Windham – Windham Village met for their regulary scheduled meeting recently with all council members present. Fiscal Officer Lloyd Billman presented the expenditures for the month of February. They were $155,492.52 with a bank reconciliation of $524,008.46 with all funds reconciled.
Council President Linda Rininger reminded council member that every meeting was a public forum and even their comments are public record.
Other items on the agenda were the approval of a contract with the Portage County District Library for a branch of the library to be located in the village of Windham. Council approved the purchase of two Crown Victoria Police cruisers, ratifying the action of the police chief taken to purchase cruisers. In zoning, chairman Phil Snyder stated that they were still working on obtaining the rights to remove the two hazardous mobile homes in the village that have been abandoned and allegedly been foreclosed on. Snyder hopes they can get them removed soon.
In the mayor’s report, Rob Donham reported that they would be breaking ground at Camp Ravenna for the new water and sewer project. The ground breaking was scheduled for March 23, 2011. He also reported that they will be opening the North Gate (gate in Windham) for a few hours each evening in April so the soldiers can have access to Windham’s restaurant, laundromat, barber etc. Also in the mayor’s report was that they plan on taking down another six buildings in the projects this summer and possible even more. Lastly, he praised the chief of police on the increase of citations and warnings issued. In previous months the police department had only issued a few citations; this month they had issued over 40 tickets and 30 warnings.
A resident asked about changing the village’s policy on 6” house numbers. The resident wanted to know if 3” house numbers would suffice. The resident brought a sample of how large 3” numbers are. The village solicitor looked up the ordinance that addresses the issue and said they would have to research the Ohio Revised Code (ORC) on house numbers. He said if the ORC says it has to be 6” they can not override the ORC, however if it is an ordinance than that could be changed if council wanted to do it.
Another question was raised about on-street parking in the new homes area and if they were planning on posting more signs within the development. The mayor stated, along with several council members, that there is no parking on any street in the area because of the narrow streets. He also stated “That folks who have a driver’s license should know the laws and know that it is illegal for one to block a traffic lane.” He went onto say that more signage would be a waste of money since people do not obey the signs anyways. The mayor did say that parking permits for special occaions are offered; one would need to contact the police department to obtain one. There being no other business the meeting was adjourned.
Windham Council meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 7:30 pm in council chambers.
