EAST LIVERPOOL — The East Liverpool Board of Public Utilities (BPU) announced during February’s meeting that the resignation of Board Member Jim Swoger was accepted. William Cowan was appointed by East Liverpool City Council during a special council meeting on Feb. 18 to fill the remainder of Swoger’s term.

They opened bids to review for chemicals for the water plant.

Water Superintendent Paul McCarthy told the board in his report that he and Board Member Tim Clark had discussed the draft contract with Utility Supply which if approved by council would take care of some of the significant water violations. He also said the number one pump would be descaled Feb.25, and the new sludge meter would be installed on the clarifier.

McCarthy said that the public notification regarding the Water Department violations was mailed out on Feb. 12 as required by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). They also sent a response plan back to the northeastern office to try to get this resolved and that there is the possibility the inspector could waive the three-month public notice requirement, which he said is an expense to the city. He is hoping if they get something in place to show the scope of work, they will take that into consideration.

McCarthy also updated the board on work done on the tanks.

They had to have a plumbing service come and repair a copper line that blew out.

He also noted that leak seekers were in to find leaks in the tanks and there were 13 leaks discovered, with the major one being the old travel lodge on Dresden. School was closed for several days while water built up in the reserve tanks

Clark said that the board will submit the contract to the council Finance Committee to get it sponsored to move onto to council for a vote. McCarthy responded they need to try to have council pass it as an emergency measure because he didn’t think this could be dragged out for three months.

Line Foreman Jayson Jackson said he was down to three employees and having a hard time keeping up and overtime is out of this world. He also said that it was a lot of work for a couple of guys, and he needs some help. He is short of staff because of vacations and one employee on Worker’s Compensation and another employee is on light duty and another guy is off on paternity leave which leaves him two laborers who still need some updated training. The employee on light duty will be off for surgery and needing a couple of months to recover which will leave him with two guys. Jackson said he needs more employees.

Jackson said he can’t keep up on the water, patching holes and other work and the valve program isn’t going to get started and that he is in a bind. Some of the employees are doing 22-hour shifts.

Clark said they could bring a maintenance worker up from another department, but the position has to be posted first internally.

Jackson said they are aware of several service line leaks that they will catch as long as they have water service. He noted there is one on Vine Street that is a safety issue that is causing an ice build up. He said this has been on the agenda several times, but something comes up every day. Every day a new break happens, and they need to keep water in the tanks.

Jackson noted it’s an extensive hiring process having to go through Civil Service and he doesn’t know what to recommend right now as a way to hire some more people. He noted they need to hire laborers who are willing to come to work and work.

He also said the city has approximately 70 fire hydrants that need repair or replaced.

Jackson also said they were in need of another dump truck.

Wastewater Superintendent Dave Freeman addressed Jackson’s issue by saying at one time they used to be able to use temporary workers for up to 30 days.

Freeman told the board that two of the control doors and two of the digestors doors would be completed soon.

He also said there would be some work taking place next week. As soon as the weather breaks the department will begin excavating the main shut off to see if its the actual valve broke or the shaft.

The department is having some electrical issues that may need lines replaced and he will be coming to the board for a purchase order to have that done sometime in March or April.

The department is having a problem with the belt press and he believes the main reason is sludge that is too thick in the digestor.

Freeman noted that he is waiting to hear on a pre-construction meeting and the last he heard construction was supposed to begin sometime in August.

Freeman requested and was granted approval to order a new gear box.

The Board of Public Utilities meets the third Thursday of each month at 2 p.m. in council at East Liverpool City Hall. The next regular meeting is scheduled for March 20.

kgarabrandt@mojonews.com