West Liberty Village Council President Jayne Griffith hugs outgoing Mayor Jill McKelvey at her last council meeting on Monday night. “See you around the village,” McKelvey said in closing. (EXAMINER PHOTO | SHARYN KOPF)
“People are using this facility.”
Andrew Blount, manager of the West Liberty Opera House, showed off newly installed stage curtains at the village council’s regular monthly meeting on Monday, Dec. 11. Such updates have led to more people reserving the space for events.
“In fact,” Blount told the council, “we have 10 groups using the opera house in December alone.”
The curtains and drop-down projection screen will enhance the community’s use of the building. Future improvements include strengthening the acoustics, cleaning up the floors, and adding stage lighting. But not everything will be updated.
For instance, the backstage area still has poster fragments from 1907. They will purposely not restore that in order to keep such history intact.
Across the street, the Bailey house continues to be another project the West Liberty Historical Society is working on. They were able to rebuild the front door to match how it looked in an 1875 photo. Eventually, the house will be turned into a museum/exhibit.
“By telling the history of this house,” Blount said, “we’ll tell the history of the village.”
He concluded by urging the council to keep supporting this project. He said he feels it’s something worth doing, especially considering the work is already well underway.
Another key topic of discussion Monday night concerned West Liberty finally being moved to the top of the list to receive money from a land bank brownfields grant. Since the grant was established in 2016, the village hasn’t received a penny, even though they have a project crying out for such funding: the old elementary school building.
Considering they need almost $400,000 to safely demolish the school, the village remained a squeaky wheel. It worked, and Ben Vollrath, Logan County Chamber of Commerce president, and Rick Hatcher, president of the Logan County Land Bank, made West Liberty a priority for receiving the money.
“This grant must be used for hazardous material removal,” Mayor Jill McKelvey said. “The whole building has asbestos exposure and is filled with contaminated junk.”
Monday’s meeting ended on a poignant note as the council paid tribute to two outgoing representatives: councilmember Joanna Hostetler and Mayor Jill McKelvey. The two were honored with gifts, hugs and applause. McKelvey has served the community for 13 years, including the last three as mayor.
Incoming councilmember Shannon Maier and the newly elected mayor, Brad Hudson, were also in attendance Monday night.
In other council news:
- Efforts are being made to create a Tech Cred collaboration with Champaign Economic Partnership and Clark State to get young people interested in pursuing a trade. The hope is to create a pool of workers to replace the water and sewer employees who are aging out of their jobs. They plan to use grant money to, first, increase exposure to the program, then, second, build up the necessary skills.
- Jake Vitt has asked the council to hear his plan to landscape the town hall north lawn around the gazebo and, specifically, to hide the air conditioning units. “He’s not asking for money,” McKelvey said, “he just wants us to hear him out.” Vitt will email his proposal to the council for consideration.
- McKelvey also stressed the importance of zoning laws to small communities like West Liberty. Columbus is projected to grow to the size of Chicago in as little as seven years, creating a bigger housing problem. That lack of housing means people will have to go somewhere. Nearby towns need to prepare for that.
- An attempted cyber attack on the West Liberty water plant led to Cindee Boyd, village clerk/treasurer, receiving a call from the FBI. The agent will send what he has to the town’s IT expert, Shawn Suter with Your Hometown Tech out of Urbana.
Like the recent bomb threats at numerous Ohio schools, these terror acts seem to be coming from outside the United States. “We need to stop foreigners from influencing our communities,” McKelvey said.
With that in mind, they plan to install a program that will block IP addresses from other countries. They’ve also been adding VPN routers. - McKelvey announced the resignation of Officer John Puckett, something she said they’d been warned to expect since he has a reputation for not staying in one place long.
- Bill Detrick, street superintendent, recommended using JT Tree Service out of Bellefontaine for tree removal. This will be done in the spring, but he wanted approval so he could schedule it now.
Detrick also advised the council to find someone else to take care of troop banners and brackets since the department doesn’t have time. The council will look for other options. - Next month, the council will begin the process of appointing a new member to fill an open seat. Qualified individuals are encouraged to share their interest with the village office.
- In following up on the recycling issue, possibilities are still being considered. According to Detrick, Rumpke would charge about $12 per household, which comes to almost $94,000 over the course of the year. This is based on 650 households and is the same price no matter how many people recycle. “It will have to be charged to everyone whether they want it or not,” Detrick said.
- In the meantime, council members will man the Sidney Street Recycling Center from 4 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 3, to help residents in need.
The West Liberty Village Council won’t meet again until 7 p.m. Jan. 8. At that time they will welcome the town’s new mayor, Brad Hudson, and new councilmember Shannon Maier. The village office will be closed on Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Andrew Blount, manager of the West Liberty Opera House, gives an update to members of the West Liberty Village Council at their meeting Monday, Dec. 11. New stage curtains were installed by Beck Studios (Cincinnati) in November. (EXAMINER PHOTO | SHARYN KOPF)