Sylvania OKs hike in paving contract

1/6/2009

Although gasoline now costs less than half its price during the record oil prices of last summer, oil's impact on asphalt is still affecting the city of Sylvania.

Sylvania City Council last night approved a $41,386.69 increase in its contract with Anderzack-Pitzen Inc. for rebuilding Glasgow Road last year, $30,000 of which service director Jeffrey Ballmer attributed to the skyrocketing price of asphalt paving mix, which is made primarily from petroleum and crushed stone.

Nonetheless, city officials were pleased that the project's total price was just 3 percent above the $1,365,629.50 price in the contract council had approved in May.

Glasgow is substantially finished, with only minor touch-ups like stripe painting and grass seeding to be done this spring, Mr. Ballmer said.

"We didn't want to seed all the grass in the fall and then have our leaf suckers suck up all the seeds," he explained to council.

Council deferred action last night, however, on hiring Mannik-Smith Group Inc. to design a resurfacing and partial reconstruction project planned for Monroe Street west of downtown Sylvania during the upcoming construction season.

Councilman Doug Haynam requested reassurance that the engineering firm would not have a conflict of interest designing that project while at the same time representing the Kroger Co. in a dispute over city plans to remove a traffic signal near its supermarket on Monroe at Harroun Road.

Law Director James Moan said he would research the matter before the next council meeting Jan. 21.