Though Bucyrus Joint Regular Committee meeting had a short agenda for their meeting Thursday evening, the matters discussed had important outcomes.
One matter of business discussed were candidates for the Board of Standards and Appeals. After considering the list of potential members and alternates, a motion was made to accept the list of names presented.
The members decided upon include Floyd Farmer, Glenn Achtermann, Ron Bores, Mike Schifer, and William Stuckert. The alternates for the board include Tom Rarick and Ed McCarthy.
Another subject was brought to the committee’s attention by Service Director Jeff Wagner. Wagner mentioned that interest had been shown to purchase the former City Water garage and land on East Mary Street.
“Years ago it was put up for sale, and the offer got refused. But we’ve had some other interest in it again and actually the other lot too. We’ve had a couple phone calls wanting to know if we would be interested in selling,” Wagner said.
Neither the building nor land can be directly sold, they must go out for bid. A suggestion was made to get the area appraised before putting it out for bid. The committees discussed the matter and a motion was passed to get an appraisal on the land and building.
Another important matter discussed was the South East Street water line project. Some repairs are needing to be done within the water lines in South East Street. The projected cost for the project according to Makeever and Associates was quoted to be $287,000. In order to consider any extra issues that may arise, a contingency was added, equaling $315,700.
Wagner explained that the Ohio Public Works Commission has money available for the project and are willing to pay 57% of the cost of the project. The city would need to pay the remaining cost, 43%. Considering the estimate, the city put in the budget for their share to cost $165,000. However, Wagner explained how it would most likely only cap out $140,750.
A motion was made to move the project on to council as an emergency to be considered for bid. The project is now set to be considered at the July 18 Bucyrus City Council meeting. The goal is for the bid to be awarded in the beginning of August with hopes of beginning the project by mid fall.
The replacement of Bucyrus City Hall air conditioning was also discussed again. An engineer is currently in the process of making an estimate on the project. Upon receiving the estimate for the project, the project will be able to go out for bid.
After consideration, a motion was passed to set a not to exceed limit of $75,000 for bidding purposes.
When the meeting was opened up for public comments, a few representatives from the ambulance board had a matter to discuss. President of the ambulance board Jamie Sherk, spoke to the council explaining the hopes of the board to extend their contract with Life Support by one year.
Members of the council considered the matter of high importance and placed it on the Health and Safety Committee agenda for the next Joint Regular Committee Meeting, on Thursday July 20.
During the meeting, various appropriations for general government and sewage disposal were approved. It was also discussed that Bucyrus Diner LLC had requested a retail liquor permit from the Ohio Division of Liquor Control. The Health and Safety Committee concluded that a public hearing need not be held to approve of the request.
The next Bucyrus City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 18 at 7 p.m. The next Joint Regular Committee meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 20 at 6 p.m.