March 24, 2011
School board approves $3.7M in cuts Reduction plan includes loss of 49 jobs, higher pay-to-participate fees By CHRIS BOURNEA ThisWeek Community Newspapers Bracing for state funding cuts and the uncertainty of whether voters will renew a levy in May, the Canal Winchester Board of Education approved a $3.7million “budget-reduction plan” Monday that includes eliminating 49 jobs for the 2011-12 school year. The list includes 21 teaching jobs and 22 classified positions, plus five certi-
fied jobs lost through attrition and a parttime classified job. Superintendent Kimberley MillerSmith said the job eliminations hinge on what happens with the levy. “Even with passage, we’re going to have to make some cuts,” she said. The district had prepared for a 10percent reduction in state funding, but the budget plan unveiled by Gov. John Kasich last week outlines an 11.5-percent reduction. The district will not be
May 2009 expires at the end of 2011. The emergency replacement levy on the May 3 ballot is for 14.78-mills. If approved, it is expected to generate $6,439,000 per year. KIMBERLY MILLER-SMITH The levy would cost $469 annually —Superintendent per $100,000 of home value and would not increase the amount that residents able to make a final decision about its “We have to see some funding num- currently pay, district treasurer Joyce budget reduction plan until the state’s bers,” she said. Boyer said. budget is finalized in June, Miller-Smith The current two-year, $6.4-million See SCHOOL, page A2 said. emergency levy that voters approved in
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Even with passage (of an emergency replacement levy), we’re going to have to make some cuts.
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Sewer line project to start April 4 By TARA STUBBS-FIGURSKI ThisWeek Community Newspapers Canal Winchester will begin a $619,690 project April 4 to update its aging sewer infrastructure by installing sewer pipe lining. Steve Smith, the village’s water reclamation manager, said pipeline installation is a preferred alternative to removing and replacing old A closer look lines because it costs less and takes less time. The project will start with A sock-like High Street, Water Street fabric infused and Highland Avenue, folwith a resin is lowed by Waterloo Road inserted into the east of High Street, Watersanitary sewer loo Road west of High line. The line is Street, Groveport Road, then cleaned Beck Road and Park Street, and the fabric concluding with Woodsview pulled through Road, Liberty Road, Oak so the ends pro- Street and Old Creek Lane. trude into a manhole on either end. The sock is inflated with steam or hot water and expanded to fill the sewer pipe, Smith said. “Once it cools, it creates a pipe inside a pipe,” he said. Once the resin pipe has hardened, a robot is sent down the line to restore the connection. The process is usually accomplished in one working day, Smith said. “Upon completion, the lining will help prevent root intrusion and unwanted groundwater in the village’s sanitary sewer system,” he said. Public works director Matt Peoples said more than 11,000 feet of lining will be installed, main-
GRAND OPENING GRILLING (Above) Jim Yoder of Vision’s Catering gets a face full of smoke from the grill as he cooks up hamburgers during the opening of the new Firestone at 6574 Winchester Blvd. on March 18. (Left) Firestone’s Pat Mattes speaks during the opening.
Photos by Chris Parker/ThisWeek
See SEWER, page A2
Gender Road
seeks agricultural South Central Power contracted Owner designation for 77 acres to relocate, extend power lines By TARA STUBBS-FIGURSKI ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By TARA STUBBS-FIGURSKI ThisWeek Community Newspapers Canal Winchester Village Council approved emergency legislation Monday, March 21, to hire South Central Power to relocate and extend power lines for the first phase of Gender Road improvements. Public works director Matt Peoples said there are some large overhead power lines and a utility pole at the intersection of Gender Road and Fox Hill that need to be moved. The contract allocates up to $20,000 for South Central to complete the work. As part of the project, the village is installing new mast-arm traffic signals
at the Gender Road intersections with Fox Hill, Winchester Boulevard and Prentiss School Drive. South Central Power will remove some of the lines at Gender Road and Fox Hill Drive so they don’t conflict with the line of sight for the signal directing traffic coming from Winchester Trail and Indian Trail elementary schools, Peoples said. The cost of the utility relocation was factored into the project cost and the Ohio Public Works Commission grant the village received, Peoples said. He said the ordinance needed to be passed as an emergency so the work on Gender Road can proceed right away. He said there is a preconstruction meet-
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ing scheduled for April 4. Construction services manager Bill Sims said Canal Winchester will issue a “notice to proceed,” with the project to the contractor on March 25. “You will see some activity there the third week of April,” Sims said. On March 7, village council voted to award a contract for almost $1.4-million to Strawser Paving Inc. for the first phase of Gender Road improvements. The village received a $2-million OPWC grant for intersection improvements. In other business Monday, council approved legislation prohibiting vehicles that weigh more than 26,000 pounds See COUNCIL, page A3
Canal Winchester Village Council had so many questions during a public hearing Monday about a request to place nearly 80 acres into an agricultural district that another hearing has been scheduled at 6:30 p.m. April 4. The property owner, identified as Gender/Thirty Three, was represented by Lou Visco of the Casto Co. He said the property owner wants to take advantage of the agricultural tax rate. Finance director Nanisa Osborn said taxes on the three parcels comprising 77.7 acres could decrease from about $14,000 a year to $2,300 to $2,400 a year if the request for an agricultural district designation is approved.
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Law director Gene Hollins said Canal Winchester would receive the same amount of tax money on the property because the change would cause the effective unvoted mills to be adjusted and absorbed throughout the entire tax district. Osborn said Canal Winchester received the request on March 4. The Ohio Revised Code requires council to hold a public hearing with 30 days of the application being filed. Council then has 30 days from the public hearing to render an opinion. In order to be placed in an agricultural district, a property must be “devoted to agricultural production and/or devoted to and qualified for payments See AGRICULTURAL, page A2
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