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Marietta to apply for water treatment plant loan

Marietta is ready to apply for the Ohio EPA money that will finance the construction of a new Marietta City Water Treatment Plant facility.

Resolution No. 46 received third reading at Thursday’s Marietta City Council meeting, then a unanimous vote to adopt the Water Supply Revolving Loan Account Agreement.

The plan to replace the plant has an estimated price tag of $32.4 million, but Marietta received a huge boost to the project this past week with the Ohio EPA listing Marietta with the highest score of all submitted projects eligible for Emerging Contaminants Funding in Project Year 2023.

As a result, EPA estimates the city can receive $10.1 million in loan principal forgiveness. As Councilman Bret Allphin, chair of the city’s water, sewer and sanitation committee explained, the city will still apply for a loan, but the $10 million will basically count as a grant. To illustrate the impact of Marietta’s achievement, Allphin pointed out that the total of all drinking water emerging contaminant funding under Ohio EPA’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, for all projects in this funding cycle, totals a little over $19 million. That means Marietta is receiving half of all the “grant” funds available to everyone on the project list.

The WSRLA loan application is due Dec. 2. Allphin said early on that he did not want to apply for the loan until the public had a chance to ask questions and give feedback. He has been meeting every Tuesday evening in November with any interested residents who want to talk about the water treatment plant replacement project, and will continue that Nov. 22 and 29, from 6 to 7 p.m. in Armory Room 10.

“I’ve gotten lots of questions and lots of positive feedback,” he said at Thursday’s council meeting. “I feel good about the due diligence we’ve done on this.”

Council unanimously suspended rules on second and third readings, then moved to adopt Resolutions 58 and 59 to provide the Historic Harmar Bridge Company with the property easements and joint use agreement they sought in order to proceed with long-range plans for the bridge. Some earlier concerns raised by assistant city engineer Bob Heady were addressed before the vote by HHBC spokeswoman Janelle Patterson, but council members did not comment further on the issue during the votes.

In other action, council unanimously adopted:

¯ An easement agreement for public parking purposes for use in conjunction with the Ohio River Museum and the Campus Martius Museum, on property owned by the State of Ohio, lying adjacent to Washington Street and under the jurisdiction of the Ohio Historical Society.

¯ An ordinance to amend the salary step schedule and increase salaries for various and particular non-union positions in the Water Treatment/Distribution Department and the Waste Water Treatment Department, effective Jan. 1.

¯ A resolution to enter into a subrecipient agreement on behalf of the city with Washington County Homeless Project Inc., 333 Fourth St., for a sum of up to $10,000 as direct payment of a rental contract for use of the property at 274 Front St. as a Drop-In Center for homeless residents of the county and city.

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