City water department staff delivered a broad update to the Newark City Council, outlining large sewer separation projects, an accelerated lead service-line replacement program, and planned upgrades to treatment and billing systems.

Mister Fox, introduced as representing the city’s water department, said the 16 North Sewer Separation Project is out for bid with an estimate of about $56,000,000 and a bid opening scheduled for Dec. 12. "Estimate on this project is about $56,000,000," he said, characterizing the work as the largest of the city’s long-term capital projects and describing it as replacing sewer, storm, water lines, sidewalks and streets across the affected neighborhood.

Fox provided details on the city’s lead-service-line program: earlier phases (1–5) have been completed using roughly $2,200,000 in ARP funds and approximately $5.5 million in Ohio Water Development Authority loans, with about 53% of those loans structured as principal forgiveness. He said the program has replaced thousands of services in multiple phases and that service line 6 is nearly complete with service line 7 scheduled to begin in 2026. Fox also told the council the city will send notices to about 700 customers with galvanized services and that, after four notifications, the city will cease replacement work at those properties and the owner would be responsible for future failures.

On schedule and impacts, Fox said the 60 North project will begin early next spring and must be completed by July 2028; Mount Vernon Road will be closed for an estimated 9 to 12 months during that work. He also described a phased approach agreed with EPA that split a larger program into two phases; phase 2 carries an estimated additional cost of about $50 million and a completion requirement by 2041.

Fox described a wastewater-plant capacity issue: the plant is currently rated for 8,000,000 gallons per day and treats roughly 7.5 million; staff aim to rerate the plant to 9,000,000 gallons per day without capital construction to allow development to proceed while a later project would raise capacity to 12,000,000. He said a rate study to support operations and capital planning should be complete within about a month.

On the water-treatment side, Fox said engineers estimate a plant rehabilitation at about $30,000,000, with design work starting next year and construction slated for the 2028–29 timeframe. He also said the city is replacing aging billing software (in place since 2006), narrowed a procurement to two vendors and expects implementation to take roughly 12 months with an estimated cost of $300,000–$500,000.

During public comment, resident Jen Waller Beach urged the council to address persistent sewer odors in parts of the city, saying the smell is particularly offensive in warmer months. "The smell is bad... the gas that's coming out of the soup is really bad," she said, asking for the complaint to be on the record.

No formal votes or budget appropriations for the projects were taken during the service meeting; Fox and staff described funding sources (ARP, OWDA loans and federal coordination with the Army Corps on other projects) and outlined next steps for bids, rating actions and planned design work.