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Thursday, 19 February 2009 |
By MATT NICHOLS

Staff Writer

LIMA — After a roundtable discussion Wednesday with a U.S. senator, the Wapa-koneta mayor says he has a new-found confidence his city’s infrastructural needs will receive some federal assistance.
Mayor Rodney Metz told the Wapakoneta Daily News he believes several mandated infrastructure plans will receive ample help from the federal government after discussing Wapakoneta’s needs with U.S. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Cleveland.
Metz, along with three other mayors and one county commissioner, voiced their concerns with the senator during a roundtable discussion at the West Ohio Food Bank in Lima.
Voinovich, who toured Lima’s food bank, sat down with the city officials to discuss how they are trying to cope with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) mandated upgrades to public utilities systems.
Taking part in discussions with Voinovich were Metz, Defiance Mayor Rob Armstrong, Paulding Mayor Greg White, Kettlersville Mayor Ben Bowsher, Williams County Commissioner Brian Davis and Ohio EPA District Director Shannon Nabors.
Before Metz had a chance to voice his concerns, primarily for the city’s estimated $30 million combined sewer overflow project, Voinovich told those at the meeting he is “disturbed” at what the EPA is imposing on small towns across Ohio.
Voinovich said every year he tries to increase the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund to give aid to communities in the face of economic hardships due to the unfunded mandates.
“If we have an unfunded mandate, and the federal government is requiring you to do something, they either need to back off the mandate or help you pay for it,” Voinovich said. “I am very, very disturbed by this because I’ve been working on this for such a long time.”
When Metz had the floor, he informed the senator about Wapakoneta’s concerns over their combined sewer overflow situation as well as the potential increase in sewer and water rates for the mandated project.
After each official stated the issues plaguing their communities, Voinovich offered them the possibility of placing a temporary moratorium on their projects — an idea that seemed to go over well with all those seated at the table.
After the meeting, Metz said he was optimistic about Wapakoneta receiving much needed help with the EPA’s projects and said he was glad to see so many others facing the same problems as those in Wapakoneta.
“I think we’ve got a sympathetic ear and we’ve got people who are very interested and concerned and we’ll see how far it goes,” Metz said. “I think we’re going to gain a great deal with this. I mean it’s nice that we all have similar problems so we all can share ideas and solutions.”
During Wednesday’s meeting, Voinovich also voiced his concerns regarding the $787 billion economic stimulus bill and how little it brings to infrastructure needs.
The senator said he asked for $25 billion to be included in the bill just for water infrastructure projects.
The bill President Obama signed into law provides only $6 billion nationwide — nowhere near what is needed across Ohio, Voinovich said.
Metz termed the news as disheartening.
“I’m very disappointed, especially in the fresh water and wastewater dollars,” Metz said. “But I think we all expected not to get what we wanted, but to get something close would have been great, and I don’t know if we’ve gotten that far yet.”
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Last Updated ( Friday, 20 February 2009 )
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