The West Union Village Council met on Sept. 8 at the community building. (Photo by Ashley McCarty)

By Ashley McCarty-

The West Union Village Council met on Sept. 8 to set the date and time for Trick-or-Treat, the community yard sale, and to discuss finances.
A motion by Councilwoman Donna Young to approve the minutes of Aug. 25, 2020 was seconded by Councilman Jason Francis, council agreed.
A motion by Councilman Mark Brewer to approve payment of bills as submitted was seconded by Councilman Steve Rothwell, council agreed.
A motion by Francis to accept the statement of receipts for Mayor’s Court for the month of August for the net amount of: $3,347.50, seconded by Councilman Randy Brewer, council agreed.
A motion by Mark Brewer to adopt Ordinance 2020-4 approval and granting to the Director of the Ohio Department of Transportation Authority to apply, maintain and repair standard longitudinal pavement markings and erect regulatory warning signs; giving consent to remove snow and ice and use abrasives/liquids for snow and ice control; and giving consent to maintain State Highway inside the village corporation, was seconded by Steve Rothwell, council agreed.
A motion by Steve Rothwell to enter into executive session regarding personnel was seconded by Francis, council agreed.
After the executive session, Solicitor Lisa Rothwell moved forward with her report regarding a public records request from The Informer, policies, and Mayor’s Court cases.
A motion by Francis to set Trick-or-Treat Oct. 30, 2020 from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. was seconded by Young, council agreed. Participants will be asked to follow the appropriate guidelines.
Village Administrator and Fire Chief Jerry Kirker said that the new traffic light on State Route 41 between SOMC and West Union Water and Sewer Dept. will be fully operational Sep. 9.
“The State Route 125 repair slip, we went ahead and did it ourselves,” said Kirker.
Kirker reported the picnic tables at the splash pad have been set up.
“We got a quote on Cemetery Road in Lovejoy Subdivision to get tarred and chipped, and our warning sign came in the other day,” said Kirker. Kirker said it will be up in the next couple of weeks.
“I got a mobile home out on Owens Road, people are complaining about trash piled up around it. I’ll get in touch with the health department, they can probably do something with it. I talked to Brown County Construction about the blacktopping, they said they’d do whatever we wanted to do on the blacktop,” said Kirker.
A motion by Steve Rothwell to table a fire department application was seconded by Young, council agreed.
The floor was opened to each elected official.
“Normally, the first weekend in October we have a community yard sale where there’s no permits needed, I didn’t know if you guys wanted to go along with that again or not. We’ve been asked a couple of times,” said Village Clerk Tanya Johnson.
A motion by Francis to designate Oct. 1, 2, 3 as no-permit needed community yard sale was seconded by Councilman John Lafferty, council agreed.
“We had a finance meeting this evening, and the topics that were discussed were water and paving. On the water, we recommend, out of the general fund, pay Adams County Water two billings. We recommend paying September and October. On the paving, we recommend that we do all three streets that we originally talked about a few weeks ago. I think the total cost is $91,637.62,” said Mark Brewer.
Randy Brewer asked if they want to do two or three.
“We want to make a recommendation to do three because State Route 125, they’ve already done it,” said Mark Brewer.
At the council meeting on July 28, Kirker had announced the blacktop quotes were Walnut Street [from Wilson Drive to Chestnut Ridge] at $32,494.65, State Route 41 [from South Street to the dead end at Washington Street] at $46,858.50 and Sparks Street [from Logans Lane to State Route 247] at $12,285.10.
Mark Brewer said not having to do State Route 125 saved them $12,000.
“So, Tanya, if you don’t care, what fund — if we were able to do all three — what fund would that be?” said Francis. Johnson said it would either be out of the street or general fund.
“I told them street construction, and that was just for two of them. I thought there was almost $60,000 in street,” said Village Treasurer Shelley Gifford.
Francis said he recommended that they repave State Route 41 [from South Street to the dead end at Washington Street] and Sparks Street [from Logans Lane to State Route 247].
Mark Brewer recommended they repave all three.
A motion by Mark Brewer to pay the two water bills out of the general fund was seconded by Steve Rothwell, council agreed.
“So, the reason that I — I worry about our budget — and that’s the reason I’m recommending just two. I would love to do all three, but I think the budget is getting a little tight, and we need to make sure we can sustain until the end of the year. Walnut [from Wilson Drive to Chestnut Ridge] can be the first one we do next year based on the recommendations by our Village Administrator,” said Francis. Gifford said Kirker put the roads in order from what he thought was the worst.
“He thought State Route 41 to South was the top one, and the second one was Logans to Spark. The last one was Walnut to Chestnut,” said Gifford.
Randy Brewer said he’d rather just do the two.
“I get to thinking that something else could fall through the cracks if we don’t just do two at once,” said Young.
Francis said they could do Walnut next year when they had a new budget.
“I just want to remind everyone that when we were first given these numbers, the one that was repaired for around $800 by the village was projected to cost us around $13,000, so we were able to save that, but, that’s temporary. It eventually will have to be fixed, and that comes out of the state highway?” said Francis.
Kirker said he took it out of the state highway fund.
“So, I mean, we have to be mindful of what could happen, what we have to fix in the future,” said Francis.
Kirker said the overall budget was $104,783.
“We took the $13,144, which was the State Route 125 project, then the other three left you $91,638.25. If you do South and Sparks, then do Walnut first next year, I think the people are going to be pleased. At least they’ll see us doing something,” said Kirker.
Steve Rothwell said people don’t understand where the money goes, but they can see the roads being paved.
“They can’t see what we’re having to spend money on [with] the other stuff. They don’t see that, they’ll see the streets. Like you said, let them know we are trying,” said Steve Rothwell.
Francis said in the finance meeting Kirker mentioned he had a three-year plan.
“So, this is what we’re working on in the next three years, and we’re going to continue with that effort,” said Francis.
Mark Brewer said the reason he wanted to repave all three was to get Walnut out of the way, as it is a high-traffic area.
“I think it’s been a while since that section of Walnut has been done,” said Mark Brewer.
A motion by Francis to blacktop State Route 41 [from South Street to the dead end at Washington Street] and Sparks Street [from Logans Lane to State Route 247] was seconded by Young, council agreed.
A motion by Mark Brewer to repave Walnut Street [from Wilson Drive to Chestnut Ridge], State Route 41 [from South Street to the dead end at Washington Street] and Sparks Street [from Logans Lane to State Route 247] receives no second.
“This is on the same subject. We’re going to have to up the appropriations. The only amount I have left in the street account is $16,292. So we definitely cannot pay for that amount on those two streets. It’s going to have to be [increased] by $65,000 to make sure it’s covered,” said Clerk Johnson.
Johnson said there was $106,000 in the street fund, but she doesn’t have appropriations, so it will have to be taken to the budget commissioner.
“In other words, I have to take it up to the auditor’s office. It’s just basic formality, it is a resolution, but I have to do it. So, it has to be all by itself, okay. I would like to do it for $65,000,” said Johnson.
A motion by Randy Brewer to increase the appropriations in the street fund by $65,000 was seconded by Lafferty, council agreed.
“The second thing I have is the census. The count will be over soon, so if you have not been counted, please go online, call or mail it in, whatever you can do,” said Francis.
Francis said the Community Meetings regarding crime and homelessness have been going very well. The next meeting is Sept. 10 at 6 p.m.
Steve Rothwell and council discussed the operating hours of the splash pad. Steve Rothwell said they need to cut back hours due to water usage. Council reiterates splash pad hours will be changed from 2- 7 p.m.; the splash pad will be closed for the season after Sept. 22.
Mayor Jason Buda said he received a proclamation from Disabled American Veterans’ to declare Sept. 25, 2020 Disabled American Veterans’ Day in the Village of West Union.
A motion by Randy Brewer to appoint Alice Hoop to the zoning board was seconded by Steve Rothwell, council agreed.
“The only other thing I had is, when you guys are doing the next financial discussion on the paving of the streets, could we add something in there for the painting of the lines and stuff like that? Make that a yearly or every couple year thing. Even if we have to set something into the budget for it,” said Buda.
Kirker said while they’re talking about that, does he need to spend $300 this year doing the crosswalks and things, or if they were getting to put them off and have someone else do them next year.
“I hate to spend $300 for paint, and then never use it. It’ll last a couple of years,” said Kirker.
Buda said he would like to see them do it, doesn’t care how it gets done, hiring it out.
Kirker said they were going to start this week.
With no more business before the council, the meeting was adjourned.
The Village Council meeting minutes will be approved by the council at the next meeting, subject to revisions.