Sep. 11—CONNEAUT — City Council voted to buy a street sweeper for $294,930 from MTech Company Monday.
Nick Sanford, the Conneaut city manager, said the city saved roughly $100,000 on the purchase because it was a demo unit, and called it “pretty darn significant.”
While the city had a street sweeper before, Sanford said the new one is better equipped for Conneaut’s streets. At a council work session Sept. 3, members of council had the opportunity to inspect the street sweeper.
Council President Terry Moisio said the new street sweeper looked impressive when he saw it.
“It fits all of our needs, and it’s going to be perfect for what we need it to do here,” he said. “It’s a nice piece of machinery — I think well worth the money we’re spending on it.”
John Williams, the Conneaut finance director, said the money is coming out of the dredge fund. The fund receives money from the city’s dredge facility, which separates material dredged from the harbor into its constituent parts, which can then be sold.
Council also honored Robert Ferl, a NASA-funded scientist and University of Florida professor who grew up in Conneaut. According to the UFA, Ferl has been performing experiments on the Blue Origin’s New Shepard Rocket.
Sanford said Ferl’s life story is an impressive read.
“As an engineer by trade, this is one of the coolest things I’ve heard of in my life,” Sanford said. “His research team has sent about a dozen experiments into orbit through the space shuttle program and the International Space Station.”
The city entered into an agreement with Hudson Communications LLC to pay them $53,460 per year until Dec. 31, 2030 to provide information technology services, such as cybersecurity, for city government.
Council also gave Conneaut Planning and Zoning Department more power to enforce fencing codes, such as bans on barbed wire fencing.
Before voting, 2nd Ward Councilperson Chris Castrilla said he was thankful to Sanford and the employees in the department of planning and zoning, for their work on the ordinance.
“This has been a thing of mine since the beginning of January. I just can’t say thanks enough.” he said. “Hopefully, this gives [Conneaut Planning and Zoning] more teeth.”
The city will also begin looking for a contractor to do a study on utility rates in Conneaut. Williams said the last time Conneaut conducted a utility rate study was in the early 1990s.
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