Wednesday, May 6th, 2009

Carthagena Road work hits utility pole snag

By Shelley Grieshop
A half million dollar project to upgrade a portion of Carthagena Road this summer was temporarily foiled after the Mercer County Engineer's office discovered a costly obstacle: electric poles.
County commissioners Jerry Laffin and John Bruns on Tuesday opted to reject all six bids received for the roadwork after learning the cost to relocate numerous utility poles along the 4-mile stretch would reach more than $1 million. The expense would rest on the shoulders of the engineer's office, and that cost was not figured in the totals.
"We didn't allot that kind of money for this," county Engineer Jim Wiechart said.
In most cases, utility companies are obligated to move their poles at their own cost when road projects - particularly widening projects - are planned. However, in this instance, Dayton Power & Light in the 1940s acquired separate utility easements with the involved landowners. The easements allowed the company to put the poles just outside the county's existing right of way, Wiechart explained.
By law, the signed easements are worded to exempt the utility company from footing the bill for the relocation of the poles in the future, he said.
"We still have the legal right to ask the utility to relocate the poles but it would be at our own expense," he said.
Instead, the engineer's office recommended the poles remain in place and the project plan be altered. The commissioners later this week are expected to announce a new date for accepting and opening bids for the altered project.
Construction estimates likely will be higher, Wiechart said.
"This changes the scope of the work significantly," he said. "It impacts the type of work, which likely will impact the cost and the time to complete the job."
The work involves a stretch of Carthagena Road from Burkettsville-St. Henry Road to U.S. 127. Crews will perform shoulder widening, base stone widening, side ditch reconstruction and pipe and culvert replacements.
The job is partially funded by a $300,000, no-interest loan through the Ohio Public Works Commission. The remaining amount will be paid from the engineer's office budget.
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All local levies in Mercer and Auglaize counties passed at the polls Tuesday.
Across the state, the election featured 128 school taxes on the ballots, and results were mixed, according to the Associated Press this morning. School superintendents where levies went down blamed the poor economy. [More]
Eight people - seven of them youths ages 16 and under - were injured in a three-vehicle crash Tuesday night at the intersection of state Route 716 and Overman Road, south of Maria Stein. [More]
ST. HENRY - The Midwest Athletic Conference baseball race got a lot tighter thanks to an impressive performance by John Dorner's St. Henry Redskins on Tuesday. [More]
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FORT RECOVERY - The village will pay $43,968 to replace its obsolete computer software.
Village councilors on Monday approved the expenditure to get software from CMI for finance, budget, utilities, taxes and payroll, Village Administrator Randy Diller said.
FORT RECOVERY - The decision to make homeowners pay for sidewalks and curbs that are torn up during an upcoming sewer separation and street reconstruction project was not made by Village Administrator Randy Diller.
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Atelier Salon, 224 S. Main St., now sells women's and me
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The home decor shop known as Those Girls at Willow Grove has moved from state Route 703, Montezuma, to a wh
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Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
The Celina track teams completed unbeaten dual meet seasons on Tuesday in beating Ottawa-Glandorf and Wapakoneta at Varsity Track.
The Celina Bulldogs took advantage of limited offensive opportunities on Tuesday afternoon to defeat the Bath Wildcats 10-6 in Western Buckeye League play at Montgomery Field at Eastview Park.