by Sue Miklovic
The Village Council met for their June meeting last Tuesday, June 4th. The meeting had both some GOOD news and some BAD news.
The first piece of bad news shared by Village Administrator Michael Brillhart was that the Downtown Revitalization grant project that was expected to be started this Summer, now has been pushed back to a start date of approximately August 5. Once started however, it will be completed by the end of November 2019. This project should provide a much-needed face-lift to the 100 block of North Main Street.
The GOOD news in the situation, is that the Chamber of Commerce’s Good Ole Summertime Festival in downtown NB this July, does not need to change locations because of construction, as anticipated.
Mr. Brillhart also shared that the Safe Routes to School grant project which will add some sidewalks on East Maple Street, a popular walking route for students, is anticipated to begin by June 14th, and be completed by the beginning of the new school year–Aug 15th.
Another disappointing bit of news that had to be shared by the Administrator had to do with the County Engineer’s office and a decision to abandon their maintenance of bridges that are within municipalities. This will no doubt force a huge burden to bear on not only North Baltimore, but also the other small communities within the county. Finance officer Tony Swartz shared that “It appears it is at least $600-$700,000 to replace a bridge”
More discussions and topics of interest included:
*An online bill payment option is likely to be available soon for residents and businesses for paying their water bills. The software for implementing this additional option for paying could be in place by August.
*Mr. Swartz has begun working on the 2020 estimates of revenue for the village. This is the first step in the process of formulating a budget for fiscal year 2020, he said.
* Swartz also reported that the Auditor of State is visiting North Baltimore for the purpose of conducting an audit of fiscal years 2017 and 2018.
*Mr. Swartz also shared he is in search of grants available for vehicles and trucks that need replacement. The next round of Requests for Proposals should be sometime this Summer.
*Mayor Goldner shared that “Emergency funds” set aside in the Tree Commission budget, were used for the village clean-up needed after the big windstorm that blew through town recently. It caused lots of damage, particularly along South Tarr Street.
*The Village will be advertising for a Finance Clerk I position which will be vacant soon.
*The Village hired two part-time Police Officers, Joshua Woerner and Kayleb Stuff, who were to begin immediately.
*Several topics will be discussed at the Committee of the Whole Meeting on June 11, 2019 including : Restrooms at the Park, Village Purchasing policy, Flooding at the Park, Trees that need trimmed for safety issues, Ideas for projects at the village park, in order to apply for Wood County Park District’s 2019 Improvement grant.
*Ordinances and Resolutions were read and voted on, as is mandated.
*Reports from Fire, EMS, Police Chiefs are reported in separate stories here on theNBXpress.
2 Responses
Thank you so much for sharing this for all to see. It truly is appreciated. I am always praying for the village, the people, and most of all for the leaders of our community. God bless you all.
I’m very happy to see that the Safe routes to school project is going to start this month. This has been a project that has been talked about for quite a while. It will be nice for the students to have a safer route to and from school