Barnesville Council Discusses Firehouse Issues
Barnesville Fire Chief Tim Hall and Adam Ackerman of Ackerman Builders discussed drainage issues at the firehouse at Monday evening’s council meeting. Hall met with Ackerman last week to talk about what can be done to fix the issue.
The firehouse has been experiencing drainage problems on the west side. Pipes need to be placed and capped over with concrete to resolve the issue, fire chief Tim Hall said at the last meeting.
“One of the main problems we have at the firehouse is that everything from the new parking lot that the employees park in, to the actual wall of the firehouse drains to the firehouse and there’s barely, if any, slope away from the building itself,” Ackerman said. “The actual first slab of the new apron in front of the building actually entirely slopes toward the building. So, all that water is coming toward the building.”
The contractor explained if it were concreted as it is, the firehouse would have a pretty big problem. He added there is a drain, a 15-inch culvert that comes from the alley behind the Pumpkin Festival building and runs diagonal under the firehouse, but it is broken and no longer takes an adequate amount of water, so it’s flooding back there.
He said what the village needs to do is set a catch basin to connect with the road culvert and bring it parallel along the building for at least 25-feet to another catch basin in the front. Crews would set both of those basins low enough and slope away from the firehouse so that any water that comes from the parking lot goes into the basin instead of up against the firehouse. They also need to redo the basin in the middle of the parking lot.
Hall and Ackerman told council this is an issue that needs fixed and discussed prices. Council said it will discuss the matter and think about it over the next couple weeks.
Community
Sally Johnson asked for approval for the Alumni Parade, which has been renamed to “Shamrock All-Grad Parade.”
The parade took place on Friday evening of the alumni weekend in previous years, but this year the date has been changed to Saturday so the high school band and cheerleaders could participate. Line-up will take place at noon at the Watt Center parking lot on Saturday, July 12.
The parade will move from the Watt Center, past the municipal building and down Main Street to the gymnasium.
Streets
Village Administrator Roger Deal told council that a culvert needed to be replaced on Leatherwood Pike. The bottom of the culvert is gone. The road is closed this week for for the project.
He also told council the village cannot authorize the bids for the Ohio Public Works Commision Paving Project until the village receives the grant agreement on July 1.
Deal plans to bring the bid tallies to the next meeting. He told council the village has almost $618,000 for paving with the low bid coming in at $439,000 and the highest bid at $556,000.
The village also needs a new tractor for mowing. Deal said the village has used a Ford tractor for the 32 years he’s been around, and it’s been leaking oil a lot. The township donated their old tractor to the village when they purchased a new one last year. It’s started having problems as well.
Council discussed buying a new tractor and will make a decision soon.
An update on the tunnel and trails project reveals paving crews have arrived to start paving the trail along Railroad Street.
Police Department
Police Chief Rocky Sirianni told council solicitor Richard Myser drafted amendments to the village’s speed vehicle ordinance involving golf cart usage.
Sirianni reviewed the draft and said it looks good. Myser said he drafted the ordinance in compliance with the Ohio Revised Code, which was amended and went into effect Tuesday. Myser will present the new ordinance to council at the next meeting.
The current ordinance allows speed vehicles (golf carts) to be operated on public roadways in the village that are up to 25 mph. They are required to have equipment, be inspected, insured, registered and operated by a licensed driver.
The revised ordinance will allow for the operation of utility vehicles, such as a side by side, and certain other vehicles on public roadways in the village on roads with up to 35 mph speeds. All vehicles still need to meet the same requirements as far as equipment, inspection, insurance, registration and more, according to the police chief.
Council discussed with the chief the possibility of creating a full-time school resource officer position at the last meeting. He told council he reviewed the ordinance regarding full-time police employees and that if the village hired another one, it would be good.
Council members offered no objections.
Park
At the last meeting, council discussed removing the steps at the Barnesville Memorial Park going down to the baseball fields near Rotary Lake. Councilwoman Robyn Misner reported the steps will be removed.
Grants
As discussed in the last meeting, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is granting a $70,000 loan forgiveness to the village. The EPA is going to do the sampling for the village, which was originally something the village thought it was going to have to pay for out of the funding. The work will be handled by the May Engineering firm.
In May, council approved a resolution to apply for the Water Supply Revolving Loan to help the village come up with a plan to remove PFAS forever chemical contaminants from the town’s water supply.
Deal wanted council to approve him to sign the agreement and forward it to May Engineering.
The council unanimously approved moving forward with the work.
Permits
At the last meeting, council discussed a permit from Michael Tolewitz to build a shed on his Railroad Street property. The proposed building violated the 10-foot property line setback rule.
Fire Chief Tim Hall said he talked to Tolewitz about the issue and revisions were made to comply with the setback rule.
Council approved the permit.
Meeting
The next meeting will be at 7 p.m., July 14, with an executive session for interviews starting at 5 p.m.
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