SIDNEY — The city of Sidney Public Works consists of several divisions with a wide range of responsibilities which affect the daily lives of all of all citizens. The divisions include Underground Utilities, Wastewater and Water Treatment plants, Streets, Traffic, Engineering, Public Transit, Sidney Airport, and Fleet Services, said Jon Crusey, director.

The following is a summary of the divisions and their major responsibilities, accomplishments of 2022 and 2023 projected at a glance:

Engineering: Engineering consists of three employees who provide technical and administrative support on numerous construction projects, both public and private. These include surveying, design, contract administration, inspection, grant writing and support services for the other departments within the City. In 2023 work was completed on several major projects:

• 2023 Sidewalk Program

• 2023 Street Resurfacing and Curb Repair Program

• Airport Partial Parallel Taxiway

• Broadway Avenue Water Main Replacement, Phase 1, between Russell Road and Parkwood Street

• Broadway Avenue Water Main Replacement, Phase 2, between Parkwood Street and Hoewisher Road

• Custenborder Pickle Ball Courts

• Canal Feeder Trail, Phase 5

• Echo Drive Extension connecting Folkerth Avenue with Vandemark Road

• Fairmont Drive Sanitary Sewer Improvements

• Linden Avenue and Forest Street Sanitary Sewer Replacement, between Michigan Street and Park Street

• South Wagner Avenue Water and Sewer Main Replacement north of Campbell Road

Projects planned for 2024 include:

• Fourth Avenue Sanitary Sewer Replacement between Michigan Street and Paul Street

• Burr Oak Subdivision, Phase 5A

• Hoewisher Road and state Route 29 Traffic Signal

• The Mills Apartment Complex on Vandemark Road-

• Campbell Road Reconstruction between Vandemark Road and Kuther Road

• Vandemark Road Water Main Replacement between Campbell Road and state Route 47

• Spruce Avenue Water and Sewer Main Replacement between Fair Road and Lincoln Street

• 2023 Sidewalk Program

• 2023 Street Resurfacing and Curb and Gutter Program

• ODOT Urban Paving Program Curb and Gutter (state Route 29) St. Marys Avenue, Pike Street, and North Ohio venue from Lehman High School to North Street

• 2023 Sanitary Manhole Replacement Project

• Brooklyn Ave Sanitary Sewer Diversion

• Port Jefferson Road Storm Sewer Outlet

• Harmon Park Storm Sewer Replacement

• Pike Street Sanitary Sewer replacement between St. Marys Avenue and North Ohio Avenue

• Stewart Drive, Daniel Drive, and Glenn Place Roadway and Utility Improvements

• Mulberry Place Utility Improvements between South Walnut Avenue and Chestnut Avenue

• McKinley/Spruce Sanitary and Storm Sewer Improvements between McKinley Avenue and Spruce Avenue

• Tilberry Run Improvements Phase 1

• Starrett Run Drainage Improvement between Water Street and Cemetery

• Linden Avenue Water Main Replacement between Michigan Street and Park Steet

Street Department: The street department consists of eight employees. They are responsible for the maintenance of 137 centerline miles (289 lane miles) of roadways, 18 miles of alleys, pothole repair, 13 parking lots, weed spraying, mosquito abatement, street tree pruning of approximately 3,200 street trees, snow removal, street sweeping, 51 traffic signals, 5,000 signs, street striping maintenance, leaf pick-up, yard waste pick-up, management of the City’s class IV compost site, maintenance and repair of 170 street lights within the City limits and 3 lighted arches. They also install and change out Christmas lights and banners throughout the year.

In 2023, approximately 7.4 lane miles of roads were paved and 12.9 lane miles of roadway was rejuvenated. 5,570 feet of curb and gutter were replaced, 5 miles of roadways were crack-sealed using 24,750 lbs. of crack seal material and 345 miles of roadways were swept. 146 traffic signal bulbs, 56 pedestrian signals and 302 traffic signs were replaced. 18 miles of paint striping were completed. 320 street trees were pruned, 46 street trees planted, 41 street trees removed and stump grinded and 3,367 cubic yards of leaves were collected in the fall. City crews also responded to eight snow events in 2023 using 435 tons of salt. They also repaired 492 tons of asphalt for street and utility repairs and resurfaced two alleys totaling an additional 104 tons of asphalt. In the nine-block area of downtown, crews erected 12,875 Christmas bulbs, 25 Christmas Wreaths, changed banners on 38 downtown poles 10 times plus the 19 poles on state Route 47 from Walnut to Fourth. They also removed 66 veteran banners from approximately 35 poles for Shelby County Veterans Services and installed them at Custenborder Park.

Fleet Services- Fleet services consists of three employees. Fleet services maintains approximately 258 pieces of rolling stock. 45 of those are for police and fire departments. A total of 676 maintenance and repair orders were completed in 2023. In 2023, seven units were replaced. In 2024, 18 units will be replaced.

Shelby Public Transit- Shelby Public Transit provided 25,419 completed trips in 2023. Shelby Public Transit logged over 12,162 hours of service and 146,846 miles with 12 vehicles in 2023. At the end of 2023 we had nine part-time bus drivers, four full-time bus operators, and four full-time office staff. We continue to operate a connector route with Miami County that takes and picks up passengers from Piqua to transfer between the two county systems. In 2023 office computers were replaced and in 2024 the office copier is scheduled to be replaced. There were no new vehicles purchased in 2023 and no vehicles are scheduled to be replaced in 2024.

Utilities Department

The city of Sidney’s Utility Department is part of the Public Works umbrella. It has 38 employees and consists of the Water Treatment Plant, Wastewater Treatment Plant and Underground Utilities. Underground Utilities consists of water distribution, wastewater collections, and Stormwater Maintenance and Monitoring. The following are highlights from 2023 and a glance at 2024:

Water Treatment Plant – In 2023, the Water Treatment Plant (WTP) treated approximately 1.035 billion gallons of water, a 2% increase over 2022. Notable projects for 2023 included cleaning Well #1, replacing obsolete filter valve actuators, replacing several treatment mixer motors, drilling three new wells, replacing the laboratory autoclave and modernizing the valve actuator for one of the High Service Pumps. The WTP Superintendent became one of 151 operators in the state to achieve the Ohio EPA Class 4 Certification. Plans for 2024 include replacing two more High Service Pump valve actuators, paint the exterior of Fourth Avenue Tower, replace the aluminum sulfate chemical feed system, add a full service generator to the Raw Water Pump Station, finish construction on the three new wells and conduct a plant study on the WTP to assess performance as the plant nears 50 years of operation.

Wastewater Treatment Plant- In 2023, the WWTP treated over 1.4 billion gallons of wastewater from the city’s sanitary sewer system. This is a 9% decrease from 2022. The city also provided additional treatment for 601 dry tons of biosolids. The WWTP is operating under an Ohio EPA NPDES permit that mandated changes to some of the limits of the wastewater discharge and also further regulated the elimination of wet weather bypasses. The WWTP will continue to meet all regulatory permit conditions. 2024 projects include updating dewatering equipment, two HVAC replacement units, and the completion of a planning study at the WWTP to ensure the POTW is right sized for future community development needs.

Stormwater Monitoring- The Stormwater Monitoring program continues to maintain compliance with the city’s NPDES permit. Some of the 2023 activities to meet the required six minimum measures included the Clean Sweep of the Great Miami River, distribution of educational materials to the public on water quality issues, enforcement of the City’s stormwater Ordinances and inspections of the city’s stormwater system outfalls.

Underground Utilities- Responsibilities of this section include the maintenance of the water distribution system and the sewer and stormwater collection systems. In total, the City owns and maintains over 343 miles of pipe related to water distribution, and sewer and stormwater collection. In 2022, Underground Utility staff performed 5,036 utility line locates for underground projects, cleaned approximately 102,064 feet of sanitary sewer and televised 74,032 feet of sanitary sewer to determine sources of clean water infiltration and identify problems with the sanitary sewer that were in need of repair. Staff performed grout repairs to over 21,590 feet of sewers. In addition, they performed required maintenance on eight sanitary and storm pump stations throughout the city. Staff also cleaned 450 feet of storm sewer, repaired or replaced 73 catch basins, inspected and cleaned 2,453 catch basins, repaired or replaced 41 manholes, repaired 20 water main breaks, repaired or replaced 33 fire hydrants, performed 3,420 water service shut offs/turn ons, and manually read 3,764 meters throughout the year. Underground Utilities also continued the hydrant flushing program in the spring and fall of 2022. Underground Utilities inflow and infiltration (I&I) division is now in area 8 making improvements to the collection system to eliminate I&I. We are also in area 7 contacting property owners to inspect their systems on-site to determine any points of inflow or infiltration to eliminate. Typically, I&I from private property can contribute 75 to 80% of the overall I&I of a system. 2023 projects include: Water main replacements on portions of N. Broadway Ave., S. Vandemark Road; water and sewer replacements on South Wagner Avenue and Spruce Avenue; meter change-outs; Sanitary main replacements on portions of Fifth Avenue and Helen Court Alley; a sanitary sewer future capacity study; and Storm sewer repair/replacements on Tilberry Run, Aurora Courtand a portion of Starret Run.