By MELISSA MARTIN

Brunswick Post editor

Ward 3 Councilman Dave Coleman has asked city council and the administration to explore the possibility of using storm water utility revenues to perform cleaning of storm sewer lateral lines at no cost to residents.

Coleman told members of council's service and utilities committee last week that residents on Duxbury Lane have experienced several issues with calcium deposits accumulating in the lateral lines outside their homes in recent years. The deposits, he said, have caused blockages, which cause storm sewer backups in their residences during heavy rainfalls.

While cleaning out the lines is an option to resolve the resulting flooding issues, under the current policies of both the city and the county, Coleman said, the service is performed at the residents' expense when the lines are located under the city right-of-way.

"What I'd like to see us do is purchase the equipment we need so that the city can perform this service at no cost to the residents with the revenues from the storm water utility fee," Coleman said. "If we had the equipment we needed, we'd be able to clean out the pipes at a minimal cost versus having to dig up a portion of the street and having to replace it."

The city's finance director said the storm water utility fees, which raised quarterly trash bills by $14.85 per month starting in January, will be used to offset $6 million in debt that has been generated by storm water improvement completed over the past decade. Additionally, the funds will be used to maintain the overall system and to offset costs associated with unfunded federal mandates for storm water control, such as disposal fees mandated by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. The fees could also be used to fund future storm water projects, based on the availability of funds.

Service Director Patrick McNamara said the problem of calcium deposits in lateral lines is not limited to residents on Duxbury Lane and the widespread nature of the problem could warrant the purchase of the equipment needed to remedy the situation. However, in light of the city's current budget shortfalls and service department manpower issues, he cautioned council against implementing another service department program without being certain of the revenues that will be generated by the newly implemented storm water utility fee.

"Before we look at this more closely, we have to determine what the revenues of this program will be," he said. "We also have to look at service department staffing levels to make sure we have the resources in place to handle another program."

City council has asked McNamara to price the equipment needed for the program with the intent of discussing the matter further next month.

If the city has the resources, members say, implementing the program could be a possibility.

"On council, we have to be visionaries and we have to be proactive in matters like this," said At-large Councilman Brian Ousley. "We have several aging homes in this community, many of which are going to be experiencing similar issues in the coming years so a program like this could be advantageous for the residents of our community."

Coleman agrees.

"It's definitely something we should consider and if we can afford it, I think we should start implementing it even if we can only afford to partially assist in the process at first," Coleman said.