Ben Yeater, standing, president of West Liberty youth football, cheer and soccer associations, asked the village council to help him “clear the air” regarding the latest agreement the Lions Club has asked him to sign to use their ballpark. (EXAMINER PHOTO | SHARYN KOPF)
The West Liberty Village Council welcomed two visitors to their regular meeting on Monday, March 11, and both presented financial concerns for consideration.
First up, Brittany McElroy attended on behalf of the West Liberty Business Association, and she brought the bills with her.
“In past years, we’ve split some of these,” McElroy said, “and that’s why I’m here today.”
With that in mind, the council agreed to the following:
- Divide the cost of having Logan Lawn & Landscaping maintain downtown flower beds, etc., which comes to $500 for the village.
- Take over the purchase of portable toilets for the annual fire sales day, which will take place on Saturday, May 18, this year. “It doesn’t benefit downtown businesses and we want to pass that back,” McElroy admitted.
- Split website fees.
- Mayor Brad Hudson offered to personally cover a $50 matching sponsorship for a planned cash mob. Used to boost sales to local retail businesses, a cash mob is similar to a flash mob in that a group of people come together in one location, only this time it’s to make purchases to support local businesses and their community.
A limited number of registrants will be given a $10 chamber check. On the day of the event, they’ll receive an email announcing the secret, randomly selected location of the cash mob. They will then spend that money along with at least $10 of their own money at that particular business.
The other guest participant, Ben Yeater, expressed concern regarding the agreement the Lions Club has presented regarding use of Lions Park for youth football and soccer.
“It really hamstrings us,” said Yeater, president of the West Liberty-Salem Youth Football and Cheer and the West Liberty Youth Soccer associations.
According to Yeater, this agreement requires payments of $7 per child for soccer and $5 per player for football. That includes students from visiting schools.
The council suggested a meeting between the sports association boards and the Lions Club. Councilmember Trent Spriggs offered to participate in that meeting.
“This reflects more than on the Lions and the football/soccer associations,” Yeater concluded, “but on the community as a whole.”
In other council action:
- West Liberty Chief of Police Shane Oelker asked the council to approve hiring 26-year-old Ryan Campbell as a new full-time police officer at the rate of $23 an hour. Oelker said Campbell is interested in being a firearms instructor and joining the bike patrol.
He doesn’t just know the town, Oelker commented, but Campbell also “lowers the average age of our police officers.” The council agreed and set Campbell’s start date as March 13. - Oelker also stated they to replace their 10-year-old mobile radios by 2025.
- The police department’s Easter egg hunt will take place at 3 p.m. this Saturday, March 16, at Lions Park.
- Also this Saturday, breakfast (8 a.m. to noon) with the Easter bunny (9 a.m. to noon) is at the Opera House.
- Council approved ordinance 2024-02, annual appropriations, and ordinance 2024-04, salary for police and street departments and the secretary, and they passed resolution 2024-R5 to pave State Route 508, which the state of Ohio will pay for.
- So far, the council has received 54 responses, including 48 from residents, to the recent survey they sent out. With regard to the recycling issue, 68 percent said they’d pay for it while 31 percent said they would not.
- Village solicitor Chris Moell presented the new employee contract for the street department. It includes covering the cost for employees to obtain a class B with air brakes CDL license, which the village would pay for at the maximum amount of $3,500. This training takes 40 hours. Employees who fail to pass would be responsible to pay the $115 to take it again.
- The village still needs to install 50 brackets to display troop banners of local soldiers. Hudson stated he has the equipment and would be willing to work on it over a weekend, and Spriggs offered to help.
“We paid a lot for these,” Spriggs said, and Hudson added, “They need to be put up right.”
The West Liberty Village Council will next meet at 7 p.m. Monday, March 25. Due to the eclipse, the first April meeting will be conducted Monday, April 15, instead.