ENON — Local officials in the Village of Enon are moving forward with several infrastructure projects in the new year.
Village Administrator Benjamin Ross told Mayor Tim Howard and village council members during the Jan. 24 regular meeting that village employees installed 135 new radio-read water meters in January, leaving approximately 300 left to be installed.
“They have been taking advantage of the unseasonably warm temperatures and working diligently installing new water meters this month,” Ross said. “We are hoping to complete this project by May.”
Ross said the automated meter reading (AMR) technology allows village employees to read the water meters remotely using a mobile collection device located in a vehicle that is equipped with a specialized antenna. This data is then downloaded from the collection device to receiving software in the Enon Government Center.
Once the installation project is completed, all 1,330 meters will be read remotely in about four hours and thus, allowing village employees to work on other projects. Prior to the AMR technology, three village employees would read the meters by hand in the course of a 40-hour workweek.
“That doesn’t account for time spent by the village office staff entering the meter readings completed by hand and auditing the results,” Ross added.
Village officials are anticipating that the AMR technology will also improve the accuracy in the billing process by ending the practice of estimated water bills. Meters will be read on a monthly basis, instead of three times per year.
Portable leak detectors is also being installed and connected to existing water mains. This leak detection technology involves a process of listening for leaking water between 2 and 4 a.m. daily. That data is then uploaded remotely.
“Water could leak from a water main, never surface, and go undetected for months. This way we are alerted early before a lot of damage happens,” said Howard.
The village received a low-interest Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) construction loan in 2013 to replace the 1,330 existing, individually read water meters with new, radio-read water meters, their supporting components and six portable leak detectors. The total amounted to $198,710.60, but village officials said the village would save an estimated $25,000 over the life of the 3.52-percent loan when compared to 2013 market-rate loans of 4.42 percent.
Ross also reported that village officials are moving forward with the Speedway Drive Water Loop Project. The village administrator said the engineers’ plans had been submitted and were being review by county officials.
According to Ross, the project includes extending a new water line from the eastern terminus near 500 Speedway Drive. and then, extending it southward through a wooded area to a point near 5852 Dayton-Springfield Road. A water main, which dead-ends on Winding Drive, will be extended to the road and connected to the water line which will proceed west-southwest on the north side of Dayton-Springfield Road.
The water line will cross over to the south side of Dayton-Springfield Road near the Enon corporation limits and connect to the existing Main Street water line that dead ends near Koons Drive.
Howard added. “New fire hydrants will also be installed approximately every 500 feet as part of the project.”
Enon was awarded a $273,235 grant and a $273,235 interest-free loan in 2016 from the Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC) Capital Improvement Program that will provide 74 percent of the funding towards the $738,474 project.
The village is also moving forward with the Main Street Improvements Project. The enhancement project, with an estimated price tag of $461,000, will increase sidewalk accessibility for the disabled. According to Ross, construction will be divided into three phases.
Existing sidewalks, curb ramps and crosswalks on the south side of Main Street — from Scott Street to Winding Drive, and on the north side of Main Street, from Scott Street to Koons Drive — will be repaired and reconstructed to meet ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) standards. New sidewalks will be installed on the north side of Main Street to bridge the gap from just east of the Enon/Mad River Township Fire and EMS station to Koons Drive. Ross said this part of the project would require the relocation of three utility poles and one telephone pole.
New curbs and gutters will be installed in the southeast corner of the intersection at West Main and Scott Streets to channel runoff into the storm drains and reduce standing water. The village will also install two dry wells in a low area along Main Street where there are no storm sewers, which Ross noted is an affordable way to disperse storm water below grade.
The project will require purchasing a temporary right-of-way from property owners of several parcels of land to allow for upgrades of curb ramps.
“New federal regulations require six feet of right-of-way,” Ross said. “Basically, the village is providing compensation to the property owners.”
Federal grant funding from the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) is providing about $370,000, or 80 percent, toward the total cost of the project. The village is contributing approximately $84,000 as a 20 percent local match in addition to the $7,340 it has invested to this point. Decorative street lighting, which has been temporarily sidelined, would cost the village approximately an additional $82,000.
