LIMA — A multimillion-dollar project mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will soon go out for bids, pending approval from Lima City Council.
Meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at the Lima Municipal Building, the council will vote on an ordinance allowing the mayor to go out for bid on the Combined Sewer Overflow Storage Tank project that is expected to begin next year at Simmons Field off South Shore Drive. The 13 million gallon tank is part of a consent decree from the U.S. EPA aimed at preventing combined sewer overflow into the Ottawa River.
“The tank … is estimated to cost $42” million, Utilities Director Michael Caprella wrote in a letter to the council. “The city was able to secure $13 [million] of the cost with a zero-percent interest loan.”
Construction of the overflow tank is expected to take more than two years.
The council will also vote on entering into contract with Chicago-based CDW to purchase three Panasonic Arbitrator police cruiser dashboard camera systems. The cost for the systems would total just less than $18,000. Funds for the purchase would come from the Capital Fund.
According to Lima Police Chief Kevin Martin, the dashboard cameras to be replaced have reached the end of their usefulness and can no longer be repaired or maintained.
Panasonic also manufactures a body camera under the Arbitrator brand. While that was one of the models tested by Lima Police Department officers, Martin said, the department is still finalizing its evaluation of a Motorola model before making a final decision on a body camera model, which Martin expects to come at the beginning of 2018.
