Timberlake, Mayfield Village receive funds for road salt management projects
State Rep. Daniel P. Troy, D-Willowick, this week announced $85,723 from the second round of funding from the H2Ohio Chloride Reduction Grant Program awarded to Mayfield and Timberlake villages.
The projects aim to improve equipment and/or salt storage facilities, he noted, adding Mayfield Village will receive $75,000 — the maximum amount eligible under the grant.
Timberlake will receive $10,723, Troy confirmed.
“I am pleased to announce this funding to not only assist area motorists in safely navigating our roads during the harsh winter months but also reduce the contamination of our local streams and Lake Erie from that sodium chloride runoff,” he said.
“I have been very supportive of H2Ohio, and I am pleased that Mayfield Village and the Village of Timberlake are receiving this grant money to achieve those objectives,” Troy added. “I strongly advocated for continued funding of H2Ohio in last year’s operating budget to restore and protect Ohio’s natural water resources.”
According to officials, Mayfield Village will use the funding for upgrading a salt dome roof, a project that will cost $99,000 in total, which “will impact 100 percent of the salt storage structure.”
Additionally, the new roof will help continue deicing operations, while also improving water quality of shared public resources such as nearby Chagrin River and Lake Erie.
Timberlake will use its funding for a salt spreader and GPS controls, which, Troy noted, will impact 100 percent of Timberlake’s fleet.
Calibration control systems will be implemented as a result of the upgraded spreader.
Currently, road salt is applied using an analog control system.
Troy, who serves as the ranking member of the Finance Subcommittee on Agriculture, Development, and Natural Resources Committee — which hears and approves all funding components for the H2Ohio program — said Timberlake’s new system will be more efficient.
Gov. Mike DeWine announced the creation of the H2Ohio Chloride Reduction Grant Program last December as part of the state’s ongoing work to protect Ohio’s rivers.
According to a news release, the program’s first round, awarded in May, has aided more than 30 municipalities and communities.
Due to high demand, the second funding round was added to help other local governments improve their salt management infrastructures.
Moreover, H2Ohio uses a comprehensive approach guided by science and data to reduce algal blooms, stop pollution, and improve access to clean drinking water by supporting “best farming practices, wetland creation, dam removal, and water infrastructure revitalization.”