MAUMEE

Bond proceeds to finance new city garage, water meters

Council to choose type of pavement for project

3/26/2013

Proceeds from $11 million in new Maumee bonds will finance most of a new garage for the city’s service department and pay for new water meters in the city, along with refinancing some eight-year-old city debt.

City Council last week approved three ordinances authorizing officials to proceed with the bond sale, the largest component of which involves the new service division building.

Next, service director Joe Camp said, council will have to decide whether that project should include replacing old asphalt pavement at the division’s 210 Illinois Ave. headquarters with full-depth concrete, because bids for a construction contract came in well within budget when they were opened the day after council’s March 18 meeting.

“It appears we’re at about $4.9 million,” Mr. Camp said, compared with an engineer’s estimate of $5.5 million. The choice between concrete paving, full-depth asphalt paving, or merely resurfacing the lot will determine which of several bidders receives the contract, he said.

Along with $5 million for the new building, the bonds council approved include $4.6 million to refund a portion of Various Purpose Bonds the city issued in 2005 and $1.4 million to buy and install new water meters.

The 53,700 square-foot building will be built at the Illinois Avenue site and will house all dump trucks, front-end loaders, and other vehicles belonging to the service department’s three divisions, Mr. Camp said.

Many of those vehicles now are kept outside when not in use; the garage will allow for indoor storage and maintenance. Existing buildings will house smaller equipment, such as lawnmowers, he said.

Twenty percent of the building’s cost will be allocated to the tax-increment financing district for the Fallen Timbers area, since it will house vehicles the city acquired for operations in that area, Mr. Camp told council.

Besides the pavement choice, city officials have to decide whether the below-budget bids will allow inclusion of an optional building automation system, under which the garage’s electronic, mechanical, and lighting systems would be computer-managed, Mr. Camp said.