April 08's First Council Meeting

Council met Tuesday evening and from what I'm seeing in the write ups in both our local papers it was a smooth meeting. There were several items discussed.

The lady offered the job of assistant clerk has turned down the offer. With the controversy surrounding that move it is probably for the best. Council will decide what they are going to do with that position when they have their personnel meeting at a later time. At the suggestion of the fiscal officer they are going to leave that position open for the time being. If it is not needed to have someone in that position why fill it?

They tabled a request for a change order and payment of a $46 thousand plus bill on the roofing project on village hall. There are several items pending that will be addressed before wrapping this up. Right now they are working with the main contractor with a list things the various sub-contractors need to take care of. Looks to me they are handling it properly before they write an end to this chapter.

Street paving was brought up or I should say alley paving. Village administrator Jim Saracco said our alleys are too narrow for paving equipment. I would have to question that most of them are not at least 12 feet wide. However I would rather see them spend what money they have for this on the streets that are more widely used and visible. Mr. Saracco said we don't have money for it anyway. Alleys can be graded and slag used to fill the holes as he suggested. They already spent a significant amount on salt for this past winter. It wasn't mentioned but I'm sure that put a dent in available funds. Where's this global warming that gets all the attention?

In Fire Dept. news a rumor of doing away with it was squelched. They are looking into the department's budget which the mayor said "is way out of whack". This seems to be a continuing problem that needs to be fixed. I hadn't heard of the rumor but I do recall the volunteers threatening to pull out some years ago if it was done. Both the regulars and the volunteers are vital to our village. They are very dedicated individuals that put their health and welfare on the line every time they are banged out. They need to be taken care of for the benefit of us all.

Joe Soldano said that April is National Child Abuse Awareness month and got a motion passed to support the mission of East Liverpool's Shining Reflections which deals with child abuse among other things. Child abuse is an ugly thing that should never be tolerated or brushed aside. Creating a task force is one step in the right direction. Joe is looking for more to join in this effort.

Liaisons for the village zoning board and cemetery boards were announced with Tony Cataldo and John McMahon being appointed respectively. The mayor is looking for five people to serve on a Zoning Appeals Board. If you would like to get aboard give village hall a call.

They are looking into prices for a new police cruiser. I think the last new one we got was donated by the Chester VFW. Organizers for an Oprah Big Give block party were not present Tuesday night. It was announce earlier that they couldn't block off Main Street. They passed an ordinance to cover village expenses and "other expenditures". There was no elaboration on what those "other expenditures" were in the newspapers.

Best wishes go out to Councilman Don Brown for a speedy recovery from his recent surgery.

ole nib