The Village of Phillipsburg is beginning the process of arranging to connect the village to water supplied by the City Union.
Submitted photo
PHILLIPSBURG — The surveyors Phillipsburg residents may have seen in the village are from Wessler Engineering. Mayor Shawna Newsom said at the Aug. 20 council meeting they are beginning the process of arranging to connect the village to water supplied by the City Union.
Thursday, Sept. 19, is the tentative date for a town hall meeting at which residents can ask questions about the process. (Any change of date will be posted around the village.)
The council also set September 26 through 28 as the date for the fall garage sale. Newsom said there will be no bulk pickup scheduled for the following week, but residents are entitled to one bulk pickup per month per household.
Newsom also reminded residents that even though fire hydrants are on village property, the homeowner whose house they are in front of is responsible for keeping a three-foot circumference around them free of debris, foliage, weeds, and any structure and clearing the snow away in winter.
Interim Fire Chief Chris Rowher said the Ohio Administrative Code specified the circumference so that the hydrants are instantly accessible to fire equipment.
Council member Brandon Myers gave members information on the new web supplier. He said if the council agrees, this will provide a web site that will only cost $12 a month and permit village officials to do their own updating.
The city’s solicitor has determined that the council can serve as a board of zoning appeals if the village creates a zoning board. Newsom will begin recruiting residents to serve on the zoning board, and council members agreed to serve as an appeals board. Council Member Donna Mullins will serve as the required member in common on both boards.
Village Fiscal Officer Shelly Phillips and Newsom presented new figures for dividing the utility payments between various village accounts. Phillips had learned the old formula had some departments paying for more gas and electricity than they used and others paying much less.
Council adjusted the gas payment further when Police Chief Mark Wysong protested that one bay the police car is parked in has no heating unit.
Wysong also said the four electronic speed limit signs have arrived but need assembling and mounting. Newsom and Mullins offered to assemble them, and council member Chris Steiner agreed to see that they are mounted properly.
One sign will be at each corporation limit on Main and State streets. The solar-powered signs will warn motorists of their speed and will collect data on the number and times of the greatest offenses so police can more effectively enforce the limits.
Member Steve Booker asked if the village vehicles are fueled from the gas station in town. Told the police car is but the fire department usually goes to Speedway on Arlington, he protested that the Speedway doesn’t pay any taxes to the village.
Steiner asked if a bulk tank would be cheaper. Rowher said the village doesn’t use much regular gas but promised to look into the cost of diesel fuel in bulk.
The next regular meeting of the council will be on Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 7 p.m. in the municipal building at 10868 Brookville Phillipsburg Rd.
