NEW BOSTON COMPLETES ANOTHER GREAT CHRISTMAS APPRECIATION TO COMMUNITY

I have always said from the day I moved into New Boston that the caring, giving and closeness of the community is what the secret really is to our continued growth while other villages and cities are dwindling away.

This year again, the Village of New Boston, along with many tremendous volunteers, has completed another great December of Christmas activities for the community.

Beginning with this year's traditional Breakfast with Santa, sponsored by Mayor Warren, there were over 400 breakfasts served to the community of pancakes, sausages and beverage at the New Boston Community Center.  Additionally, Santa Claus was in the lobby visiting with children and giving them gifts.

Later in the day, the 4th Annual New Boston Christmas Parade was held.  This parade has grown bigger each year and there were over 80 units.   Fire trucks, bands, horses, church floats, local vendors and pageant winners were all part of what we feel was our best parade yet.  And the crowds this year were fantastic.  New Boston Kiwanis sponsored free coffee, hot chocolate and cookies at the fire station after the parade.  The New Boston Firemen personally paid to have Santa and his sleigh make an appearance and meet with all the kids.

Today we had what I consider probably the most important part of our celebration.  It was the annual New Boston Police Christmas drive.  Members of the Police, Fire, Dispatch, and Service department joined local volunteers in distributing gifts to children throughout the village.  A Santa caravan rolled through the village this morning distributing gifts to children at their homes.  Watching the young children see Santa and open gifts was probably the greatest Christmas present any of us will have.

Finally a special thanks to Mike and Jennifer Bailey who operate a local computer business in the village donated Christmas street lights that have been hung on the utility poles throughout the village by the service department.  This is just another example of members of our community stepping up to make New Boston a better place to live.

Thanks to all who gave their time and energy to continue making New Boston a great place to live. And a Very Merry Christmas!!!

Mike Payton
12-22-13

INFRA-METALS NOW OPEN IN NEW BOSTON

It is good to know that after six years of planning and site remediation, Infra-Metals has announced that its New Boston facility is finally open.  Plant Manager Oak Williams said the facility has already been receiving truck deliveries of steel and expects to receive deliveries by railroad and barge in the upcoming week.

This project has took approximately six years of planning and site remediation before Infra-Metals signed the land purchase agreement with the Southern Ohio Port Authority (SOPA) in December.  In January they awarded the general contract to J&H Erectors of Portsmouth to build a $13 million, 275,000 square foot facility on the former diesel shop property located behind Tractor Supply in New Boston.  The facility also includes a barge dock on the Ohio River to transport steel material to the plant.

As many of you know, in order to make the project a reality, the company was granted property tax abatements by the State of Ohio and the Village of New Boston.  The company also received site assistance, such as $100,000 from American Electric Power, $50,000 from Fluor B&W, and $150,000 from the Southern Ohio Diversification Initiativ through the Department of Energy.  As the final hours of construction arrived, the Scioto County Commissioners last month filed a request to the Ohio Department of Development for extension to be sure the project doesn't loose any state funding.

After beginning construction in April, the company received more than 1000 applications and conducted more than 300 interviews before they initially hired approximately 34 employees and trained them at its Connecticut facility. 

According to Plant Manager Oak Williams, the company expects to grow in work capacity hiring more employees throughout the fourth quarter of 2013 and the first quarter of 2014.

Welcome Infra-Metals to the New Boston family. 

Mike Payton
11-17-2013

VILLAGE COUNCIL AWARDS $2.6M SEWER RE-BID CONTRACT TO J&H

Our New Boston Village Council met in special session this Friday afternoon to review and award bids for the upcoming village sewer project.   As some of you may know, this is the second time we have had to bid the work, after tentatively offering, and then rescinding, an award to Fields Excavating of Kitts Hill earlier in the month.  After another round of bidding, the council voted to offer a tentative bid contract to J & H Reinforcing and Structural Erectors, Inc. of Portsmouth.

Back in 2005, the Ohio Environment Protection Agency (EPA) began sending letters to the village asking for a long-term control sewer control plan that would divide the village's current combined sewer system into two separate lines, one sewer line and one storm water line.  Chief among their concerns is the village's combined sewer overflows (CSO), which is what occurs when too much water and sewage flow through the sewer lines.  When that happens, the excess flow will bypass the two pump stations and dump into the river.  The EPA is also concerned about instances of overflows happening inside people's basements.

The project was bid for three phases:  the Base Bid (storm sewer separation work from Munn's Run to Harrisonville Avenue), Alternative A (on Rhodes Avenue, from Harrisonville to Glenwood Avenue), and Alternative B (from Rhodes Avenue, up to Glenwood Avenue). 

It is important to mention that the Village has received some grant funding for part of this project but remaining costs will have to be paid by the village.   Time schedules for beginning of actual work will be made available in the near future.

Mike Payton
10-26-2013

SHORTY'S BARBERSHOP CELEBRATES 90 YEARS IN NEW BOSTON

This past week a milestone in New Boston history took place.  Shorty's Barbershop on Harrisonville Avenue celebrated 90 years of serving our local area.

It is no secret that in today's economy small business interests throughout the country are not given the priority needed for continued growth and productivity.  Most all tax credits and business incentives are aimed at big business corporations and franchises. 

A small, private business owner today must work long hours both during and after the doors close, to make sure he can actually open his doors the next day.  We owe a debt of gratitude to these private entrepreneur's for their dedication and passion in keeping what has been known as part of the "American Dream," alive and well under intensely difficult times.

Here in New Boston this small barbershop has provided hairstyling services to our local area for the past 90 years.  It is a true hometown barbershop where haircuts come with friendly talk on everything from sports to politics to jobs, families and pets.   True Americana!

James "Shorty" Mowery first opened "Shorty's" in 1923.  In the 1960s, Mowery sold the business to one of his barbers, Jerry Dodd.  Mr. Dodd operated the business until March of 2007 when he sold it to the current owner, Drew Rucker. 

Some of my first haircuts came at "Shorty's."  Earlier this week fellow councilman Dan Fetty and I had the pleasure of going over to the shop to congratulate Mr. Rucker.  The minute I walked in the place a flood of memories came rolling back.  Dad and I on Saturday morning would come in early, sit in the chairs and listen to the guys from the mill and railroad talk "shop" and of course everyone was always talking Friday night football, basketball and of course, Ohio State.   (By the way the shop is now decorated with the red and gray colors and Ohio State theme.)

Congratulations to Drew Rucker as well as one of the nicest men I ever had the pleasure of knowing, Jerry Dodd.   I know both Jerry and Shorty are looking down with pride.

Mike Payton
10-26-2013

NEW BOSTON RECEIVES OHIO EPA LOAN TO DESIGN SEWER IMPROVEMENTS

As many of you know, New Boston has been ordered by the EPA to redesign and replace existing sewer lines that collect raw sewage and storm water. 

We were excited to find that the Ohio EPA has issued a $400,000 interest-free loan to the village of New Boston to design important sanitary sewer improvements.

The loan will fun detailed design work for future construction to replace a combined sewer system and four pump stations that collect raw sewage and storm water in New Boston and convey it to Portsmouth for treatment.  Wet weather produces storm runoff that feeds directly into New Boston's sewers, sometimes exceeding the capacity of the combined system.  As a result, discharges occur at two combined sewer overflow (CSO) outfalls and overloading occurs at the pump stations.

To address this situation, New Boston submitted a sewer separation plan to Ohio EPA that will create a dedicated storm system, greatly reduce inflow and form the basis of planning for further CSO control programs for the village.  It will be completed in phases as funding becomes available.

Since 1989, Ohio's Water Pollution Control Loan Fund (WPCLF) has awarded more than $6 billion in below-market financing for sewage treatment plant upgrades and other water quality improvement projects.  The program has saved borrowers more than $1.1 billion in interest.  Low-interest loans have also been provided to municipalities and individuals for agricultural best-management practices; home sewage system improvements; contaminated site clean-up; and landfill closures.  Additionally, the WPCF can provide technical assistance to public wastewater systems in a variety of areas from the planning, design and construction of improvements to enhancing the technical, managerial and financial capacity of these systems.

This state revolving loan fund is partially supported by federal grants and designed to last indefinitely through repayment of loans and investments in bonds.  The loan program is jointly managed by Ohio EPA's Division of Environmental and Financial Assistance, with assistance from the Ohio Water Development Authority. Ohio EPA is responsible for program development and implementation, individual project coordination, and environmental reviews of projects seeking funds.  The Ohio Water Development Authority provides financial management of the fund. 

Mike Payton
8/20/2013

NEW BOSTON FIRE DEPARTMENT RECEIVES GRANT FOR OPERATIONS AND SAFETY

It was exciting to find out today that the New Boston Fire Department has received $40,375.00 in funding for safety and operations.

These new resources for the New Boston Fire Department have been awarded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) Program.

The announcement of the grant came from Ohio U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown's office.  Senator Brown correctly stated, "These funds ensure that firefighters in New Boston have the resources they need to perform their jobs safely."  "Our First Responders put their lives on the line every day across Ohio."

The Assistance to Firefighters Grants (AFG) program helps firefighters and other first responders purchase protective equipment, vehicles, and gear according to FEMA.

The New Boston Fire Department is to  be congratulated on the award of this grant as well as the up-to-date maintenance of all of the fire-fighting equipment and vehicles within the department.  The New Boston Fire Department continues to be regarded as one of the finest in our area and its recognition by Senator Brown's office for the great work it does is well deserved.

Mike Payton
6-7-2013

WHEELCHAIR SWING BEING ADDED TO MILLBROOK PARK

Over the years I have had the opportunity to watch many ballgames at Millbrook Park.  One of the things I have noticed in recent years when I go to the ballpark is that children who come there to watch their brothers or sisters play, if they are in a wheelchair, have virtually nothing to do while their siblings are playing ball.

This really isn't anyone's fault, its just that a lot of recreational equipment for disabled individuals wasn't available until recent years.  Thanks now to various laws evolving from the Americans with Disabilities Act more and more recreational equipment has been on the market for community parks across the country.

As a member of the New Boston Kiwanis, I was able to find out that grant money was available through the Ohio Kiwanis Foundation for various equipment for children.  I talked with Mike Bell, who is the president of the local Autism Project of Southern Ohio, and we approached the foundation about the possibility of writing a grant for a wheelchair swing.  Thanks to the foundation, as well as Ralph Nolfi and Richard Grimm from Portsmouth Kiwanis, we were able to put together a grant application that was approved.

My special thanks goes out to the New Boston Service Department because they are installing the swing next to the other swings at Millbrook Park. 

The swing is scheduled for a dedication at the annual Autism Walk which will be held on April 20 at the Millbrook Park.  We are asking that the local New Boston Kiwanis Club as well as people from the Ohio Kiwanis Foundation to be there along with members of the Autism Project of Southern Ohio and the New Boston community.

Again my personal thanks to the Ohio Kiwanis Foundation for their generosity in this very worthwhile project.

Mike Payton
4-14-2013