GPD to finish city waterways mapping for $43,044

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by Miles Jung-Kilbreath

Reporter

Streetsboro -- With the city still under pressure from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to finish stormwater mapping, City Council April 24 approved hiring GPD Group to complete the job for $43,044.

"[The city] didn't meet the goals [of the EPA's Phase II regulations], but we do have a plan in the process to meet those goals and be in compliance by the end of 2008," said GPD project manager Joseph Ciuni.

Engineering Department Director Bruce Terrell said the city missed the March 10 deadline set by the EPA to have its waterways mapped in accordance with the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Phase II regulations, a component of the federal Clean Water Act that every city in Ohio must meet.

Terrell said the city needs to finish the mapping or the city could incur fines "that could add up real quick," though he said he's unsure of the exact amount.

According to a March 18 letter to the city, Ciuni said the city had at that point completed about 65 percent of its mapping, which comprises all waterways in the city; stormwater pipes, culverts and ditches; creeks; and streams. As part of the process, the city also must identify all illicit discharges.

Mayor Tom Wagner said the city should be able to avoid being fined as long as it shows the EPA it's making progress on the mapping.

Finance Director Ted Gordon said the $43,044 for the project would be paid out of the general fund from the engineering department.

According to the proposal, the field mapping will take 240 hours for a two-man field crew and 24 hours of surveying work, which will cost the city $25,680. After the field work is completed, it will take a mapping drafter 220 hours, a senior engineer 40 hours and the project manager eight hours to finish the project, costing $17,364.

Ciuni said GDP would deploy four survey crews in the city to finish the city's mapping.

The city originally hired GPD for $6,000 to review the city's mapping and create a report for the EPA in February.

Wagner said he hired GPD to do the review first, because he wanted to have the final estimates for the cost of the mapping before bring it do Council.

"We hired the this firm to tell us where we need to go and how to get us there quick," Wagner said.

E-mail:
mjung-kilbreath@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-686-3942