Bigger July 4, new sewer plant

TIFFIN — Tiffin City Council heard year-in-review presentations Monday from its parks and wastewater departments, with a bigger Fourth of July show on the calendar and a $27 million sewer treatment project set to break ground. Water Pollution Control Center Superintendent Kevin Hughes said the high-rate treatment project has been awarded to Adena, with construction expected to begin within the next couple of months and the system online by July 2028. The cloth-media filtration system, an Aqua-Aerobic AquaStorm unit, will treat up to 32 million gallons a day. Combined with the existing plant, the city will be able to treat 45 million gallons a day during consecutive storms, part of Tiffin's long-term control plan to limit combined sewer overflow events to no more than four a year. Hughes said the plant treated more than 1.3 billion gallons in 2025 with no significant EPA violations. He renewed the department's warning about so-called flushable wipes, which he said clog pumps and back up sewer lines: "That doesn't mean they're not gonna cause problems downstream." Parks and Recreation Director Bryce Kuhn reviewed 2025 projects and previewed a busy 2026, including a roughly quarter-million-dollar pump track at Hedges Boyer Park expected to be finished by mid-September. Of the $257,000 total, the city appropriated $100,000 and the department raised $157,000 from foundations and businesses. Kuhn said the park's 44-foot-diameter labyrinth will be completed within two weeks, with a dedication set for 10 a.m. Aug. 15. He also outlined an expanded Fourth of July celebration marking the nation's 250th year, with fireworks moved to the football fields at Hedges Boyer to allow larger shells launched some 800 feet in the air. Wally and the Beavs will headline, with Spoiled Rotten opening at 4 p.m. "It is the 250th year of America, so we're going to go out with a big boom," Kuhn said, describing the day as "controlled chaos." Kuhn's presentation also revisited the athletic complex feasibility study the council funded last year, a study cited at the same meeting by Big Sticks president Curt Mellott in a renewed push for a single sports venue. Council members praised the parks department's upkeep. "It was very noticeable of how just great everything looked and how many people were out there," Councilmember Ashlee Decker said.