As the Village of Lordstown enters into the new year, the clock is ticking on one project it has been eyeing for years. 

“The State Route 45 booster station is of the utmost importance in terms of time to turn that around, so the Village doesn't lose that funding. …  I guarantee you, if we start today, it's going to be tight,” said Chris Kogelnik, the village engineer, at a council meeting Monday.

The existing water booster station on Salt Springs Road, constructed in 2016, will be disconnected and brought to a new site on State Route 45, Kogelnik later explained to 21 News. This will replace the aging water booster station on Pritchard-Ohltown Road, which struggles to provide adequate water pressure for the southwestern corner of the village. 

In all, Kogelnik said the booster station project is valued at about $560,000. Lordstown secured $200,000 in American Rescue Plan Act money for the project, and according to the engineer, the remaining cost will be split between another federal grant and the village’s local cost share. 

Those ARPA funds have a deadline of Sept. 29, before which the village will need to have constructed the new booster station in order to put those dollars towards the project. Kogelnik said he is hopeful construction can start within the next couple of months. 

“We would do whatever is necessary to utilize the ARPA funds first, and then use the other remaining funds for the remainder of the project, if at all possible,” Kogelnik said. “We have to do whatever is possible to utilize those funds. That's the goal.”

One issue that has created a delay in the project is the acquisition of a parcel of property on the southern boundary between the village and Lawrencetown, Mahoning County, the engineer told 21 News. He declined to share details on the issue, but said it is close to being resolved. 

“The other thing to our benefit is, we're not building a brand new station. We're just picking up an existing station and transporting it to a specified location in Lordstown, so that's going to help with speed,” Kogelnik said. 

The $4.2 million in non-ARPA federal funds that Lordstown secured will not just go towards the water booster station. The village also plans to tackle the “real problem” it has with water volume and capacity, Kogelnik said, by using that money to install a redundant 24-inch water transmission line alongside the existing line.