Conneaut moves into a new era

CONNEAUT – As Terry Moisio, president of the Conneaut City Council, opened the regular meeting on Monday, Jan. 12, the city was moving into a new era.
The meeting was the first to be livestreamed on YouTube.
“This is first for the city’s history,” City Manager Nick Sanford said. “Quite a landmark move. I want to commend the Cable Advisory Board for their willingness to head in this direction, and at the same time vesting their trust in me, who very nervously clicked ‘record’ in that studio room right there before we went on the record. At any rate, this is a first and I anticipate more to come in terms of content, in bringing everything over from the previous model of production.”
All city council meetings, as well as all content recorded by the Cable Advisory Board that previously streamed on Vimeo, can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/@CityofConneautPublicAccess.
“There’s no set schedule for submitting the content,” Sanford said. “The creators and the volunteers submit this. We will upload it, and it’ll be ready for everybody to view in different playlists.”
Ward 2 Councilman said Martha Sorohan will attempt to stay on a weekly schedule and submit the “Hometown Happenings” show on Tuesdays or Wednesdays.
Sanford reported that minor changes will be made to the city’s codified ordinances to accommodate a streaming service.
Other topics Sanford reported on included:
• Sanford wanted the public to understand that the public works department, as well as city administration, is aware of the condition of some of the roads being used as a detour.
“Naturally, we do see social media, and we do travel the secondary roads throughout the country, and are very and acutely aware of the condition of the detour routes to South Ridge in Kingsville Township,” Sanford said. “As a function of the winter conditions, there are potholes aplenty. I do know that our third shift crews that went in to operate Sunday night and into this morning did begin screening asphalt grindings for placement onto those areas with State Road, Underridge West, South Ridge West as primary focus areas, and are addressing those.”
Other roads in the city are being addressed, as well.
“They’ve also been addressing potholes that council has some areas of concern (about),” Sanford said. “If (council) wants to bring them to my attention, please do because the more eyes on the city, the better. We want to reduce risk as best as possible.”
• The water distribution department has been addressing several water line breaks in recent weeks.
“The water crews have been addressing several breaks throughout the city in the past couple of weeks and determining the root cause of these breaks that are determined to be sheer breaks,” Sanford said. “They are coincidental to power outages or power sways in the voltage during wind events.”
The city is working on a solution.
“I’ve instructed our water crews to work with the engineers in determining a strategic location for a surge anticipation valve because what’s happening is all of our booster stations are fluctuating on the pressure whenever we have a power surge or a power outage and check valves are activating,” Sanford said. “You’ll have, essentially, water hammer throughout the entire distribution system and a sheer break is indicative of that. I think we’ve had seven in the last month. That is a substantial, substantial cost. We’re at a critical, critical place right now in the water system, so we’ll be looking at that.”
The surge anticipation valve will be installed where, hydraulically, it makes the most sense.
Sanford is also addressing the problem with FirstEnergy as it is a shared responsibility.
• The city’s water customers have begun receiving mail from 120 Water, a contract service of the City of Conneaut as a third-party consultant.
“These are mailers that had information on the determination of pipe material that’s coming into the homes on the water service line,” Sanford said. “It’s part of the lead service line inventory under the lead and copper removal rule. It’s not necessarily indicating that you have lead going into your house.”
“It’s indicating you possibly have what’s called a galvanized steel service lateral going to your home,” Sanford continued. “It was a very common construction material used in older homes, and more often than not, that’s the case. Those older homes that have not had that plumbing changed out through newer construction methods or renovations have that galvanized, and it’s just a confirmation of that.”
• Rescue squad membership for 2026 has been delayed.
“I do want to assure everybody the 2025 membership is not being canceled,” Sanford said. “It’s just being held over until such time as the mailers are sent out by the fire department. It’ll just carry forward as renewals are mailed out and simply the matter is administratively dealt with on my end.”
• City Planning and Zoning Manager Jennifer Hoover is reviewing text to create an overlay district for advanced manufacturing.
“It will go to the economic development committee prior to recommending to the planning commission before a work session of council,” Sanford said. “We’re also reviewing proposed bylaws to the board of zoning appeals and welcoming Dr. Virginia Arp to the board of zoning appeals to fill a vacancy.”
• A new business could soon find its way into Conneaut.
“I’m happy to announce also that we have received a formal zoning permit application in the office for the development of a Tractor Supply Company to occupy the space at the former Giant Eagle at Gateway Plaza, which, those who remember, Giant Eagle left the Plaza 20 years ago,” Sanford said. “It’s been utilized for heated storage in more recent years. It’s very exciting to see a national chain coming to Conneaut.”
• There is an opening on the Port Authority Board that council will be tasked with filling.
“One résumé has been received to fill a vacancy at the Port Authority, and know, in the past, council, by charter, has the authority to approve or deny (a candidate). (Council) has, by practice, gone into executive session to discuss on the matter of personnel. I leave it certainly to the discretion of council, but given the lack of membership, we maybe want to pivot and discuss management objectives,” he said.
The Port Authority Board has three openings.
• Using feedback received from some members of council, Sanford has submitted a proposal for how roads are selected for the paving program.
“We had a long discussion about this at work session, with respect to the selection of roads for the annual road program, but I did hear in the feedback what’s been done and when was it done,” Sanford said. “I like that, so I’m going to work with our city consultant, MS Consultants, in creating a series of GIS (geographic information system) layers indicative of our levy-funded road improvements by year, going back to 2014 when this all began.”
“I think that’s an easy lift, easily attainable,” Sanford continued. “We do have a proposal for a three-year effort in citywide pavement condition ratings, data driven with the assistance of GIS and AI, certainly at council’s discretion, if we want to go that route, understanding, of course, the nuance in our restrictions on how much revenue we receive each year toward the street improvement levy. It’s the same, I believe, since the advent of the street improvement levies all those years ago. Certainly, we’re not able to stretch those dollars as far as we were in 2014, 2015, but I’ll have more information at our work session in February.”
Sanford said it would be a good conversation to have during the February work session.
Sanford is looking for a way to get signalization at the Interstate 90 and Route 7 interchange as quickly as possible.
“At our January work session, (Ward 3 Councilman Oakey) Emery had brought up the possibility of temporary signalization at the interchange,” Sanford said. “I have a phone call into ODOT District 4 to that very effect. The understanding is presently that their signal warrants are valid. However, District 4 does not have that built into their plan until their program year 2027, which is still a year out. We recognize the importance of getting those signals up there as quickly as possible, so if a temporary arrangement is at our fingertips and at our disposal, we should find a way to get it done, so the ask has been made, and we’ll see what we get in terms of feedback.”
• A rate increase might be in the works for the city’s water customers.
“We’re at the point of submitting our capital improvement plan for Raftelis to cover our formal utility rate study,” Sanford said. “However, in discussion with the finance director and review of, particularly, the water fund, I do find the necessity to increase rate base to cover an additional $475,000 to cover mandatory operational increases that we encountered throughout 2025 that has brought cash flow down to a point that’s less than comfortable for us.”
“Basically, what our proposal would reflect an average $6 to $10 increase per month to the average water bill, and that would be put into effect for rates beginning Feb. 1 on the water side,” Sanford continued.
• Administration is working with each of the city’s departments to provide a high level of customer service.
“We will be working on employee reviews with management based on objectives and, basically, the capability of how each department provides a level of customer service to the public that is on residents and businesses,” Sanford said. “I do want to add, this would be a first for me, I had the objective to accomplish this last year, and it did not get completed. I do apologize for that, and I will have it done this year.”
• Sanford said the city has fielded some inquiries regarding the Route 20 bridge over the Norfolk Southern tracks.
“The overpass over Norfolk Southern on West Main Road, we did field several questions concerning the approach and what appears to be busted concrete on the parapet walls,” Sanford said. “I did reach out to an old colleague of mine who’s a staff engineer with ODOT. The damage is not structural. It looks bad. It’s on their schedule to be repaired this year.”
The bridge will be repaired and, as Sanford stressed, the damage is not structural.
“The suspect causes is severe skew angle. It was just the angle relative to the roadway and the railroad, and what they consider is just kind of a bad setup on the design end,” Sanford said. “It is on their on their agenda for full repair this year. I want to reiterate the importance that it does not impact the structural integrity of the bridge. It doesn’t impact the structural integrity of the roadway on the approach, the parapet, the bridge deck, anything of that nature, or the railroad right of way beneath it.”
• The city’s social media policy will be reviewed at the February work session.
“(Council Clerk Jennifer) Hoover had reminded me that there was the consideration of a more expanded social media policy,” Sanford said. “There is a very general social media policy in our employee handbooks. Now that we have a streaming service that’s provided to the public, I do think it is appropriate and just, frankly, an environment that we exist in that’s certainly apropos to have something much more formal.”