CONNEAUT – Every spring, the City of Conneaut’s dirt roads need attention after the abuse they take during the winter months.
As temperatures rise and fall on a regular basis with rain mixing in, those roads have become a concern for residents, as was expressed during the public commentary portion of a regular city council meeting on Monday, April 13.
“I want to say that I’m very disappointed in the fact that the state would not fund the rural paving program,” Scott Kirshenicoff said. “We drive on these roads every day, even right now, currently, they are not safe. Underridge has been graded, I believe, three times now. Keefus Road continues to be disregarded.”
“There are potholes every single foot you go,” Kirshenicoff said. “We’re driving in people’s yards to avoid them. South Ridge Road, that is a main thoroughfare, in my opinion. It is not being graded. No stone is being put into the road. There’s nothing being done. It’s very frustrating. I work on my wife’s car. I replaced the same part in her car now three times in six months. What about the people that have to take their car to a garage or can’t get anywhere?”
Kirshenicoff said some of his neighbors, some who have lived on the dirt roads for decades, told him a plan to pave those roads has been discussed for nearly 50 years without movement.
“There’s still no pavement,” Kirshenicoff said. “I’ve lived there eight years. I can tell you that it’s extremely frustrating to be disregarded like this. I don’t have many words other than please, I urge you to do something. Put stone down.”
Soon, mud will give way to dust on the dirt roads and that, too, will be a problem.
“(Dirt roads are) not good for dust control,” Kirshenicoff said. “Dust control, we need something because people leave their (house) windows open. They drive down the road, people’s houses get littered in dust.”
Paving the roads would solve that problem.
“I’m kind of at a loss,” Kirshenicoff said. “If pavement is the way to go and prepping the road by adding stone and things of that nature needs to be done, then you don’t need dust suppressant if you add stone. I’m working on my wife’s garden. I spent $400 on stone. I could put that in my truck right now, and I could go and fill potholes, and that’s kind of what I’m trying to say. I’m not trying to berate you and put you down, but I just urge you to understand that we drive these roads daily, and it’s just not safe.”
Council President Terry Moisio noted that the city is aware of the problems and is working on them.
“We’re well aware of the conditions,” Moisio said. “If you ask (City Manager Nick) Sanford, we’re on him constantly about the road conditions and getting the holes filled with however we need to do that so it doesn’t come out once it rains.”
Moisio also said the city is attempting to get dirt roads paved.
“South Ridge West was due to be paved,” Moisio said. “We were looking at a Perma-Zyme base here about a year or so ago. We were trying to prep the road better with ditching and doing things like that, then the South Ridge Road (East) debacle happened. We’re going to be repaving that with funding from the state.”
“South Ridge Road (West), we hope, is next to be paved, and then we’ll try to chip at these rural roads as we go along,” Moisio continued. “That’s kind of the game plan, but you’re correct, that would solve a lot of our issues, but our freeze-thaw just does not help us in the amount of rain and the weather for public works to get out there and do what they need to do. Sometimes it’s on us. Sometimes, I’ll be honest with you, I feel we do a crappy job grading and stuff. I’ll be honest with you. Sometimes we do a good job.”
As the roads continue to dry out, dust suppression will once again become a topic of discussion and Julia Barton asked council to make some concessions in that regard.
“We haven’t forgotten that it’s going to be dust season and that there will be calls for a dust suppressant,” Barton said. “We also know that we have a lot of ice in the winter and that it will be tempting to use radioactive and carcinogenic solution and we are looking to you, again, for a response regarding the cessation of (using brine), so that we know that our watershed will not be polluted through that practice, and so that we know that a better solution for deicing and dust suppression, perhaps water, will be found.”
Another topic of concern for residents was whether or not the City of Conneaut was going to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if it comes to the community.
“My second comment is about ICE,” Parker Turner, a young resident, said. “I’m concerned that ICE will come to our house and separate our family. Other families have been separated already, especially black and brown people. It is not okay to separate families and send them to different countries. We learned about due process. It is in the Constitution. It means every person gets a fair legal process and gets to explain their situation to a judge. ICE is skipping due process and using violence. I am concerned ICE will come and do that to families in Conneaut. Please do not work with ICE. We need our community to be safe.”
Barton echoed Parker’s statement.
“We continue to request you to consider a resolution or an ordinance indicating that the City of Conneaut will not partner with ICE should they come to town,” Barton said. “I hope they don’t, but we continue to have concerns about their practices throughout the nation, which have escalated in many communities, and we’ve seen other local communities in the state pass multiple resolutions and ordinances indicating that they will not partner with ice and in support of their local communities.”
Lastly, the rumor mill has been churning with discussions about the city’s compost site.
“The grapevine is saying that the compost is going to close, and I’m wondering if it’s going to be moving,” Diane McKenna said. “First of all, if that is true, is, has that property been sold? Is it going to move someplace else?’”
Sanford said the property remains in the city’s possession and will only close for a short period of time.
“We will be closing it temporarily toward the end of the month so we can get a grinding machine in there,” Sanford said. “It’s long overdue for a grind. That’s as far as that goes. It’s only temporary, just to allow for (grinding) safely, without people coming in. I believe, (it will only take) a week or two. It’s the moderate inconvenience, being that it’s the spring season, but we’re having some in-kind work, whereas I believe the last time we had this done, it was tens of thousands of dollars in operational costs.”
The recycling portion of the site should remain open.
