AUSTINTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — Austintown Trustee Rob Santos held a public meeting Tuesday evening to explain some of the water problems people in the township have been experiencing.

About 60 people attended the meeting in the Fitch High School Auditorium. Santos showed pictures of flooded backyards, saying it’s the township’s job to correct the problems.

While he said implementing a fee through the ABC Water District was possible, it wouldn’t happen without the approval of his fellow Austintown Trustees and its residents.

Santos told the crowd that the trustees have “inherited a mess.” He mentioned the possibility of implementing a fee through the ABC Water District to replace broken pipes and culverts, but he stressed that nothing has been decided yet.

“Is it an option that’s on the table? Absolutely — but that’s way, way down the road,” Santos said. “We will fight tooth-and-nail to make sure this does not happen. We will use our legislators, we will go after grants. We’ll do everything we can to make sure that does not happen.”

Santos said the Mahoning County Commissioners have agreed to pay for $348,000 in water-related projects on Pinebrook Court, Wyndclift Circle and Fitch Boulevard.

But he said water-related projects still need done on Meander Glen, at the corner of Elmwood and South Yorkshire, and on Rockwell Road and Fox Chase.