ASHTABULA - - The sunbathers who bask in the sun at Walnut Beach will have a cleaner place to lie after Wednesday.
The city has received a new $60,000 beach-cleaning machine as a gift from the Ashtabula River Cooperation Group II, a group of private companies, City Manager Anthony Cantagallo announced during City Council's meeting Monday night.
"It's 4,000 pounds, and it will clean the beach in four hours," he said. "And it's free!"
That news comes in addition to the beach's sunny reputation as one of the cleanest places to swim in Lake Erie. The state routinely checks water quality, and the results at Walnut Beach so far this summer have been among the best, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
The beach cleaner was a gift from the Ashtabula River Cooperation Group in appreciation of the city's cooperation with the dredging of the Ashtabula River, according to a letter sent to Cantagallo from Robert Rule, project coordinator. About half of the $50 million dredging project is being funded from the Legacy Act and the other half by the Ashtabula Port Authority in cooperation with other public and private entities, including the Ashtabula River Cooperation Group. In the letter, Rule said he remembered Cantagallo talking to him about his desire to promote the city's beaches and, to accomplish this, he needed a beach-cleaning machine.
Ward 1 Councilman Matthew Perry said there was a need for such a machine.
"This is great," he said. "I don't see how we would have gotten it any other way."
The new cleaner will go to the beach on Wednesday, thanks to John Smolen of Jefferson. The city didn't have a tractor large enough to pull the 2-ton machine, so Smolen volunteered to let the city use one from his farm.
Council Vice President Josephine Misener said, "(The beach cleaner) is good news for Ashtabula."
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WARREN DILLAWAY
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City gets free beach-cleaning machine
$60,000 piece of equipment comes from river group
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