The money is coming from $26 million allocated to Clark County from the the $1.9 trillion ARPA that President Joe Biden signed into law in March. A total of $350 billion was allocated to help local governments across the country reeling from pandemic impact.
A portion of ARPA funds can be used for infrastructure projects under the plan’s Capital Projects fund. The spending approved by commissioners Wednesday will go toward the stormwater component of the project, specifically the “replacement of storm sewers“ in the area and “the construction of county-owned waterline infrastructure,” the resolution authorizing the spending states.
“That infrastructure allows us to improve economic opportunity,” Commissioner Melanie Flax Wilt said during the Wednesday meeting. “And that will come back to us in time.”
The project is expected to go out for bid next fall and be completed as late as Spring 2024, according to Clark County Deputy Engineer Paul DeButty. The estimated cost of the total road improvement project is $6.2 million.
DeButty told the News-Sun that the Clark County Engineer’s Office has heard multiple complaints and concerns in regard to flooding on and around Enon-Xenia Road, particularly flooding north of Greenon Local Schools near Vista Drive, east of Enon-Xenia Road near Matthews Road and north of Hunter Road. The replacement of storm sewers will help remedy these issues.
“This project will give us the ability to do more in the future,” Debutty said.
The overall improvements for Enon-Xenia Road will be made from Hunter Road to Southern Vista Drive. Aside from stormwater system improvement, the project includes pavement rehabilitation, curb and gutter work and sidewalk improvements, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation’s website.
The project is “intended to address the deteriorated condition of the project corridor’s pavement, storm system, and county-owned water main,” according to ODOT.
Clark County received half of its allocated $26 million in March and will receive the rest of that money in June. The county will will have until the end of 2024 to allocate money for projects and expenditures. The deadline to spend that money is December 2026.
Last week, the commissioners authorized $1.6 million in ARPA spending. That money is being used for the reimbursement to the general fund for pandemic-related losses in revenue, the reimbursement of employee paid administrative leave resulting from anytime between March 3 and June 2, and the funding of technology for the county’s dispatch center, expected to open in 2022 on Home Road in the former Clark County Department of Job and Family Services Children’s Home.
By the Numbers:
2023: Expected completion year of stormwater improvement project
26: Number in millions in American Rescue Plan funding allocated to Clark County
2: Maximum amount in millions allocated to Enon-Xenia Road stormwater improvement
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