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Financial Assistance - Low Interest Loan
The City of Willoughby Hills has secured assistance through an Ohio EPA program called Linked Deposit. Some highlights of the process are as follows:
1. The applicant notifies the City expressing interest in using the program.
2. The City completes a qualification certification listing the applicant's name, address and description of improvements. Eligible improvements include those improvements from the exterior wall of the home, no interior plumbing so it only applies to the Household Sewage Treatment System (HSTS) abandonment and lateral construction. Eligible users must have a constructed building with an existing HSTS prior to the program start date (targeted for mid-March). The Finance Director signs the certification and then the applicant takes it to the bank.
3. The City will identify those banks that will participate. Previously, Fifth Third in Cleveland has administered linked deposit programs. The applicant may be able to use the banks they use, in an effort to make it convenient. Ohio EPA would contact those banks and discuss the program with their legal counsel to see if it might be possible to start a program there.
4. The bank completes an investment request form that identifies the term and interest rate. The maximum reduction of the market interest rate is 5%. So if the market rate is 7%, the linked deposit interest rate will be 2%. The lowest interest rate that is allowable by OWDA is 1%.
5. The City is obligated to provide quarterly reporting about users of the program and status of implementation and to document the construction.
Please contact the City’s Finance Department at (440) 918-8731 or Finance Director Joseph Mirtel at Finance@willoughbyhills-oh.gov, if you are interested in this program.
For a Certificate of Qualification, click here.
Financial Hardship
Property owners who demonstrate financial hardship can seek assistance through Lake County’s Department of Housing Rehabilitation. Assistance is available for the installation of the sewer connection only. Administrative costs and connection charges are not eligible.
Please contact Cindy Brewster, Lake County Housing Rehabilitation Manager, at (440) 350-2338 for assistance.
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City of Willoughby Hills, Ohio
Euclid Creek Tributary Watershed Sanitary Sewers
Lateral Installation Program |
Background
Willoughby Hills has begun the second phase of providing sanitary sewer service for most of the western portion of the City that is part of the Euclid Sewer District. This District occupies the western side of the City extending south to the City’s corporation line and with an easterly limit to the City Hall complex and the Community Center on Chardon Road.
Due to findings and orders by the Ohio EPA, Contracts 2, 3 and 4 of the Euclid Creek Tributary Watershed Sanitary Sewer Improvements (ECTW) must be completed. Included in these orders is the requirement that a majority of the homes (approximately 250 homes) being serviced by this project will receive a written order from the Lake County General Health District that they must connect to the sewer within 30 days of acceptance by the City. The remainder of the homes must connect within a year. The City understands the burden these requirements place on the homeowner. Therefore, this lateral installation program is being put forth as a means of assistance.
Installation Program
I. As part of the first phase of this program, the City will advertise / solicit contractors, who are interested in performing the work for the individual homeowners, to an informational meeting. The advertisement will be an invitation, supported by some general information about the project and its schedule. The informational meeting will help judge interest and willingness of the contractors to perform multiple installations and the possibility of lower “group rates” for the homeowners. It should be noted that the City of Willoughby Hills will not participate in any negotiations or enter into any contractual obligation with these contractors. It remains the homeowner’s sole responsibility for this action. This informational meeting will also impress on the interested contractors the specifications and permitting obligations for the installation process.
II. The second phase will involve separate meetings with homeowner groups. At these meetings, informational packets will be distributed. Included in these packets will be a “cut-away” sketch of the new lateral to be installed, a copy of the City’s specification sheet, an explanation of the work to be done and a discussion on the cost of work. The residents will be informed of the advantages of having work performed as early as possible so that only the final connections will be needed once the sewers are accepted. A list of potential contractors will be released and the residents will be notified of the possible savings if they negotiate as a group. It will be up to the neighborhood group to organize this effort.
In addition, question/answer periods will take place for these residents and a discussion on the link deposit program. Please anticipate that these neighborhood meetings will be held. The City will notify you of the time, date and location.
III. The third phase of this program will be the actual lateral connections. Once the sewer has been accepted by the City, the Lake County General Health Department will issue a notice of connection. This notice will indicate the time period for connection, either 30 days or one year. The property owner will need to contract with a registered contractor and post a bond with the City’s Building Department. The homeowner or his/her contractor will contact the City’s Building Dept. to request an application for a sanitary sewer connection. These applications will be available with the Building Dept. and they will specify the fees due to the City before any work is permitted to proceed. The contractor will call for inspection through CT Consultants at least 48 hours in advance of the work. Once the sewer has been connected, CT will notify the Lake County General Health District, the Lake County Utilities/Billing Department and the City Building Dept. The City’s Service Dept. will perform a dye test to ensure that no clean water connections to the sanitary sewer are evident.
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