Windham – Windham Village Council met for their first council meeting of the year. New to council are Lawrence (Mac) Cunningham and Sherri Pennington. They have replaced Stacey Brown and Phil Snyder.
The meeting was called order and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited. Council approved the minutes, fiscal report, bank reconciliation, and the fire, police and rescue report.
The following committees had no reports to present to the council, village council presidents report, economic development, and planning committee.
Council then approved moving John Barth from auxiliary officer to part-time police officer. They also approved the retire/rehire of Rich Garringer. Next, they hired Robert Neal as a water, sewer and street laborer at $16.50 an hour effective February 3, 2020. In parks and recreation, they appointed Brittany Cunningham to the parks and recreation committee and in zoning they appointed Phil Snyder to the board of zoning appeals.
In the Mayor’s report, Scott Garrett reported that he will have the State of the Village report next month. He also reported that his “Coffee with the Mayor” went well. He had a few people join him. He is doing this to get to know people and see what their needs are. He hopes to meet with more residents as they are made aware of the event.
The solicitor, Tom Reitz, reported that there might be a legal issue with the filters at the waste water plant. The expensive filters have failed, after only a few years and should have lasted a lot longer. They welded them and that failed as well. They have talked to the manufacturer and right now is a “he said, she said”, pass the buck situation. The manufacturer claims there is something in the village’s water/ waste water to cause them to corrode prematurely. Solicitor Tom Reitz requested council hired Mr. Brown as an assistant solicitor to investigate the problem at the waste water plant at $140/hour. Reitz stated that he doesn’t have the time to do it and it needs to be done ASAP. Council agreed and they hired him as a part- time assistant solicitor to only work on the filter issue.
Ordinance O-2020-3, An ordinance amending section 505.15 farm animals, reptiles, exotic animals or other animals prohibited by law. Currently one may only have pets indigenous to the area such as cats, dogs, birds, etc. farm animals were permitted on parcels larger than 5 acres. The amendment will allow ducks, geese, chickens, turkeys or other fowl on parcels that are .9 acres or larger. This was considered a first read, they will have two more reads then a vote will be taken at the March meeting.
It was reported that NDS already applied for the second grant for senior housing even though they hadn’t heard back from the first one. Before the writing of this and after the meeting, a press release was put out to the public to announce a 4.9-million-dollar grant had been secured through HUD 202 program. This program allows low income seniors to live independently but in an environment that provides activities, such as cooking, cleaning and transportation.
Lastly, Debbie Blewitt announced that the plans for the new Dollar General were in the back of the room if anyone would like to see them. The New Dollar General is being built across the street from the current one. The new one will be located at the corner of Main Street and Maple Grove Street. It will be 1100 square feet larger than the current one and will have fresh produce. The old store will be closed once the new one is open. This will leave another empty building in the village, unless the owner gets another tenant or sells.
Council then approved the February calendar, and the meeting was adjourned.
