Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Walbridge village council members discussed several housekeeping and personnel items as well as improvements to the old Carroll’s property during the final regular meeting of the abbreviated summer schedule on Aug. 19 inside the administration building.
An ordinance to create an enterprise fund for waste and recycling was passed as an emergency. It allows the village’s fiscal offer to put a line item in the budget for collection and dispersion of funds.
After council member Kristen Angelo made an inquiry, Kolanko stressed that nobody will be double charged for trash. The ordinance goes into effect on Sept. 1.
“If there's anything like that, that's simply going to be refunded to you,” Kolanko said. “They’re not going to double bill anybody.”
Next on the docket was an ordinance for the assessment of street lighting on lots and lands in the village. It’s an annual item that council has to pass to allow the Wood County auditor to collect for street lighting. The amount, which is $36,000, is the same as it has been for the past 10 years per Kolanko, and it has to be in before Sept. 1. This was also passed as an emergency.
Renovations continue at the old Carroll’s gym property, and village administrator Dave Shaffer updated council on those improvements.
Power should be back on by Aug. 25, as they’re just waiting for a breaker to get inspected. Many of the electrical circuits and lighting have already been installed. Water service is restored to the building, and the bathroom renovation is near completion. It has working toilets and sinks now, and they’ve done some work in several of the alleys such as grading, adding stone and cutting the brush back.
Additionally, the village cleared some storm sewers on Meadow, Holly, Allen, Breckman and Tyler. Once the vac truck is repaired, those efforts will continue, and they completed the HVAC repair at the police department, which was discussed at the previous council meeting.
The Allen-Holly repaving project will likely begin in late September, which Kolanko said will be a big one for the village.
Council went into executive session to discuss two items, including the purchase or sale of real estate and the hiring or firing of personnel, but no action was ultimately taken during that time.
In terms of personnel, police officer Andrew Thomason’s last day was July 31. Tom Mackin was hired as the solicitor for the village at a rate of $150 per hour. James Stacy of the maintenance department was moved into the step 5 pay scale at $25 per hour. In the same department, Brian Reed was hired and Matt Sell earned a raise. Both will now receive the step 4 scale of $23 per hour.
