Rossford opts for cost-free on sewage pump station

Taxpayers, customers won’t pay for $1.1M upgrade

2/19/2013

Rossford City Council has decided to go with the cost-free option for the new and upgraded sewage pump station in Veterans Memorial Park.

The site will be west of the tennis court and cost an estimated $1,094,290, according to the Northwestern Water and Sewer District, which will install, own, and operate the facility. None of the cost will be borne by Rossford taxpayers or sewer customers.

The water and sewer district’s current pump station is below grade in a residential yard on Jennings Road across the street, but it is inadequate to handle the volume of sewage Rossford produces, and untreated effluent overflow is going into the Maumee River.

Up until about three years ago, the pump station belonged to the city. This changed when the city joined the district, Rossford Administrator Ed Ciecka said.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is keeping an eye on the river pollution, but is holding off on issuing orders while the problem is being addressed. For this reason, water and sewer district officials said speed was of the essence to get the new station operational. A date for construction hasn’t been set.

An alternative site in the park was considered. This would have put the new pump station between the tennis court and baseball diamond, about 50 feet north of the bathrooms at the west end of Riverview Place in the park.

But this option involved relocating a sewer line and would have cost Rossford rate payers $284,654 over 20 years, or about 75 cents per month during that period.

It also would have provided a sewer connection for a future multipurpose restroom favored by some council members. But others believed the city’s pinched budget could be put to better use.

The new pump station will be housed in a 12-foot-by-14-foot structure described as “park-sensitive-looking” and the cost includes the proper decommissioning and abandonment of the old station.

By connecting to a gravity sewer line, the station will eliminate the need for the effluent to go through another pumping station on its way to Toledo’s treatment plant.

In other action, council approved a new three-year contract for the city’s firefighters that is retroactive to Jan. 1 and includes a 2.5 percent pay raise each year.

The contract makes Martin Luther King Day a holiday and gives certified fire inspectors $1 per completed fire inspection in addition to their pay. With this year’s increase in effect, the firefighters’ hourly pay range is $12.81 to $14.94.

Following a recommendation by Mayor Neil MacKinnon, council reappointed Judy Heban to the planning commission for a four-year term and Jessie Limon to a five-year term on the zoning appeals board.

It also authorized a variable cost contract based on use with Konica Minolta for a police department photocopier that is expected to exceed $10,000 in cost over three years.