MIDDLEPORT — Middleport’s planned waterline extension to Hobson and other areas on the village outskirts came a step closer as village council authorized Mayor Michael Gerlach to seek funding from the state.

Meeting in regular session Monday, council authorized the mayor to apply for funds through the State Capital Improvement Program under Issue 2. The village plans to extend service to customers on Powell Street, the Hobson community and on Little Leading Creek Road. Plans also call for the abandonment of a water well no longer in use.

The project is expected to cost around $800,000 to complete. The village has received word of a 40-percent loan forgiveness award through the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s financing arm, and the application for funds through SCIP is expected to further offset that cost.

The village has contracted with an engineering firm, Choice One Engineering, to complete the engineering work for the project. It will affect 17 households, according to Fiscal Officer Susan Baker. Eight of those homes already have village water service but their lines are considered undersized; the remaining nine have no service and some of their wells have been found to be contaminated.

It has been over 20 years since residents in the area were annexed into the village, and promised water service as a part of the deal. Work will likely begin on the extension project sometime next year.

The project is also expected to increase fire protection for residents in the area.

In other business, council passed three ordinances following their third readings. The ordinances are designed to correct language in existing village ordinances. One corrects the pay scale for the village’s building inspector. Another addresses pool depths and the requirements for fencing around pools and hot tubs, and another changes the requirements for flood plain permits.The final ordinance eliminates required property inspections in the event of water shutoff at non-rental properties.

Council also:

• Approved payment of bills, $6,711.37.
• Approved an amendment between the Gallia-Jackson-Meigs-Vinton Solid Waste District and Rumpke Waste, establishing a rate schedule for tipping at the district’s landfill. Gerlach represents the county on the district’s board, and villages in the district will vote on the amendment.

Attending were Gerlach, Baker, Council President Rae Moore, and council members Sandy Brown, Craig Wehrung, Julia Houston, Shawn Rice and Emerson Heighton.