Clay Twp., Genoa: Joint funding of projects to be discussed

A meeting of Genoa Village Council and the Clay Township trustees to discuss projects that can be jointly financed by the village and township’s shares of American Rescue Plan Act funds is being planned for Sept. 20 at the village town hall.
The meeting will start at 6 p.m.
Mayor Tom Bergman said the trustees have agreed to begin a dialogue on possible projects with an eye on the sanitary sewer system in particular.
“We’ve had a very good working relationship with the trustees,” the mayor said. “So we thought, let’s have a conversation about teaming up on ARPA projects that benefit the village and township.”
Joe Badger, a township trustee, said he and the other trustees, Mike Diekman and Chad Gargas, have agreed to attend the meeting. Badger said he agreed with the mayor that the sewer system would be a good choice on which to focus the discussion.
The village has been allocated to receive $238,518 in ARPA funding. The disbursement will be in equal tranches over two years.
Mayor Bergman said the ARPA funds don’t have to be fully spent until the 2027 fiscal year.
According to the Ohio Township Association, Clay Township is to receive a total of $277,066 - $138,533 in each year.
The distributions are based on populations of municipalities and townships and each allocation is subject to a limit of 75 percent of each entity’s budget.
According to the U.S. Treasury, the funding provides “…substantial flexibility for each government to meet local needs—including support for households, small businesses, impacted industries, essential workers, and the communities hardest hit by the crisis. These funds can also be used to make necessary investments in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure.”
Mayor Bergman said much of unincorporated Clay Township utilizes the village sewer system, including the Genoa Area School District campus; and that three of the four sewer lift stations scheduled to be rebuilt are in the unincorporated portion of the township.
Last November, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency announced it was awarding low-interest loans to several municipalities, including Genoa, to improve wastewater and drinking water infrastructure systems.
The village was awarded $1.84 million for improvements to its wastewater treatment plant, including replacing the aeration system and adding chemical feed facilities for removing phosphorus and inflow/outflow sampler systems.