By Sue Miklovic
Here’s a quick recap of the recent Village Council meeting for the Village of North Baltimore.
The Mayor requested permission to close Main Street between High Street and Walnut street on Saturday, October 30, between 5:30pm-9:00pm for the village Halloween Parade event.
The Fire Department report for September showed they responded to 4 calls for aid for the month.(94 calls for the year so far)
The Police Department report for September showed they responded to 217 calls for service for the month. (1983 calls for the year so far)
There was no EMS report
Finance officer Tony Swartz reported there has been a good, strong response to the new on-line bill pay system.
Mr. Patterson reported he had been notified by a citizen that small children, without adult supervision, had been climbing on the new water fountain in the municipal parking lot beside the railroad tracks. He also had personally witnessed youth riding skated boards down the handicap accessible ramp at the train-viewing platform in the same location. He asked for monitoring of the area by police when possible, and that offenders be notified that their action is considered destruction of public property.
A request was approved to advertise for a Street Department laborer (job info on village website www.northbaltimore.net)
Back fill was recently put in a sink hole on Third Street.
A discussion was held about raising the Lions Club building at the park in order to reduce the risk of it flooding.
The Village recently accepted delivery of a new dump truck that they have been patiently waiting for. The snowplow that will be fitted to this truck has not yet been received.
Mr. Brillhart informed the council the Village Solicitor, Mr. Brian Zets is involved with finding a solution to the situation at the Water Treatment facility, involving the recently installed UV Disinfection system. It is not working properly.
The Village Solicitor Brian Zets is drafting an ordinance creating the Police Department Sargeant positions. The two positions will replace the former assistant Chief position and will become effective at the beginning of 2022.
The Council gave approval of the first reading of a resolution to adopt a five-year Capital Improvements Program (CIP), including policies and procedures in planning for capital expenditures for fiscal years 2022-2026.
This required CIP document is full of plans for projects to improve the infrastructure of the community. It includes the already-in-progress Water storage Tank on East Water Street, and the under-construction water line replacement on East Water Street and South Main Street. Also on the list of projects are options that may require low-interest loans, and several grant opportunities including: dilapidated water main replacements; annual street milling and paving, reconstructing East Broadway, Bridge replacement on East Water Street and Broadway/EaglevilleRoad, downtown enhancements on South Main Street business district to match North Main, ambulance chassis replacement, EMS building expansion, and new public Works building for equipment storage.
Mr. Brillhart also shared Doug Bender, CHA Consulting , has been hired by ODOT to coordinate the State Road 18 Traffic Safety Review. This includes from McDonalds to Poe Road, and then continuing on the west side of the village, traveling farther to the west on 18.
Note: As a local news reporter for TheNBXpress.com, I have to say I am personally disappointed that I have not seen a single candidate for election to NB Village Council , with the exception of Mr. Cook, attend any of the council meetings, nor Special Public meetings that were held concerning the Levy on the upcoming election ballot. ( I think I have only missed one or two meetings myself all year, but a candidate may have been there when I was not) I hope the candidates are at least tuning in to listen on the remote telephone option! ~S.M.
9 Responses
Village Council meetings are not closed to the public and public participation is encouraged. We have meetings this month on the first three Tuesdays in fact at 5:30 Pm. You can also phone in to listen if you’d like. I must add that very few do attend and most nights no one outside the usual attendance shows. Simply call the Village Office to get more information and come out to learn more and participate in your village.
Still not finding or seeing any information from any candidate running for council, seen a bio on one, which was nice, but not anything on issues and why I should vote for them. I hope people do not vote folks in for a popularity contest.
Also if what Cyndi said was correct about public participation not being back at the council meetings then that is not right on the councils part. If a citizen has a question either asked in the meeting or by letter it NEEDS to be addressed and answered.
So be it!
NB voters be aware that if you vote NO for the tax increase “to send a message to village council and administration” you also vote NO for the $170,000 designated for our streets.
What about the fact that our current council members and administration have failed to provide statistics related to the requested tax increase. I asked for this month’s ago and still no response from our council members!! The council does not want to hear from citizens as they removed the public participation from their supposed public meetings and they do not feel they need to respond to citizens requests – have they forgotten they work for the citizens? I do hope people join me in voting NO for the tax increase. Not because I / we don’t support our police, but instead to send a message to our village council and administration that we do NOT accept scare tactics and demand honesty and open communication with the citizens.
I have the same concern regarding some of the current candidates. We do not need people getting elected for a position that they will soon regret running for. It only hurts the entire village. I don’t believe all of the candidates have submitted a profile yet. Please do so if you are serious! Commitment and involvement are requirements, not options.
Also, I’m wondering if the village has considered installing camera(s) to discourage vandalism.
From JP: I have attended several Henry Twp. meetings in the past couple of months and made it a point to ask the trustees last week if ANY of the several candidates for trustee had attended ANY meeting… they said: “no – none (except Jim Wymer – a current trustee)”! – So you have to wonder if any of these candidates really know what they are getting into…
I posted too early on my other post….the last paragraph speaks volumes. IF any candidate that is running was serious would attending the council meetings. Actions speak louder than words. Hope the ones running are not just running for a popularity contest, or because they have lived here all their lives. Someone may say ….oh they did not have time to attend all or some of the meetings…..well as an elected council member if not mistaken they are to be at ALL required meetings. So it has to make a voter/citizen wonder why are these write in candidates running and why should I vote for them?
Very interesting last paragraph….hope people pay attention to it. Hmmmmm