By Meladi Brewer

DailyAdvcoate.com

GREENVILLE — The Versailles Village Council met Wednesday to discuss public hearings and politics.

Council members discussed and approved a motion to have a Public Hearing to review and obtain public comments concerning prohibiting parking on the west side of South Olive Street and a portion of Hickey Avenue. Council decided the hearing will take place Aug. 10 at 6:45 p.m. at the EMS building, as there is already another public hearing scheduled before the next meeting on Aug. 24.

“This public hearing is not a legal requirement, but it is a suggested activity to allow for public input,” Versailles Administrator Mike Busse said. “There is no timed deadline, we have to put it out and advertise it by.”

State Rep. candidate Jacob Larger introduced himself to the council and gave a background on himself and his campaign stating he wants to put common sense back into politics. He said he is currently serving as the Village Council President in New Bremen and joked about stealing other council’s ways of governing.

“I am using this as a learning opportunity to see some of the best practices that you all have, so if you ever look at us and think ‘we do that here in Versailles. Why is New Bremen doing that?’ it is probably because I stole your ideas,” Larger said.

Larger quoted Congressman Dan Crenshaw by stating it is “sanctioned intellectual property theft” before saying he appreciated what the council does.

“I got involved with running for State Representative because I feel like we have lost a lot of common sense in government,” Larger said, “Things we do here in our villages, we do very well, and I know sometimes it gets lost in translation at the state level, so I would like to be able to bring a little of west central ohio common sense to Columbus.”

Some of the issues Larger is passionate about included the workforce crisis and adoption. He believes there are easy reforms that can be made that don’t require any additional spending or programs in order to combat the workforce crisis. In regards to pro-life, Larger would like to focus on streamlining adoption processes.

“I think it is a travesty that it takes tens of thousands of dollars for a family to welcome a loved one into their life, and it takes years for that process,” Larger said.

He added he wants to look at regulations and the aging out of foster care youth in order to give them the better skills and tools to be able to get a god job and make a better living for themselves after they are dismissed from the foster care program.

Concluding Larger’s introduction, Busse gave his Village Administrative report. Busse gave an update on the water and sewer projects going on.

“We did get our 24-hour flow test report back from Eagon for well #6,” Busse said. “That well #6 did test out at 75 gallons per minute, so we’re looking forward to getting that back online.”

There were a total of three leaks that had been found. One was able to be repaired right away and two still need to be serviced.

“We believe we have a leak that is about 14,000 gallons a day, and we have another one that they estimated to be about 7,200 gallons a day. Over the next few days, starting Friday into next week, we are going to begin those repairs,” Busse said.

It was announced Monday, that the mandatory ban on grass watering had been lifted. Due to the dry conditions normally in August and September each year, the Village is requesting the residents continue to voluntarily conserve water and only use lawn sprinklers where it is absolutely necessary for the growth of new grass and to maintain a healthy lawn.

Additional information concerning water conservation practices can be found on the village website, or it can be found by contacting the Village Administrative Office at 937-526-3294.

Busse also addressed the electrical outage event that occurred on Saturday, July 23. Due to storm damage to a large portion of the AES transmission area it was de-energized at approximately 10:35 a.m. The village linemen responded, and the village was able to determine that power was out from the Russia/Covington Substations.

Power was still available from the Rossburg substation to Versailles, and the staff contacted AES but no AES staff was available to respond to Versailles due to the storm damage.

“Mr. Francis and I, both, sent emails to AES voicing our displeasure with the low priority that AES dispatch placed on getting Versailles back up,” Busse said.

He added they are working to gain a higher priority rating as Versailles is AES’s largest consumer. They are going to push for regular meetings in order to have a say and be up-to-date on knowledge. The village is also formulating a plan for the future in order to ensure they are able to get the proper assistance and increase response time.

To contact Daily Advocate Reporter Meladi Brewer, email [email protected].