Cherry Ridge water system update is coming soon
Businesses and homes along Cherry Ridge Road near Sugarcreek will soon have a chance to hook onto the new water system that is being constructed.
The Holmes County commissioners met at the Old Jail meeting room during their weekly meeting, and in what the commissioners said was a project that has been a long time coming, Cherry Ridge will be getting an update to its water system soon.
The commissioners passed a resolution agreeing to serve as a pass-through for the funds for the Cherry Ridge water line extension project.
The total amount of the project is valued at a cost of $4.35 million and will eventually provide much-needed water improvement along the Chery Ridge community.
“We worked with the department of development, partnering with the stakeholders on Cherry Ridge to get the project done, and this is just pass-through dollars where we are basically the avenue so they can accept those dollars,” commissioner Dave Hall said.
The contract to complete the project is through Walnut Creek Water, which will be running the water line along Cherry Ridge between Walnut Creek and Sugarcreek.
“They had water issues there for a very long time,” commissioner Joe Miller said. “It will really improve that whole corridor there, including Walnut Creek Cheese, ProVia and more. Wells are hard to hit out there. It’s been a long time coming, and it’s a good thing.”
Hall added that the project is all new construction money.
Resolution #09-07-23-1 authorized individuals to initiate the IPAWS Alert System. IPAWS (Integrated Public Alert & Warning System) was designed to alert a community to provide safety information and save lives as well as protect property by quickly informing the public of impending natural and man-made disasters or other hazards to public safety and well-being.
Anyone within a specifically designated geo-fenced area will receive the alerts on their cell phones or other electronic devices that can receive messages.
Individuals included in the resolution were the Holmes County commissioners, Holmes County Emergency Management director Jason Troyer, Holmes County Sheriff Tim Zimmerly, Millersburg Police Chief Matt Shaner and any Holmes County fire chief.
“We’ve finalized the process, and we are now IPAWS certified in Holmes County,” Troyer said. “We will be able to send IPAWS emergency messages through our WENS (Wireless Emergency Notification System) program. This resolution is simply giving authorization to individuals who can initialize the process for getting a message out into the public.”
He added that while these individuals can activate a message, they wouldn’t send it out. That process would be completed through the Holmes County EMA office or the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office.
Troyer said he has been working with the sheriff’s office to properly certify dispatchers to complete that task.
“We want to keep that list relatively small to protect the integrity of IPAWS in the county,” Troyer said.
Any type of major weather alerts will be initiated through the National Weather Service, and Troyer said local issues like Hazmat spills or any event requiring evacuation or shelter placement that would be considered life-threatening would be initiated through the county.
He said the nice thing about the program is that it can be geo-fenced to a particular area of the county. Every alert sent out by the county gets audited by FEMA.
Any incident involving a manhunt would be directed by the Holmes County Sheriff’s Office, with the IPAWS alert going out only if the sheriff determined that the person was armed and an immediate threat to an area.
In other news, the commissioners discussed health issues with Holmes County health commissioner Michael Derr, who said the county is preparing for flu season.
According to Derr, there are different variants of COVID on the horizon, although he did say the threat was not anywhere near as bad as when the virus emerged years ago.
“What we know is that there are a lot of mutations on what they call a spike protein,” Derr said of the virus. “That’s what will cause that virus to attach and replicate in your system. Like anything else, like the flu, when you get vaccinated for the flu, they encourage you not to get it too early or too late. There’s that sweet spot when you should get it because your immunity will wane over time.”
Derr said the ideal time to get the flu vaccine is in late September to early October, which should carry people through February before wearing off. He said the COVID vaccine will work approximately the same way, and a new booster will become available this fall.
He said reported COVID cases have seen a steady increase in hospitalizations over the past seven weeks. He went on to say that the number of cases remains fairly low and that elderly, obese, diabetic and immune-deficient people remain the highest at-risk population.
Derr went on to add that the Respiratory Syncytial Virus is also making the rounds in the county and nationwide. He said that is similar to pneumonia, with early symptoms emulating a cold, but he said the virus takes much longer to move past than a typical cold, leading to pneumonia-related symptoms.
He also said whooping cough appears to have leveled off in the county, with the majority of cases coming from people who self-diagnose and don’t get tested for the disease. He added that with school being back in session there could be an increase in the number of cases.
Finally, Derr said the new health building continues to take shape and looks like it should be an exciting addition to the community.