The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Village officials discuss past, present projects
A pair of officials recently discussed some 2017 highlights and what’s to come in 2018 for the town.
A pair of Fairport Harbor Village officials recently discussed some 2017 highlights and what’s to come in 2018 for the town of roughly 3,100 residents.
One top item on Mayor Timothy Manross’ checklist of community infrastructure advancements in 2017 involved the village’s water plant, he said.
“On a very high level, I think, some of the things we’d like to highlight from last year involve improvements to the water plant, as there were many,” he said in a Jan. 4 conference call with Village Administrator Rebecca Corrigan.
“We get to run our own water system and it’s no small task to do so,” Manross said.
He said rebuilding its filters and progress on a new supervisory control and data acquisition system to the water plant were two landmark accomplishments in Fairport Harbor in 2017.
Corrigan explained that the new SCADA system reads and reports on a number of factors involved in keeping the village water system operational, efficient and in compliance with applicable regulations.
“It gives you different levels to ensure we’re in compliance with the (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) and it can be viewed remotely,” she said.
The project, funded in part by state grant money, should be completed by June, Manross said. He added that the filter project, SCADA system, settling-basin upgrade and numerous other projects have been helping the village in its “focus on modernizing” the facility.
He said that, as always,
“We’re only 1 square mile. But we’ve got everything any city would have and I just think (Fairport’s personnel) do a marvelous job and they don’t get enough credit for all that they do.” — Fairport Harbor Mayor Timothy Manross
the village has to make the most out of its lean financial resources, so pursuing grants and other assistance has been a big help in completing such projects.
Another initiative that started in 2016 with the help of a $25,000 Community Development Block Grant is the sewer separation program, which continued into 2017 and remains ongoing, Manross said. He added that four households have been updated so far through that program.
“That’s a big project here in the village and we’re really starting to understand that better,” he said. “You’ve got sanitary, storm sewers and laterals that go to sanitary ... That’s something we’ll continue to do, as well as work with the county.”
Manross said Lake County commissioners also “helped us out” with
another $75,000 in CDBG funds earmarked for infrastructure improvements.
“And we plan to continue to work with the county and state to find more creative ways to improve the village,” he said.
Thanks to other funding help, 2018 has the Third Street improvement project, estimated to cost $643,000 and funded partly through an Ohio Public Works Commission grant, to look forward to. Also on tap for 2018 are numerous road improvements, thanks to the passage of a streets, roads and bridges levy in the Nov. 8, 2016, General Election and numerous other infrastructure improvements.
“We’ve been very successful with grants lately,” Manross said. “And we’re always trying to find ways to commingle these funds and make them last.”
Other projects to which the village can look forward in 2018 include the results of a study of the hillside overlooking the Fairport Harbor Lakefront
Park beach area, the ongoing plans for waterfront development near the mouth of the Grand River and improvements/redesigns at two village parks: the Orchard Street playground and the skateboard park on East Street.
Corrigan also pointed out that the village now offers online water-bill payments and extended customer service hours on Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
As far as challenges go, Manross said that, as always, the biggest items in Fairport Harbor Village result from limited financial resources and the administration will continue to handle that issue the best way it knows how: doing more with less.
“For me, (the biggest challenge) has always been financial resources. We’ve got limited financial resources, which means we’ve got limited personnel,” he said. “I can’t say enough about them and all they do. We’re only 1 square mile. But we’ve got everything any city would have and I just think (Fairport’s personnel) do a marvelous job and they don’t get enough credit for all that they do.”
He said he’s thankful Lake County commissioners, along with county, state and federal officials, are willing to help the village as much as they do.