With the recent addition of a village administrator and a new street superintendent, the West Liberty town council’s regular meeting had a different vibe on Monday, June 9. Only time will tell if that’s why they ended earlier than usual while still managing to cover a lot of ground.
After a quick update from police chief Shane Oelker regarding work on their patrol cars, Mark Nelson, street superintendent, went over several items of interest, including the status of another new hire.
“He’s working out very, very well,” Nelson said, referring to street department employee Ben Hyland, who’s in his second week. Nelson added that he’s providing CDL training for Hyland and hopes he’ll have his permit in the next few weeks.
Nelson then announced they’ve “joined the 21st century” in creating a Facebook page for the West Liberty street department. He intends for it to become a primary source of communicating with the public along with the village’s alert system and newsletter.
Finally, Nelson, who’s been employed by the village for five years and was promoted to street superintendent a couple of weeks ago, said he’s still waiting to hear back regarding paving the alley behind the old school.
The council then heard from new administrator Richard Ford, who mostly sought approval for purchases, including several items needed for the sewer department, like repairing a pump and replacing antennas on lift stations. As to the latter, they took care of three last year, Ford reminded the council, leaving four more to go.
With summer on its way, Ford said the police department is in need of a new air conditioning unit and thermostat at a total cost of about $8,500. Their AC unit is out, he stated, and the thermostat is 25 years old.
As for new employee uniforms, Ford discovered they could save a lot of money by ordering through a company called Vestis. He said buying uniforms, shop towels and high-visibility t-shirts through Vestis instead of the previous company, will save them approximately $10,000 a year.
The council approved the necessary payments as presented.
In response to a request from the LoCo Kids Foundation, Ford wrote a letter of support for the organization, which plans to create a children’s museum in Logan County. He asked for the council’s permission to send that on their behalf.
Finally, Ford brought up issues connected to selling the Adriel property. To do so, the owners want to split it into different lots. However, the property is currently zoned for commercial use, and, Ford said, no company would want that amount of land.
“It would be more sellable if it were zoned for residential,” he added. “I could talk to the planning commission about making it multi-family or single-family units.”
That led him to ask what they want the village to look like from a zoning perspective.
Ford closed by stating he feels privileged to join such a great team.
“I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else,” he admitted. “Everyone has been very supportive.”
Before coming to West Liberty, Ford had experience working as a fiscal officer for several townships and has served the state of Ohio as a visiting clerk.
Since Ford is a resident of Champaign County, west of Urbana, the council chose to pass an ordinance allowing him to live there while working for the village of West Liberty.