ARCANUM — Arcanum Village Council Tuesday night voted in favor of a resolution authorizing an agreement with the City of Greenville for the city’s emergency dispatch to operate the village’s outdoor warning sirens in the event of a tornado or other disaster.

Village Administrator Bill Kessler explained the village’s current outdoor sirens run on VHF and unless upgraded at great expense, would be incompatible with the MARCS radio system currently being implemented by emergency agencies throughout the county.

“The City of Greenville is allowing villages like ourselves to patch to their VHF radio system and letting their dispatch trigger our tornado sirens,” he said. “We will be able to trigger our own sirens, we have the equipment to be able to do that, but the concern is, who is going to trigger the tornado sirens in the middle of the night?”

There is no additional cost for the service being provided, but Kessler said the village would still be responsible for the costs of maintaining the sirens.

Council was informed the sealing of the old village hall has been finished and the estimated colony of 50 to 80 bats which inhabited the building has begun exiting the structure.

Kessler presented council with revised architectural renderings for a new village building. Once finalized by Garmann Miller & Associates, the plans will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in hopes of securing a grant to build a new town hall. The grant application deadline is July 1.

However, Kessler pointed out the village nonetheless retains the option of constructing a new building or renovating the existing structure.

“Once we have financing approved, it doesn’t mean we’re doing it, it means that we can do it, we know where the money’s going to come from,” he said. “At that point, we need to say, do we want to proceed with this project or do we want to remodel the old building?”

“The township wants firmer numbers in the abatement process of the old building,” he added. “If the building gets remodeled, what’s it going to (cost) to remodel, what’s it going to [cost] for long-term maintenance?”

Among the legislative items approved, council passed resolutions declaring necessity for renewals of two tax levies, the hiring of a pool manager, a grant application to the Darke County Park District, utility write-off accounts and certification to the county auditor for collection of delinquent utility bills.

Arcanum Village Council’s next meeting is 7 p.m. June 12.