Madison trustees OK next steps on several construction projects

The Madison Township trustees are moving forward on a pair of construction projects.

The board voted at its regular meeting Monday to advertise for work on Sites Road and award a contract for engineering work on the Manner Drive drainage project.

Township trustees approved the paperwork to authorize a $29,435 contract with Shaffer, Johnston, Lichtenwalter and Associates Inc., of Mansfield, to design a replacement for a corrugated steel culvert that carries water from Manner Drive storm sewers east toward Spring Lake Drive. The project will replace a 30-inch culvert on the east side of the Eastview subdivision that officials have said is not big enough to accommodate all the water that flows through that area.

The engineering firm indicated in its work proposal that the project could include bedding, backfill and concrete headwalls for the pipe as well as possibly creating a construction staging area and support and a temporary holding facility for a sanitary sewer that runs roughly perpendicular to the storm sewer and serves the Dollar General store. The timeline for the design work calls for detailed design plans to be submitted by Sept. 13 with final plan work to be done by Oct. 11.

“I’m assuming after that, bids can go out,” Trustee Dan Fletcher said. “If the schedule goes according to plan, we should have the job done before Christmas.”

Madison Trustees have been working since at least 2013 to resolve flooding problems during times of heavy rain in a number of township neighborhoods, including Eastview, and have done one other flood relief project in the area. Trustees voted in March to allocate as much as $150,000 of the township’s American Rescue Plan Act allocation to pay for the Manner Drive project.

Bids sought for additional projects

Trustees also voted to advertise for bids to replace storm sewers at two locations and repair and resurface about one-third of a mile of Sites Road north of Chew Road and also to resurface a similar length of Marianna Drive north of Chew. The project covers Sites Road from Chew Road north 0.35 miles to the dead end. The work on Marianna Drive runs from Chew north 0.34 miles to the dead end and includes milling the road surface, making necessary repairs and resurfacing.

Plans will be available to potential bidders at Richland Blueprint with the bid opening scheduled for July 22 at the township hall. Half of the estimated $221,600 cost will be covered by an Ohio Public Works Commission grant and the rest with a 20-year OPWC loan.

In other business, trustees agreed to sell a Stryker cot and load system that came with a used ambulance that was purchased earlier this year to the Monroe-Lucas Fire Department for $18,000. Fire Chief Ken Justus said in his written administrative report that the department already owns four complete systems and does not need a fifth.

Justus' report also noted the new Medic 73 unit is about one week away from being in service and that the old unit has been taken out of service. He noted that conversations with ambulance dealers indicated the old unit is worth around $50,000 and the Shelby Fire Department has expressed an interest in the truck.

Madison Township preparing for Inkcarceration Festival

Justus also said he learned at a recent emergency preparedness and planning meeting for the upcoming Inkcarceration Festival at the old Mansfield Reformatory that Reformatory Road will be closed during the event and residents and businesses on Crawford Avenue will have to use a temporary road to the south. He noted that a private company has been contracted to supply EMS coverage at the festival with additional units supplied by the Mansfield and Madison Fire Departments, if needed.

Madison Township will perform fire inspection of the tents and booths that are in the township. In the event of a fire, the proper fire department, based on jurisdiction, will be called.

During one of the public comment periods, zoning inspector Paul Smith reported on a recent meeting with the Mansfield law director’s office to discuss past problems with prosecuting violators of township zoning regulation.

“We had a conversation with them about where we’re at, whether a case has been closed and when submitting give a better picture of the offender themselves,” Smith said.

Trustee Jim Houser added that it appears the City of Mansfield also had problems in the court with the law director and zoning officials meeting with the judges to emphasized that the issues need to be taken care of and not pushed aside.

“The law director indicated that there were a couple of cases that fell through the cracks at the end of last year and they’re not sure what happened,” Houser said. “Any recommendations the law director has about re-citing the people or starting over with the documentation, they’re going to let us know.”