By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
Bucyrus residents will find a new – and most likely unwelcome – number when they open their next utility bill.
Bucyrus City Council President Sis Love reminded residents of the upcoming changes to their sewer rates during Tuesday night’s meeting. Residents should expect a $7.20 Clean Buffalo monthly fee on their utility bill, a somewhat controversial rate which was passed at the July 7 City Council meeting.
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Currently, the city’s revenues are one to two percent below target in its sewage fund. The $7.20 will be listed as a separate EPA fee and will go into a separate item within the Storm Water Fund.
The changes to the sewer rates will be used for the storm water separation project, a plan mandated by the EPA. Bruce Brandstetter, of Brandstetter Carroll Engineering, highlighted various areas of the project during the meeting and noted that sewer separation project is being broken up into sections in order to make it manageable and affordable for the city.
Part of the project is the ongoing work on Plymouth Street, where the city is working on sewer separation in conjunction with the Ohio Department of Transportation’s resurfacing project. Southern Avenue will also be a major part of the project, though it will be a five to seven year deal. Once that is on its way, however, Brandstetter said the project can coincide with street work and it will branch out on to the side streets.
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“Basically, we want to get sewage out of people’s basements,” Brandstetter said.
The final completion date for sewer separation is Dec. 31, 2021.
Mayor Jeff Reser announced that work will once again begin on the Schines Theatre demolition. Work at the former movie theater halted last week for the Bratwurst Festival but Moderalli Excavating will start hauling debris from the site Thursday. Warren Street and a portion of South Sandusky Avenue will once again be closed during that time. Reser expected the crews will be working the next week or two to finishing hauling out the debris.
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As work continues there, Reser said a structural engineer will assess the condition of the Midwest Furniture wall.
“We’re going to have to make sure everything is good to go there (before working on the park),” Reser said.
Law Director Rob Ratliff added that once the site is cleared, it will need to be determined what damages to the building were pre-existing and which ones were caused by the demolition of the theater. He noted there may be separate sources of revenue available to fix any issues but they will also be dealing with numerous insurance groups as well. The structural engineer’s report will ultimately determine what will need to be done.
“I think the people of Bucyrus are really going to like this park,” Reser said while adding that a committee is already working on a design. “Getting this down was a huge thing.”
Council approved two pieces of legislation Tuesday night. The first appropriated $413 of the Victims of Crime Act Grant for victim advocate expenses. The second piece of legislation amended the alarm fees within the Bucyrus Codified Ordinance.
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