Chillicothe — In city council Monday evening, Mayor Luke Feeney gave a briefing on several topics. (You can hear more about them in the video interview below).
The two-part project on Belleview Avenue – to fix storm sewer problems near Grand Avenue, plus repave the entire street – went out to bid again. Feeney said there were no bids on the first try, so the city rewrote it.
Feeney said he hopes both parts can be coupled together for a more efficient project. Otherwise, he said the city will figure out how to get the repaving alone done.
The mayor said the city is offering matching funds for property owners to do sidewalk repair. That will be up to $2,000, or $3,000 if curbs and gutter are included.
Feeney said money is from “American Rescue Plan” funds given by the state and national governments during COVID. Information will be on the city’s website and Facebook page.
Feeney said the “Pepsi Building” is moving along. The city had bought the warehouse at East Seventh and McArthur streets to reconstruct as a centralized city facility for water, sewer, construction, street, and refuse services…but then a storm deconstructed the roof the night before Statehood Day, March 3rd.
The mayor said the redesign had been finished for the older warehouse to take the place of a $10,000,000 proposed new building – as least by the cost estimate as of seven years ago.
So a new roof, covered by insurance, had to be engineered in addition. That is now going out to bid. Feeney said the finished facility may be under roof by winter 2024, but that is possibly too optimistic.
Feeney said that the government assistance organization Community Action is buying a property to serve as a homeless shelter, but that the location is yet undisclosed.
Feeney said the county is co-funding the purchase, which will replace last winter’s shelter in the Salvation Army at 171 East Fourth Street.
The mayor announced that the city is losing their City Engineer. David Fishel is taking up a new job in North Carolina.
Feeney said Fishel has spent five years with the city, first as as city Utilities Director, then as engineer. He said Fishel worked hard to get the design done for the Wastewater Treatment Plant…which he says the two-year project is well under way.
Chillicothe Council dealt with only two items of legislation, but had a couple of long discussions. The city’s homeless issue came up in both. Learn more in my companion webstory.
A video of the session is on council’s YouTube page, but it was allowed to record for 12 hours. (The lights go out at about 50 minutes.) The microphones were also glitchy, but listenable.
