Date: September 6, 2019

Topic: City Seeks Input on Proposed Infrastructure Plan

Body:  A recent study of City streets indicates what most of us already know to be fact; more than 85% of the City streets are in failing condition.  Add to that aging water supply lines, a sewage collection system filled with issues and no funding mechanism in place to support anything more than emergency maintenance.  These factors have City officials looking for a plan of action.

At a July Port Clinton City Council Meeting, representatives from Poggemeyer Design Group, a Bowling Green based civil engineering firm with decades of experience in planning, developing and seeking funding to meet similar needs of other communities in NW Ohio, outlined a $20M infrastructure plan to begin to address the City’s more than $100M infrastructure needs.

This plan would include replacing some of the water lines in the City that predate World War II, bypassing combined sewer lines in the City’s core to eliminate unnecessary flow to and increase capacity of the Jackson Street Waste Water Treatment Facility and repave every road untouched in the street for decades.

In 2018, when he was contemplating a run for office, PC Mayor Mike Snider held a series of town hall discussions on a variety of issues facing the City.  Roads and the City’s crumbling infrastructure was the topic at the top of everyone’s “needs” list for the City.

“How can we expect others to invest in us when we aren’t willing to invest in ourselves?  It’s time to stop kicking this can down the road.  If for no other reason, then very soon we won’t have a road to use,” Snider said.

Snider continued, “To date no one has approached myself, City Safety-Service Director Olen Martin or any of the City Council Members to tell us we are going in the wrong direction with this plan.  As a matter of fact, a fair number of people are telling us we aren’t going far enough to address the City’s issue.”

There will be a public meeting on Thursday, September 26^th at 6:00 PM in the Port Clinton High School Performing Arts Center to learn more and ask questions about this proposed infrastructure plan.  City Officials and representatives from Poggemeyer Design Group will be in attendance to review the plan.

Contact: Olen Martin, Safety-Service Director @ 419-734-5522, extension: 247.