Toledo council reviews emergency sewer repair, multiple utility projects, streetscape and festival-street grants

Toledo City Council on April 1 heard a package of infrastructure and development items that included an emergency sanitary-sewer assessment at Arlington Avenue, new and expanded grant funding for road and water projects, emergency cleaning and repairs at the Bayview Water Reclamation Facility, a short-term lease to support a new payment kiosk for the Department of Public Utilities and questions about the recent elimination of winter sewer averaging, and planning and small grants to support downtown and riverfront projects.

The most immediate item involved the Arlington Avenue sanitary sewer near Francis Street, where Department of Transportation staff sought authority to waive competitive bidding and contract with Hillebrand and Sons Construction to perform an emergency investigation and assessment. Christie Sondcrant, Commissioner for Engineering Construction Management, said the city requested quotes from six contractors and received a single bid; Hillebrand was on site to begin an investigation. Sondcrant said contractors are “very nervous with it being 45 feet deep” and estimated the inspection phase would take about two weeks, after which staff would determine whether to repair, line or design a larger replacement. The department estimated the investigation and initial work at about $250,000 and noted earlier full-repair bids had been as high as $20,000,000.

Council also accepted a cooperative grant agreement from the Ohio Department of Transportation adding $263,757 to a previously awarded $2,600,000 for the Secor Road reconstruction project between Laskey and Alexis; the addition raises the ODOT grant total for that project to roughly $2.9 million.

On utilities, Director Doug Stevens and staff presented several items. The council heard that the Army Corps of Engineers is providing a cost-share grant to support a planned raw water main project intended to connect new raw water mains to an alternate water-supply reservoir. Stevens thanked Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur for assistance obtaining the grant and said the raw-water main work is in design and will be constructed in three phases through about 2026–2030; the future reservoir interconnection could be phased earlier or later depending on final reservoir siting and is expected to be completed by 2044 under the agreement tied to the grant.

Stevens also explained an emergency contract to clean two gravity-thickening tanks at the Bayview Water Reclamation Facility. One tank experienced a mechanical breakdown and filled with solids; plant staff worried an overloaded secondary process could cause ammonia permit exceedances. The emergency cleaning contract was estimated at approximately $385,000; Stevens said much of that cost will be offset because the removed solids would otherwise need disposal and that emergency procurement steps were used to get crews onsite quickly. He added the tanks had not been cleaned on schedule in recent years because of staff vacancies and retirements.

Separately, water distribution staff described two pipe repairs: a construction-services expense estimated at about $150,000 for labor to install a previously ordered 60-inch clamp on a leaking Woodruff Avenue steel main, and a $128,000 contract with Crestline Paving to repair a leaking 30-inch pipe. Commissioners said the clamp material was a longer-lead, sole-source item, which is why material and labor were authorized in two steps.

Cindy Geronimo, Commissioner of Utilities Administration, asked council to approve a short lease extension for 1,475 square feet on the first floor of 420 Madison Avenue at a cost not to exceed $2,700 per month. The space currently processes walk-in check and cash payments; the department plans to launch a kiosk at St. Clair and Madison and a new customer portal, then convert the walk-in space to a customer resource center to help customers use the kiosk and the portal. “We would stop taking payments in the walk-in center a month after we announce it,” Geronimo said. The department expects to announce the kiosk in April and to keep the customer resource center through the end of the year to help with the transition.

Council members pressed staff about kiosk security and about text-message notices sent to customers. Councilwoman Morris asked, “What security have we put in place for this kiosk?” Geronimo said the kiosk includes a tracking system and that the Ohio Building (where the kiosk will sit) provides 24-hour security; she added there will be regular cash pickups. After council comments that billing texts did not clearly identify the sender, staff confirmed they corrected the text content so messages now identify “City of Toledo Department of Public Utilities.”

The kiosk and lease discussion led to an extended policy exchange about the recent elimination of the winter sewer averaging policy. Commissioners and council members discussed plans to provide written materials and briefings explaining why the city removed the winter averaging practice, how the change affects customers who do and do not irrigate, and how the department will promote budget-billing options. Director Stevens described the policy change as intended to avoid cross-subsidies that had previously shifted cost to non-irrigating customers and to help preserve the utility’s bond rating; he said the department can produce usage-variability data to show how many customers irrigate and to support public outreach.

In development and economic items, the council authorized design funding of up to $80,000 from the general fund to develop a Summit Street streetscape plan in the Vistula neighborhood. Brandon Sowers, Director of Economic Development, said the work is meant to improve pedestrian safety and connectivity between the riverfront Glass City Riverwalk project and adjacent neighborhoods. Council members advocated including quick-build restriping and low-cost tactical improvements that could be implemented within months while larger design work seeks federal or state funding; staff said short-term restriping was included in the request.

Sowers also presented a $50,000 reimbursement grant agreement with the Toledo Mud Hens to cover curb improvements needed to allow North St. Clair—Hensville—to operate as a festival street. Sowers said the curb work will be reimbursed from the City Center tax-increment financing (TIF) district. Bill Goodyear of the Mud Hens described phased work that includes installation of gateways and ASTM M30 P2 vehicle barrier gates intended to stop a medium-duty truck at 15,000 pounds at 30 mph as an anti-ram vehicle protection measure; he said gateways are scheduled for late spring or early summer and the overall phases extend through 2028.

Public-safety staff requested authority to replace mobile data terminals (MDTs) in police and fire vehicles because Microsoft Windows updates will render the current Windows 10–era devices incompatible with the regional CAD/archive system. Tammy Powell of Toledo Fire said roughly 70 fire MDTs and about 90 police MDTs will need replacement; the departments plan to go to formal procurement and described variations in device specifications between departments.

From the mayor’s office, staff asked the council to accept a $9,750 grant from the Lucas County Family and Child First Council to fund a University of Michigan–led leadership development curriculum for youth in a city caseload; the mayor’s office said full details will be sent to council by email.

Across the items, council recommendations recorded in the meeting transcript were primarily procedural approvals to move the ordinances and agreements forward for formal action (several members stated “SEP”/“SCP” at the time of presentation). No final recorded roll-call votes on the presented ordinances and contracts appear in the transcript excerpt of this meeting.

Items that will return to council for formal authorization or further briefing include the Arlington Avenue sanitary repair design and subsequent construction bid; final contracts arising from the raw-water grant and Bayview cleaning; written outreach materials on the winter sewer-averaging change; the Summit Street streetscape plan and any future grant applications tied to it; and any additional funding requests related to the Hensville festival-street phases.