BARNESVILLE —  Village officials recently learned that the long-awaited Rails to Trails and Tunnel Project must be rebid after the first bids received came in significantly over the estimated amount.

During a council meeting held May 20, Village Administrator Roger Deal said the Ohio Department of Transportation had bid out the project, which will see a portion of the old B&O Railroad bed through the village turned into a biking and walking trail as well as make much-needed repairs and improvements to the old railroad tunnel that runs beneath Main Street.

“The bids came in at over half a million dollars over the estimate. They’re definitely going to have to rebid it, and they’re either going to have to find more money, which they’ve been doing really well for us, or limit the scope of the project,” Deal said.

Councilman Steve Hill noted that the tunnel portion has always been the most crucial piece of the entire project while Councilman Brian Yarnall suggested that they could limit the Railroad Street walking path part of the project to reduce costs.

Deal said he thought that more ODOT and federal funding would be put forward to see the project through as planned.

The project was first awarded funding in 2018 with federal funding through Belomar Regional Council as well as ODOT’s Transportation Alternative Program, but delays and cost increases followed before a divided council recommitted to the project last year at an estimated $2.9 million, with only $100,000 of that actually coming from village coffers.

Mayor Jake Hershberger noted that the rebid meant it would be another six to eight weeks before officials would know any more.

Meanwhile, Hill asked Deal about a drainage issue at East Pike Street and Leggett Avenue.

Deal responded that he would like to meet Hill and Council President Tony Johnson at the site being discussed to weigh their options.

Hill also said there was a ditch on Dorsey Avenue that had gotten deep enough to expose a previously buried pipe and suggested they put in a culvert to address the issue. Deal said the exposed pipe was an abandoned gas line and agreed that they needed to do something about it.

Hill also said that raw sewage had lifted a manhole out of place on Grey Lane recently, noting he believed that problem had been addressed last year.

Deal said he and Hershberger had been discussing doing another round of smoke tests in that area to pinpoint the issue. He added that they had eliminated storm water infiltrating the sewer system from the Plumly Townhomes apartment complex after last year’s testing, which he had believed would solve the issue.

Deal also announced he was advertising to fill two Street Department positions after the departure of two employees. He also thanked the department for the recent streetscape work crews completed ahead of the village’s Memorial Day observances.

Deal also opened two gas and oil lease bids for the remainder of village-owned property that was not included in a previous package of 177 acres.

Both bids included a $6,750 per acre bonus and 20% gross royalties, but the bid from Blue Baron Energy, which had been chosen in March, was for only 16.9 acres while the other bid, which was from Grenadier Energy, was for 59.5 acres.

A discussion followed in which it was noted that Grenadier was the company that would be drilling the lease awarded to Blue Baron in March, and they would likely choose Grenadier since they had included more acreage in their proposal.

The proposals were turned over to Village Solicitor Richard Myser so that he could review them in depth and prepare legislation to complete the process.

Fire Chief Tim Hall said they were going to try to get village businesses to have their addresses visible on the rear of their buildings, saying it could be extremely helpful to first responders during emergencies.

Hershberger announced the village is about to kick off a campaign with Belomar Regional Council seeking available Transportation Alternative Program funding to improve sidewalks and roadways to the village’s schools as well as sidewalks within 2 miles of the schools.

Council also discussed Councilman Terry McCort’s proposed village loan program with input from Hershberger, who was absent from the previous meeting when the program had been discussed at length.

Hershberger presented a document that had been prepared after a committee meeting concerning the program, noting that a lot of the questions that had been brought up at the previous meeting were addressed in the document and suggested that council members look it over so it could be discussed in more detail at the next meeting.

In other business, council approved paying bills in the amount of $179,463, approved building permits for Carl McEndree Jr. to construct a new home at 404 Park St. and for Christopher Keylor to construct a new porch at 107 Cole St.