Rockford to Receive $750,000
By William Kincaid as printed in the Daily Standard May 22, 2008ROCKFORD—The village has been awarded a $500,000 grant and $250,000 zero percent interest loan from the Ohio Public Works Commission for a South Main Street reconstruction and a new walkway to Parkway Local School.
Village Administrator Jeff Long said the $1.3 million street reconstruction and walkway project will begin sometime next year. The project will begin at Walnut Street and go south on Main.
Village now has around $1.4 million in financing secured. In August 2006, the village was awarded a $496,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation for the work on South Main Street (which also is State Route 118). Because of inflation, Long said that grant has increased to $680,000.
The project will include installation of curbs, sidewalks and lights on South Main Street. Property owners on the street will be assessed, and billed for the sidewalks, Long said.
Also, as part of the street reconstruction project, sidewalks, street lights and storm sewer drains will be installed on Buckeye Street to the new school. The project will include landscaping, trees, benches and trash receptacles.
During a village council meeting earlier this week, Long reported:
- Public hearings required to apply for a $500,000 Community Development Block Grand will be held at 7 p.m. June 17 and July 1 prior to the regular council meeting at village hall. The grant would help finance the forthcoming water treatment plant facility. “This is a very competitive program, as they all are, and we are trying to do everything possible to make our application score well,” Long wrote in his report.
- Paperwork for a possible $400,000 Community Distress Grand has been turned into the Mercer County Economic Development Office. Susan McKanna of the department will be putting it together.
- Village officials will meet June 3, with Fremont representatives and engineers to discuss updates on a possible wastewater treatment plant improvement project.
