Franklin General Authority chairman Tim Dunkle delivered a bleak message Monday to Franklin City Council members.
“(Future projects) are definitely going to have an impact on citizens,” Dunkle said.
The main focus of Dunkle’s report was a corrective action plan the authority approved at its March meeting. The plan includes a cost of about $4 million and will see the removal of the 15th Street combined sewer overflow watershed’s I&I system.
The plan was formulated from a four-year study of the watershed performed by the EADS Group engineering firm, during which sporadic infiltration was found.
Though the number looms large, Dunkle assured council there are existing options for lowering the impact on the city, such as loans and a possibility of sharing the cost with Sandycreek Township.
Dunkle told council that while the 15th Street project seems large, he expects to see bigger and more costly projects in the near future.
“In two or three years we will have four or five projects this size,” Dunkle said.
Kyle Fritz, an engineer with the EADS group, said at the General Authority meeting in March that these upcoming projects would make “15th Street look like a very small project.”
Dunkle also said the Department of Environmental Protection will be handing down new guidelines soon that could mean more projects for the city.
Dunkle and city manager Tracy Jamieson told council that project estimates all point to a rise in residents’ water and sewage bills.
In other business at Monday’s Franklin City Council meeting, community development director Sheila Boughner laid out final plans for the first phase of the Miller-Sibley recreation complex improvements.
The proposed plan will include the demolition of the park’s two basketball courts and five tennis courts, rebuilding of both basketball courts and one tennis court that will be stripped for pickle ball play, the re-paving of a parking lot, site lighting and security cameras.
Boughner said the improvements will provide a more generalized recreation option for park goers.
Council approved a motion that will allow Boughner to apply for a grant from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to help pay for the project. The grant requires the city to match $260,030.
Boughner said funding for the project would also come from various city accounts and donations from the public.
“There’s a group of University of Miami (Ohio) students that are doing a mock PR campaign for the project for one of their classes,” Boughner said.
The campaign will be free for the city to use after it is completed.
Beth Pfohl, a Franklin High School graduate and current senior at Miami (Ohio), is a member of the class working on the PR campaign.
Another form of public relations came with a presentation of several municipal government websites from the website builder GovOffice by finance director Harmony Motter.
Motter said the city’s current website, which was finished about five years ago, lacks many vital features such as a search function and an easy user interface.
The new website would feature what Motter described as “quick buttons” that provide easy access to important pages like calendars and online payment options. A notification tab would also be available for use if there’s an emergency or utility work.
Jamieson said the city also has almost no control over the site if something were to happen as no one knows who exactly to contact about the site.
When the site had been commissioned, the builders had been based in Oil City but have since “packed up and gone back to the UK,” leaving no information behind.
GovOffice is located in Minnesota.
“I’d like the website to look like the town,” Motter told council.
Council unanimously voted to enter into a three-year, $15,400 contract with the company to rebuild the city’s website.
In another matter, council accepted the resignation of longtime councilman James Marshall, effective April 30.
Council will accept applications for Marshall’s seat until May 15.
Marshall’s seat is up for election this year, but he had chosen not to seek re-election.
n Jamieson said this year’s Spiffy Day will be held Wednesday, May 1.
Jamieson said that while the day has been traditionally regarded as a clean-up day for neighborhoods in direct view of downtown, she is urging all Franklin neighborhoods to participate.
