The Athens County Commissioners approved yesterday the creation of an $11,000 Web site for the Athens County Engineer's Office and discussed creating a $25,000 plan for the Athens County Regional Planning Commission.
The Web site will be created by the Institute for Local Government and Rural Development, Athens County Engineer Archie Stanley said, and it will include Stanley's office contact information and current projects. The institute already maintains a geographic information Web site - a $30,000 site that contains Athens County map data - for the engineer's office.
We are asking (the institute) to do an extra good job and make it user-friendly
Stanley said.
The Web site should be up and running by the end of the year.
The commissioners also discussed the creation of a $25,000 plan to regulate land usage in certain areas. The plan would determine the best places to run utility lines, what areas of the county still need water and sewer and the best places to run bike path extensions, said Bob Eichenberg, Athens County planning director. I presented a fairly low-cost way to do it working with the Ohio State University Cooperative Extension office Eichenberg said, adding that the office would organize meetings and media contacts and prepare drafts of the plan.
The commissioners do not have the money in this year's budget to write the plan, but they will in the 2006 budget, Eichenberg said. The plan will take about two years to complete.
In other business, the commissioners awarded the bid for a project in Dover Township to replace 18,000 feet of waterline that contains asbestos to Goodin Building in Albany. Goodin will complete the project for $52,350, said Jessica Stroh, community development coordinator for Hocking-Athens-Perry Community Action. Stroh's organization is helping the commissioners administer funding for the project.
Most of the funding for the project will come from a Community Development Block grant from the Ohio Department of Development given to the commissioners for up to six projects in the Athens County area. The grant this year will cover $44,600. The rest of the project is being funded by the Sunday Creek Valley Water District, the company that owns the pipelines, Stroh said.
We hope to have construction started in the next two or three weeks
Stroh said. It will be done by the end of the year.
17
Archives
Andrea Golby
