UHRICHSVILLE (Tusco TV) - City officials are stepping up to help the group behind the Panhandle Passage Trail secure a grant to clean up the area’s waterways, too.

Council recently passed a resolution to apply for a waterway cleanup grant funding from the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District. Mayor Rick Dorland says the group wants to remove three logjams in Stillwater Creek to make it passable for canoes and kayaks.

"It’s part of peddle, paddle and trek. The waterways here around town - we’ve got the Big and Little Stillwater creeks that traverse through both towns - there’s a couple of choke points with logjams and stuff, so in order to have the paddle part of the trail, you need to clean that up," he says.

Dorland says the project is expected to cost around $16,000, with the full amount to be reimbursed if the grant is awarded. He says the group is still working on becoming a registered nonprofit, so they needed one of the two towns to apply for the funding.

"The group has filed for the 501c3. Law Director Ong is helping the group with it. That has its own separate hoops you have to jump through, and in the meantime, the grant after reading the grant paperwork, it can be filed for by a 501c3 but no one’s a 501c3 so it has to go to the entities - Uhrichsville and Dennison," he explains.

Dorland says they asked Dennison to cover half of the upfront cost, but council had some questions and referred the matter to their Finance Committee.  

"I would assume both entities would split that cost but now since Dennison’s is in committee, I don’t know where that leaves us so we’re going to have to do a little bit more investigating," he says.

Dorland says they had to get the paperwork in order to get it turned in before the September 1st deadline. He says if they can’t get Dennison on board soon, the project may have to wait until the next grant cycle. Their next council meeting is on September 19th.

TUSCO TV