FLUSHING — Village officials last Thursday learned that plans are in place to continue making required upgrades and repairs to the village’s sewer plant.

In his monthly report, Village Administrator Bryan Clark said that he had been working with a Class III Sewer operator who has assured him that they would have the village in compliance with EPA regulations in short order while they continued to work towards getting their sewer classification reduced to Class I.

Flushing’s sewer system carries a Class II designation due to the presence of a dairy farm which used to operate nearby and Clark has been working with local agencies to get the classification changed which will simplify many of the regulations and testing procedures the village is required to follow.

Clark went on to say that they would be spending money upgrading the lab so that testing could be done “in house” which will save the village money in the long run since they spend over $1,000 per month having the county perform the required testing.

He also said he would be placing the order for a required bar screen auger for the sewer plant at a cost of $48,250, the funding for which having been approved at a previous meeting and that they had recently replaced a flow meter and control switches at a cost of $9,726.

With all the money being put into the sewer system, Fiscal Officer Jeryl McGaffick and Mayor Vincenzo said the village would continue being more aggressive with shutting off service for customers who fail to pay.

Mayor Angelo Vincenzo validated the need for the purchases saying, “Everything we’re doing at the sewer plant is a must have. It has been neglected for so long that we are at that point.”

Clark also updated council concerning a number of complaints levied by residents during recent meetings, saying that many of the bad spots on Johnson Lane had been marked out with orange paint as if repair work were about to begin on the road that was damaged by crews doing gas and electric infrastructure work in the area, but that he personally didn’t know who had done so and that his calls inquiring about it have gone unanswered.

He added that he and village workers would soon be doing some work there also, saying “We’re going to go in there next to Mr. Dymiboski’s, we’re going to grade that and clean that up, straighten our sign up and work on the other side of the street, too where they were on the neighbor’s property.”

Johnson Lane resident Vick Dymiboski had attended several recent council meetings upset with the road damage and water run-off and the lack of action by the village or anyone to fix the issues.

Clark said that he had been in contact with several agencies concerning a ditch on the property of Fred Kidd on Circle Drive. Kidd asked council during the October meeting to clean out the ditch since he believed the sediment that filled it resulted from rainwater draining off of village roadways.

He said that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Division of Soil and Water Conservation needed to look at the situation and that a permit may be required.

He also addressed concerns raised by Josie Bashline during the October meeting, saying that they would be putting in a catch basin and some pipe at a cost of around $500.00 to get the water off of the road in front of his house.

Clark said that area would be a problem later on due to freezing and thawing if they didn’t do something about it and there were other potential problem areas caused by the recent ODOT contracted paving of Ohio 149 and 331 through the village, causing significant changes to the flow of water along the route.