By Meladi Brewer

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — The Darke County Commissioners acting for the Village of Arcanum entered into an agreement with M&T Excavating, LLC to proceed with a $1,472,158 contract. Commissioners Matt Aultman, Marshall Combs, and Larry Holmes were present.

The agreement is for the First, East, Albright, South Street Reconstruction for the Village of Arcanum. The contractor shall complete all work as specified or indicated in the contract document. The project will consist of the waterline, storm sewer, curb and gutter, sidewalk, and street improvements.

The final completion for the West South Street will be Aug. 31, and the East First, East, and Albright Streets substantial completion (all work except final seeding and mulching) will be completed by Nov. 30 with a final completion will be Dec. 30.

“This is a CDBG Critical Infrastructure Grant,” Aultman said.

The CDBG grant will allow for the project to be covered by outside funding, and the Village of Arcanum will be responsible for the remaining costs. The remaining for this project is $525,000.

Aultman said they are allowed to have three CDBG Grants open at a time, so they open one when another one closes. The three projects included in the county’s current three is the Street Reconstruction, the 2022 Gettysburg Critical Infrastruction, and the other project is in Versailles.

“The other CDBG Grant we have is with the Versailles North Waterline project. It is to take care of some lead lines in the northern part of Versailles,” Aultman said.

A fund advance for the 2022 Gettysburg Critical Infrastructure Grant for the “water tower replacement project was approved for $6,350. This is to cover the Maquire Iron Pay application number two, and the money will advance back once revenue is received.

“If you have not been over to Gettysburg lately, they are taking out where the old tennis court is and putting the new water tower out there just north of the old school,” Aultman said.

He said they are in the early process of getting things started. Moving on, Aultman wanted to congratulate all those who won awards at FFA Convention the other week.

“Darke County was not disappointed with how well we have done,” Aultman said. “We do have two state FFA Officers: Jayden Hicks (VP) and Daniel Hartzell (Reporter), Dena Wuebker was also the Golden Owl winner.”

Wuebker was recognized as the top Ag Teacher in the state of Ohio this year. There were also multiple state degree and multiple award winners

“There was also 10,800 and some people in the last session,” Aultman said. “Which there is some 90-some-thousand FFA members in Ohio, so you are talking over 10 percent of the total representation. It’s impressive.”

Aultman said it is very rare to get two state officers out of a county, and Darke County will be represented by two bright individuals at a state level.

“We also have three within our district which is pretty cool,” Aultman said.

The commissioners meet every Tuesday and Thursday for the Regular Session Meetings at 1:30 p.m. in the Administrative Building located at 520 S. Broadway.

To contact Daily Advocate Reporter Meladi Brewer, email [email protected].