September declared National Recovery Month

Lorain County commissioners proclaimed September as National Recovery Month at their Aug. 29 meeting.

Elaine Georgas, executive director of the Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board, addressed the commissioners before the proclamation was read and said this is the 29th year Recovery Month has been held.

“Recovery Month celebrates the gains made by those in recovery just as we celebrate health improvements made by those who are managing other health conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, asthma and heart disease,” Georgas said. “This observance reinforces the message that behavioral health is essential to overall health, prevention works, treatment is effective and people can and do recover.”

As part of the month’s celebrations, there will be an Overdose Awareness Day at 6:30 p.m., Aug. 31, at the Sunset Terrace in Lakeview Park, 1800 W. Erie Ave. in Lorain, and a 5k run/one mile walk Sept. 29 at the Lorain County Metro Parks Bur Oak Pavilion, 1320 Ford Road in Elyria.

In other news, the commissioners are seeking contractors for the widening and reconstructing of about 1.02 miles of Cooper Foster Park Road in Lorain and Amherst between state Route 58 and Oberlin Avenue.

The work is estimated to cost $4.4 million with $2 million of that coming from the Northern Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, and $250,000 coming from the Lorain County Transportation Improvement District.

The cities will be required to pay the rest.

Commissioner Ted Kalo said this project has been a long time in coming.

“I’m just really happy this finally going somewhere after all these years,” Kalo said.

Commissioners did not say when the project could start.

Lorain County Administrator James Cordes said the projects predate the election of Lori Kokoski and Matt Lundy as commissioners.

“It’s a very old project,” Cordes said with a laugh.

Also, during Cordes’ weekly report to the commissioners, he said the plan for a transportation center, 40 East Avenue in Elyria, has hit a number of snags.

The county requested five variances from Elyria and the state for the structure and only one, the issue of having public bathrooms at the facility, was denied, he said.

The county doesn’t wish to install public bathrooms because the facility only will be used for two hours a day at around 3 a.m., Cordes said

“We need to discuss that more fully, because with Norfolk Southern, and now with this, I’m beginning to seriously question the viability of completing this project,” he said.

Cordes said the costs of the project have ballooned due to demands made by Norfolk Southern, which owns the rails.

“I have worked in some frustrating environments before, but working with the train people has been the most frustrating environment I’ve ever been in,” he said. “We jump over one hurdle and they don’t just bring another one; they raise and bring another one and it’s getting to where I don’t see a clear line of sight to any kind of understanding or resolution and the project is already very costly.”