections throughout the village to calculate where trucks travel most often and how busy certain roads are.
In other news, council members Rod Thobe, Cliff Wendel, Al Post, Dave Garman, Dave Kaup and Dave Bretz:
•Approved a final draw of $16,770.40 to Tom’s Construction for completion of the second phase of the sewer separation project. The total cost of the project came to $2.52 million, an increase from its original estimated cost of $2.4 million.
•Were updated Choice One Engineering recently finished an outline of a proposed parking lot as part of Community Park’s renovations.
The proposed layout will place a 58-space lot where the current basketball court is located. There were questions from members about whether the parking lot would be laid on top of the current courts or whether the existing concrete would be torn out. Diller said he will talk to Choice One to see which option will be the best and least costly, keeping in mind water retention issues and a nearby wellhead.
•Heard that the council’s tree commission selected Juttes Landscaping to plant 25 trees throughout the village at a cost of $6,100 after the loss of ash trees because of emerald ash borer infestations.