In his Police Report, Chief Joe Urso commended Patrolman Miranda Brothers for her work in organizing the Christmas Fill a Cruiser event with local Dollar General stores. According to the Chief, the event in early December resulted in community members and organizations filling the cruiser an amazing six times! Urso noted that the generosity benefitted 20 area families, including 63 children during the holiday season. Urso thanked the Crestwood Lion’s Club for their $1,000 donation and Benner/Hummel companies for their generous donation of gift cards. The overwhelming success of this event has the department excited to hold a similar event in 2022. In other news, council conducted a swearing in ceremony to make Patrolman Brothers a full-time officer of the Mantua Police Department.
In her report, Mayor Linda Clark shared that Phase Three of the Buchert Park improvements will begin this spring. She noted that the DMRC had pledged $30,000 for the project which will include replacing concrete, sidewalks, and the middle section of the basketball court as will as replacing the park’s chain link fence. She noted that the village will solicit grant funding for Phase Four improvements.
In other news, Mayor Clark noted investigating a dramatic decrease in the village’s portion of the license fee tax. She shared that the village received between $90,000 – $100,000 in 2019, between $50,000 – $56,000 in 2020, and $36,000 in 2021. She noted finding no explanation of the reduction when reaching out to officials at the County level nor at the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles. She followed up with District 18 Senator Jerry Cirino’s office to investigate the drop, since neighboring communities did not experience such a dramatic decline in funding.
On another note, Clark noted that the sale of cemetery plots has increased. She noted that the Cemetery Board will convene in January to discuss a rate study and to compile a wish list for the summer months. Lastly, the Board of Appeals held two meetings recently; one mural was approved at the Chilling Station, while two other proposed murals were denied.
The next regularly scheduled meeting will take place on Tuesday, January 18th at 6:30 pm in Council’s Chambers.
