City of Celina adds $200,000 in work for streets

CELINA - City officials have tacked on an extra $200,000 worth of work to the belated 2020 residential street program set to kick off May 3, weather permitting, city councilors learned this week.

Officials executed a change order to target infrastructure that is deteriorating rapidly, city safety service director Tom Hitchcock told the newspaper.

Now included are a reconstruction of a quarter block of Jill Avenue from Touvelle Street to Michael Avenue.

"That street has just fallen apart," mayor Jeff Hazel said. "We need to excavate that out,"

Also slated are the reconstruction of the city administration building parking lot and resurfacing of the municipal parking lot on South Walnut Street.

"We already had one employee that fell and broke some things a couple of years ago," Hazel said of the city administration parking lot.

City employees will remove existing concrete and lay down stone ahead of the contractor's resurfacing, Hitchcock said.

A $1.29 million contract was awarded to the Shelly Co. last summer to resurface nearly three miles of city streets.

The project was pushed back as city officials waited to see whether a roughly $370,000 Ohio Public Works Commission grant would be released amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. They were counting on that money to finance a sizable share of the cost.

The funds were released, and the city's board of control in August approved the contract to the sole bidder, Shelly.

Streets targeted for resurfacing are Riley Street from Market Street to Wayne Street, Deford Street from Wayne Street to Hierholzer Street, Cron Street from Deford Street to Mackinaw Street, Lilac Street from Holly Street to Myers Road, Mercer Street from Echo Street to Murlin Avenue, Pine Street from Elm Street to Murlin Avenue, County Road from Market Street to Livingston Street and Armstrong Street from Livingston Street to Wayne Street.

Also to be included are Irmscher Boulevard from Havemann Road to Majorki Place, Eaglebrook Parkway, Eaglebrook Boulevard, Majorki Place from Eaglebrook Boulevard to Irmscher Boulevard, Ash/Logan streets from Main Street to Market Street, Willow Street from Linden Avenue to Johnson Avenue, Spruce Street from Buckeye Street to Maple Street, Linden Avenue from Wayne Street to Buckeye Street and Hemlock Street from Buckeye Street to Willow Street.

Officials will foot the bill with a combination of OPWC funds and local dollars from the 0.5% additional income tax to continue the city's residential street resurfacing program.

Shelly is expected to begin milling pavement May 3 followed by paving on May 6. The substantial completion date is June 15.

When compiling a list of potential streets for resurfacing, city administrators assess surface condition as well as underlying infrastructure including water mains and sewers.