State of the City: Amherst will put $2.4 million carryover to work

AMHERST — Income tax collections may have dropped in 2020 as the COVID crisis caused strife. But in his 2021 State of the City address Monday night, Mayor Mark Costilow said Amherst managed to scrimp and save $2.4 million in general fund cash. Now he's ready to put that money to work. He's earmarked about $1 million for summer road paving, targeting portions of North Main and South Main streets, Hilltop Drive, Wildwood Drive and part of Sunrise Drive with Ohio Public Works Commission grants. A list of more streets will go in front of City Council on Monday night, Costilow said. The pandemic also forced widespread sidewalk repairs to be put on hold last year. They'll resume this summer, and Costilow said he intends to see all sidewalks on the south side of Amherst fixed in 2021. "Rest assured, that with the balanced budget City Council has recently approved, we are well on track providing all the quality services Amherst residents rightfully expect," he said in his address. The health and well-being of residents and city employees will continue to be Amherst's top priority this year, he said, reflecting on the challenges posed by the virus in 2020. "Our city's biggest strength continues to be in our residents and in our businesses," Costilow said. "During the times of isolation that we all experienced, we found unique ways to work together to meet our ever-changing needs. Businesses adapted. The schools adjusted. And we all learned to interact differently so that we could go on with our day-to-day activity the best we could." He said it would have caused catastrophe if any single city department had shut down last year due to illness. That didn't happen — some services to the public actually improved as Amherst workers adapted to the threat, Costilow said. For example, a new utilities payment system has been put in place, providing a paperless option, mobile payment options, text notifications and online access to past bills. In addition, homeowners and contractors can now apply for permits and pay fees remotely. The Building Department issued more than 1,300 residential and commercial building permits in 2020, Costilow said. New home construction was strong, adding 64 houses, and that's expected to continue this year as more are built at the Reserve at Beaver Creek and Eagle Ridge subdivisions. Amherst also is seeing commercial development, with a new Akron Children's Hospital site under construction, expansion at Tyson Foods and a new medical office, all on Cooper Foster Park Road. There are now 360 active businesses within the Amherst city limits, Costilow said. Storm and sanitary sewer improvements remain a high priority, he said. An agreement signed last year with Lorain will result in upgrades to a ditch that crosses Cooper Foster near Terra Lane, reducing flooding on Amherst's north side. Perhaps the most important project in the works, Costilow said, is the construction of a second main power feed into Amherst. Right now, there is just one electrical feed into town, and in the past five years it's failed 21 times. Eight were just momentary before the lights flickered back on, but 13 lasted longer — and a couple were eight hours or more. "Those outages are completely out of the hands of the city of Amherst. There's nothing we can do about those outages," Costilow said. A train derailment near Route 58 in December just missed knocking out the power to all of Amherst. Costilow said it could have meant no power for days. City Council has entered into an agreement with AMP Transmission to build a $9 million secondary feed on Amherst's west side, and is working to acquire land rights. The target date for completion is 2024. Contact Jason Hawk at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.