Public works director details paving, sidewalks, sensors, cemetery GPS and tree grant

Mick Murray, Bowling Green public works director, provided a comprehensive report on 2024 work and 2025 projects, touching on street repairs, sidewalk and crossing improvements, refuse operations, winter-operations technology, cemetery mapping and facilities maintenance.

Murray said public works repaired asphalt and concrete damaged by utility work, crack-sealed 15 streets, and completed sidewalk infill on North Enterprise with approximately 565 feet of 5-foot sidewalk and an updated curb ramp. He reported regular refuse and recycling service involves about 5,808 stops per week and the department performed 870 heavy-item collections in 2024. Leaf and brush collection included two rounds of leaf collection and four rounds of brush collection; the city no longer requires sign-up for brush collection as of September 2024.

On winter operations, Murray described installation of five road-temperature sensors and a winter-weather dashboard that will display street surface state, treatment history (salt/brine), and real-time plow progress; he said the city plans to make the dashboard public-facing. "The goal of the winter weather dashboard is to improve the efficiency of our operations and reduce the amount of treatment that we are applying," Murray said.

Murray said the city is pilot-testing Rubicon software to monitor refuse and recycling services and continuing to digitize Oak Grove Cemetery records, with ground-penetrating radar (GPR) planned for the final two sections in 2025. Facilities work included roof inspections and repairs, a new roof at Pearl Street Fire, and planned LED lighting and HVAC improvements at municipal buildings.

Adrian Lowing Kurian, the city’s urban forester (referenced in the report), led tree-planting and education efforts in 2024: staff planted 172 trees, removed 85 (59 were hazard trees), pruned more than 500 trees and responded to about 800 tree-related resident inquiries. Murray said Adrian secured a $415,000 urban and community forestry grant to assist residents with hazard-tree removal, pruning and canopy planning.

Murray outlined major street and bikeway projects and schedules: repaving and curb work on South Main (construction slated for 2025), a shared-use path on North Main (a $3.6 million USDOT award, construction scheduled for 2028), and pipeline projects for shared-use paths and a roundabout scheduled through 2026–2028. He said an RFQ for a West Wooster bike-and-ped study will be released in February. Several safety and corridor studies are underway or nearing analysis.

Murray closed by praising the public works staff and answering procedural questions from council about project timelines. Several items discussed are grant-funded or contingent on ODOT and USDOT schedules; Murray noted the ODOT portion of some sidewalk projects will pick up where the city’s ARPA-funded segment finishes.