On Monday, Porter Township trustees will have a public meeting to address residents' concerns about a sewer infrastructure project that has left many yards littered with dirt piles and other messes.

Trustee Bob Walton Jr. said the residents appreciate the effort to improve the infrastructure.

“The problem is that some of the work they've completed is unacceptable to the residents and we have take a look at it, our Safety and Service Director Greg Warner has taken a look at it,” Walton said. “It's unacceptable to him, it's unacceptable to us, the trustees.”

Walton said parts of the township now “looks like a war zone” on Highland Bend Avenue and the Camp Bennett area off of Ohio 335.

“They left huge piles of dirt on the streets, in people's yards, it has clogged up people's drainage,” he said. “It creates pools of water and that breeds mosquitoes.”

Walton said the trustees have been in contact with the Scioto County commissioners, Scioto County Sanitary Engineer Joe Delong, and the managing company, Wolpert, and they've gotten the runaround.

“It's a round of musical chairs of them passing it down the line,” Walton said, adding that is why they've invited everyone involved to attend a public meeting. “We just want them to do their job.”

Scioto County Commissioner Skip Riffe said he would be attending the meeting with Delong on Monday.

“Basically, what we are going to look at is the contract as far as how it addresses cleanup,” he said.

Riffe said the commissioners have gotten several phone calls from Porter Township residents “who were not happy.”

He said he understands the frustrations of residents.

“There have been some engineering issues and some weather delays with the project,” he said. “We are going to ask for patience. Any time you have a project like this there are going to be issues.”

“We know yards or the roads have to be turned back into the condition they were before the project,” he said “But we are going to go by the contract.”

He said if there are issues after the contract is reviewed, they will have to be addressed with the sanitary engineer and the contractor.

“And we'll do that,” Riffe said. “Our opinion is that it has to be done to the satisfaction of our sanitary engineer.

The meeting will be Monday night at 6 p.m. at the Township Hall at 1535 Dogwood Ridge in Wheelersburg.

MARK SHAFFER can be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 235.