With spring upon us, it’s time to put away the snow equipment and attention turned to the maintenance and upkeep of the roads. The city is currently completing the planning stage of the 2017 road repaving program. Mayor Bob Stefanik and Service Director Nick Cinquepalmi have conducted their yearly review of the Pavement Management Ranking List, which includes viewing the streets first hand. The ranking list rates each street with a score from one to ten. Those with the most need score low. Most of the streets that rated up to four were previously addressed. After discussing proposed budget for street repair this year, the recommendation will then be made to City Council for approval. Legislation to go out for bids on the project will then take place. Road projects usually begin in July or August.
This year, the streets of Tilby and Edgerton Roads, ranking six and four respectively, have been targeted, although only Tilby Road has been placed on the 2017 program for repaving. “ We will be doing a lot of joint repair in the subdivisions this year,” said Stefanik. “If we do this now, we can add ten to twelve years to concrete streets.”
Edgerton Road has been pushed for repaving next year, with some financial assistance. Both projects had been on the request list for Issue 1 funding, but neither project scored enough for that funding. The city applied for county funding through the Cuyahoga County Resurfacing Program for the Edgerton Road project, which spans from Bennett Road to Ridge Road, and recently received word that $250,000 of the $650,000+ project will be paid for by the County. City Engineer, Mark Schmitzer, said that the county scheduled the project for 2019, but the city has decided to actually do the project, targeting the Spring of 2018 and be refunded the $250,000 in 2019. “It’s well worth the wait,” said Stefanik.
According to Stefanik, the city is expected to expend about $1.3 million this year. The yearly road works budget is dependent upon income tax receipts. When receipts are up, the city may have the ability to increase the budget. This year, tax receipts are running a little bit ahead of last year, said Stefanik. “It was a little down in May, but up a little overall, which is good.” He explained that each year, the city pays for the necessities, and pays down their debt. Anything that is left from that is then put toward fixing the roads and infrastructure.
The budget last year was $1.1 million for road replacement for in-house projects. Last year, Prince Charles Development, Lytle Road, a portion of Donmar Road, Creek Run Drive and Rolling Meadow Lane were completed.

By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer