Road Work Ahead

CELINA - Crews from Shelly Co. of Findlay are expected to begin resurfacing North Main Street on Monday, a week earlier than anticipated, mayor Jeff Hazel said.

Hazel at Monday night's regular council meeting also announced that Dayton Power & Light will carry out necessary emergency maintenance at 12:01 a.m. May 30, which will result in a power outage for up to eight hours.

Shelly officials plan to begin milling on North Main Street on Monday, Hazel said.

ODOT, which has committed to paying a large share of the project, awarded a $493,173 contract to Shelly to resurface North Main Street from Fulton Street to the northern city limits.

The city is responsible for 20% of the cost, which would come from the street improvement capital project fund.

In 2018, the water line beneath North Main Street was replaced as were sidewalks and storm sewers. City officials let the street settle in 2019 before permitting ODOT to resurface the stretch in 2020.

The completion date is set for June 30.

Already underway is the $1.67 million West Market Street reconstruction project. Milcon Concrete of Troy started work late last month.

The project will be an intensive and protracted endeavor consisting of four phases and lasting through Sept. 30, city safety service director Tom Hitchcock said on Monday. Traffic will be maintained throughout except when the work occurs in front of Mercer Landmark, when the road may be temporarily closed.

The project will entail the complete reconstruction of West Market Street from Walnut Street to a spot 600 feet west of Mill Street and will include asphalt pavement, new storm sewers on both sides of the street, new concrete combination curbs and gutters, new concrete sidewalks and new concrete driveways. At the end of the project the city electric department will install new street lighting.

In other news, Hazel said the emergency maintenance work and attendant power outage is set for the Saturday after Memorial Day - 12:01 a.m. May 30. The outage will last up to eight hours. DP&L crews will replace three switches at its South Sugar Electric Substation in Celina.

In theory, most people will just be waking up and the power will already be back on," he said. "They have to replace those switches or it does have a serious risk of damaging other equipment within their substation."

In the event of inclement weather, the alternative time is 12:01 a.m. May 31.

"They couldn't do this during the last six weeks because just like many cities, DP&L was also on partial skeleton crews," Hazel explained. "They didn't have enough personnel to do this. We did ask them. So even though we're kind of just getting back into opening up, this was the time their crews came back on and (are) able to do that."