MOUNT VERNON — Brick streets were a topic at city council meetings long before Gen Z, Baby Boomers, and even the Lost Generation of 1914 were born. Like their predecessors, current council members are once again wrestling with the problem.

Because of the high cost of restoration and maintenance, brick streets typically fall by the wayside when budgets are tight. Mount Vernon’s 6.5 miles of protected brick streets are no exception, and some now resemble a roller-coaster vs. being a mere pothole.

Starting in 2018, 19.5 percent ($1.3 million for this year) of the city’s general fund goes into a new fund specifically earmarked for roads and bridges. Brick streets will benefit from this dedicated source of funds, as well as receiving some money from the capital improvements fund.

Councilman Mike Hillier, a long-time advocate of brick streets, says that spending money on restoration and repair doesn’t make much sense without a way to maintain them.

“As long as they are protected, we have to figure out something,” he said.

One cause of bad brick streets is poor drainage. Another problem stems from heavy vehicles that sink or dislodge the bricks, leading to potholes, ruts, and pooling of water. Hillier pointed out that city streets have a 5-ton limit unless the truck is doing business with the city. Refuse haulers’ trucks typically run around 36 tons.

Currently, seven or eight trash hauling companies are permitted to operate within the city. Conceivably, all of these haulers could traverse the same residential brick street, compounding the weight problem on the brick. In reality, several haulers do, which brings up another part of the conversation.

Councilman Chris Menapace is exploring what it might look like if the city contracted with one hauler vs. permitting multiple haulers to operate. Councilwoman Nancy Vail is adamantly opposed to the idea, saying that it negates free enterprise, interferes with residents’ right to choose their hauler, and results in loss of jobs.

In light of these issues, KnoxPages.com spoke with city officials from three Ohio cities — Marietta, German Village (Columbus), and Athens — about their approach to preserving their brick streets and the related issue of trash hauling. Following is what they had to say.

Marietta, Ohio

Marietta has just under 6.5 miles of brick streets, most of them residential. The city created a commission in 1988 to review brick streets and, like Mount Vernon did in 2002, passed an ordinance fixing the miles of brick streets in Marietta. Safety-service Director Jonathan Hupp said he would stack brick streets against asphalt any day.

“Brick streets are the most cost-effective out there,” he said. “If they have a good base, they will last forever. If you do not have a good sub-base, that’s what causes the dips and dumps.”

Fixing drainage problems is critical to maintaining a good sub-base. That’s the key, and that’s what costs the most.

“That’s where the money is. It’s not cheap to pull up and rebuild,” said Hupp. “That’s where we’re failing, admittedly, because it’s very costly to tear up brick, fix drainage and the sub-base, and replace the bricks.”

The city sets aside money for street maintenance but does not allocate any money specifically to brick street repair. The street department maintains the brick streets following guidelines set by the engineer’s office when fixing water and sewer lines and making utility cuts.

“Every summer we do try and go out and do brick repair,” said Hupp, adding that crews “systematically troll one of the big veins” and will spray paint trouble areas. Crews will work until an area is finished or until they need to be pulled off for another project.

The city contracts with one residential trash hauler and recently signed a five-year contract with Rumpke.

“It’s easier to deal with one guy than six guys, and you can build a relationship with one,” said Hupp.

Regarding the weight of trash hauling trucks damaging the bricks, he said “the brick streets were rutted before they arrived.” Big trucks are, however, required to park on asphalt to avoid sinking the bricks.

“In narrow alleys, [haulers] will send in a little truck if we ask them to,” he said.

Hupp does not believe that contracting with one hauler deters free enterprise or causes job loss. Just the opposite.

“If anything, it creates jobs,” he said. “It forces a hauler to go out and buy a new truck and hire crew [to compete.] It forces them to sharpen their pencil.

“We have not lost any jobs,” he continued. “Everybody who’s been a hauler for Marietta is still in business. They just have gone somewhere else and gotten business.”

German Village, Columbus

Historic German Village on Columbus’ south side is well known for its high-density residential homes, restaurants, brewery district and brick-street charm. According to Nancy Kotting, historic preservation advocate for the German Village Society, the bumps in the bricks are not that big of a deal to locals.

“We know it’s not a smooth street, but we’re okay with that. It serves as a traffic calming effect,” she said. “It’s sort of when a bad situation turns good.

“When it comes to commercial vehicle traffic, the main thoroughfares are asphalted.”

The society works in cooperation with the City of Columbus to maintain the neighborhood’s brick streets.

“We keep a survey inventory about the condition of our streets. Manually every two years we review our streets, curbs, and sidewalks so that we have an idea where we’re at,” she said. “When we identify a priority and need to make a repair, the funding is generally in place.”

The funding comes in the form of urban infrastructure renewal funds sourced from various bonds issued by the city. The city gives the money to individual neighborhoods and lets the neighborhoods decide how to use it.

Kotting said there are multiple trash providers on non-brick streets, but only the City of Columbus provides service on the brick streets. The city uses full-size trucks and pickup is in the “wee hours of the morning” to avoid traffic.

“That would certainly be a way to address the wear and tear on your brick streets, is to award just one contract. That would be my recommendation,” she said.

“There is wear and tear on our bricks [from the trash haulers]. We do see some [streets] that have not been rebuilt start to get heaves and bumps. But we monitor that and when it starts to get bad, we come in and fix it.”

Kotting did not know how many miles of brick streets are within German Village.

Athens

Service-safety Director Andy Stone said Athens has less than 10 miles of brick streets. Most are located in the center part of the city in a “few-block area” of the Central Business District. A few are neighborhood streets. City crews maintain the brick streets.

“We have a standing policy that if you dig up for utility repairs, or whatever reason, you have to put back the brick,” he said. “That was not always the policy. In the 1980s, early 1990s there was less care put toward it, so we have patches of concrete without re-laying the brick. But by and large, they are intact.”

Stone said the city routinely repairs smaller areas, about a couple of dozen square yards in size, when they occur.

“Several times every year we do repairs and leveling due to damage from trucks and weather,” he said.

For major projects, such as re-laying bricks as part of a water or sewer project, Stone separates the brick work from the streetscape project and brings in personal and seasonal employees to do the work.

“I do that for two reasons,” he said. “First, they are good at it. Second, contractors charge a premium.”

Funds for brick streets come from a variety of sources, including a portion of the income tax reserved for operations and a special capital improvement fund. No money is specifically earmarked for brick streets. Street crews routinely do spot repairs, but major brick projects are prioritized along with other street projects.

Residents pay the city for trash collection; in turn, the city pays the hauler. City employees used to provide residential trash pickup, but the city moved to a bid process. Residential haulers submit a Request for Proposal every three to six years. The contract is for three years and can be extended for another three.

City code allows only four hauler licenses. If a hauler fails to renew, they lose the ability to register again. The current contracted hauler is the solid waste district.

“Now they compete with other haulers to get the contract for residential haulers,” said Stone. “Businesses can hire from a private company if they wish.”

Haulers pay a license fee in the range of a “few thousand dollars.”

“Arguably the fee goes to mitigate damage [to the streets],” he said. “With a fee, you just don’t have random haulers. They are committed to doing a good job.

“One of the benefits of having a single hauler is control. It gets more unwieldy when you have more than one as to who’s going to handle a problem. We will collectively seek the best value through the Request for Proposal, and government will then select. They can compete for the contract. Once we award it, that’s where the control comes in.”

Stone said that in most cases, haulers use full-size, dual-axle trucks. They will use single-axle trucks for narrower streets.

“We’re mindful about truck turning movements and create turning radii,” he said, adding that drivers will go back and forth when navigating a narrow turn vs. driving over the curb.

Athens’ code officer randomly follows the trash trucks as a means of maintaining quality assurance and control. If violations are noted, Stone said the city will not pay the hauler.

“Garbage collection is an essential service like water and sewer,” he said.