ThisWeek CW 08/16/2012
Canal Winchester City Council has approved a measure to streamline how the bills are paid for some improvement projects.
The council approved a resolution Aug. 6 that allows the city to, when appropriate, directly pay contractors working on the Ohio Public Works Commission-funded Tank Town street and water project, instead of requiring them to wait for payment from the state.
Finance Director Nanisa Osborn said the prime contractors on the project will be paid directly through the Ohio Public Works Commission, and that this has been standard practice for the city in the past.
“We received a combination grant and loan from the state of Ohio for the Tank Town project,” she said. “We normally pay some of the smaller bills directly to the smaller vendors and then we get reimbursed by the state. Some of those smaller vendors can’t survive the state’s long lead time on payments.”
According to Osborn, because of the terms of the 30-year, $1,079,851 loan, the city is required to pass a resolution which allows city funds to be used and then reimbursed by the state using the loan dollars.
“The state is borrowing the money which we then have to draw against from them,” Osborn said. “So this means we’ll seek reimbursement for the bills we pay directly. The borrowing is a 30-year amortization, which I normally wouldn’t take, but that is what the state used and we have to mirror their borrowing.”
Council voted unanimously to approve the resolution.
Osborn also reported that Federal Emergency Management Agency funds may not cover the costs of clean-up and repair projects associated with the June 29 storms.
“We’re doing all of the base work to get FEMA money for the damages from the storm, but Franklin County didn’t get approval, so we might not get approved either, depending on if there was enough damage or not,” Osborn said. “Between the debris clean-up and building damage, we have slightly over $100,000 in contractor estimates.”
Osborn said the city expects insurance claims will recover building damage costs and she is hoping to receive FEMA funds to pay for the debris removal.
In other business, council heard the first reading Aug. 6 of an ordinance to renew the city’s account agreement with Huntington National Bank.
“In order for any municipality in Ohio to deposit funds at any financial institution, we have to reach an agreement with them where they agree to guarantee funds over and above what the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.) requires,” Osborn said. “We normally have $1.2 million at any given time in the account and they agreed to cap it at $2 million, which should be more than sufficient for our needs.”
A final vote to approve the agreement is scheduled for the Sept. 4 council meeting.
The next scheduled council meeting is for 7 p.m., Monday, Aug. 20, at Town Hall, 10 N. High St.