Council balks, so Conneaut to rethink waterline project
By MARK TODD - Staff Writer - mtodd@starbeacon.com Star Beacon
CONNEAUT — A long-awaited waterline improvement project will be redrawn after City Council members Monday night protested the program put in the pipeline.
Administrators’ plans for the million-dollar Lake Road project will get an overhaul so they dovetail with the vision laid out before council.
At issue are water quality problems experienced at some Lake Road homes because of a dead-end waterline. The solution, spelled out a few years ago, is an ambitious line upgrade that would create a big loop encompassing a large section of north Conneaut, which would ensure a good flow.
However, at Monday’s work session Bob Howland, Public Works Department director, said city crews planned another dead-end line starting in the area of Salisbury Road and Robb Road and stretching along Lake Road to North Kingsville.
Ward 3 Councilman Greg Mooney, who has championed the waterline upgrade since arriving on council, was stunned. A loop, not another dead-end line, is needed to cure the problem, he said.
“I’m quite frustrated,” Mooney said. “Everything I’ve pushed for got thrown out the window.”
Other members agreed that the loop system was the version deemed most likely to cure residents’ water quality concerns.
No problem said City Manager Robert Schaumleffel Jr. If the loop system was council’s choice, that will be the one pursued by the city, he said.
The work still will be done in phases by city workers to save money, council learned. Attempts to secure federal stimulus money for the project proved unsuccessful. State infrastructure money will help defray some of the costs.
In other business, council:
n Learned new traffic signals at Gateway Avenue and Route 7 were operational;
n Will consider closing a stretch of Harbor Street for a proposed outdoor music concert Aug. 8 in the Port of Conneaut. Mike Sanford, of Sanford’s Sandwich Shop, said he is ready to schedule several bands to perform at the show once council gives its blessing; and
n Heard from the Rev. Charles Graham, pastor at First United Methodist Church, on results of last month’s community meeting on the city’s future. The Conneaut Cafe gathered 100 people to brainstorm on ways to improve the town
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