By Kristin Bednarski
Sun staff

Batavia Township Trustees funded paving improvements to Church Street after adding the street to the 2012 paving project at their Oct. 2 meeting.

Trustees agreed to add Church Street to their 2012 paving project with the county and contribute no more than $20,000 for improvements and repairs for the street, which is shared by the township and the village of Amelia.

Trustees talked with township service director Kenneth Embry about what the project would involve and what the improvements would cost the township. Embry said he expected the project would cost less than $18,000.

“If we’re going to do it, we need to do it so it will last,” Randy Perry, trustee, said about the project.

Rex Parsons, Batavia Township administrator, said the township only owns 1,000 feet of one side of the street, but they went ahead and paved both sides up to the township border.

Parsons said he believes the project cost around $13,000, well under the limit of $20,000.

Officials from both the township and the village have been discussing improving the street, which runs in front of Amelia Elementary School, for several years.

Village officials submitted a grant application to improve the street earlier this year, but they were not able to secure enough funding to make the improvements.

Amelia Mayor Todd Hart said they were able to make minor improvements to the end of the road, and then began working with Batavia Township officials on paving the road.

“I am really, really happy with Batavia Township trustees,” Hart said. “They did get Church Street finished and it looks great.”

Hart said the improvements will benefit township and village residents, and he was glad they were able to work with the township on the project.

“I think that it is a great thing,” Hart said. “I think the way things are nowadays we need to work together.”