04.19.21 MEETING MINUTES - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Minutes of the Regular Meeting of Council Monday, April 19, 2021 Page 8 Department more challenging, and at Chief Carcioppolo's request, we added three additional full-time firefighters to our ranks. We also provided $120,000 worth of grants to our local small businesses. After monitoring their needs and with the relief they were eligible to receive from the Federal and State governments, John Marquart, our Economic Development Manager, recommended that the Village establish a Small Business Relief Fund to assist businesses with 20 or fewer employees with operating and safety expenses. Over three rounds, the Village awarded $2,500 each to 48 local "mom and pop" shops. 2021 CAPITAL PROJECTS: Projects being planned for this year include: Civic Center ADA Improvements. Last year, we had talked about making major renovations to the Civic Center, but we decided to put those plans on hold until we had an opportunity to perform a more comprehensive study of the Wilson Mills/SOM Center intersection, which is our Town Center. We concluded that spending a large amount of money on construction or renovation could impede future plans for an updated Town Center. We agreed that only minimal upgrades to serve the needs of our community would be made to the Civic Center in the short term. I am happy to report that the original $100,000 Capital Appropriations Grant we received from the State of Ohio to make ADA changes to the Civic Center was extended due to COVID-19, and we have secured an additional $100,000 in funding from the State of Ohio. Plans are being drawn now to expand and upgrade the main restrooms in the building to make them ADA compliant. The restrooms are being expanded into the kitchen but we are being careful to maintain the functionality of the kitchen as well. A $500,000 budget for renovations to the building has been set and includes replacement of the boiler as well as some smaller ADA improvements. Worton Park Culvert Project. For many years, and particularly since residents in Worton Park experienced serious flooding in 2014 and 2015, we have been monitoring water levels and working with the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District to develop a plan to address home flooding there and the overtopping of roadways during large storm events. The Sewer District has completed its review of this area and has recommended several improvements that can, and should, be done to help the stormwater situation. The first phase of this work is currently in the design stage. It includes replacing two culverts—one on Worton Park and one on N. Woodlane Drive—with larger box culverts. Channel improvements will be made between these culverts and an expanded floodplain is being explored. Our Engineer Tom Cappello is working with the Sewer District on the design and we anticipate that the project will be advertised for bid this summer with work beginning in the Fall of 2021. We have budgeted $1.3 million for this project and plan to budget additional funds next year to begin work on the next phase of this comprehensive stormwater improvement.