By Ryan Berry

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — City of Greenville Safety Service Director Ryan Delk explained the use of the city’s code enforcement officer during the regular meeting of Greenville City Council on Tuesday, June 6.

The city had previously discussed the possibility of using one of the school resource officers as a part-time code enforcement officer once the school year was over. On June 2, the city put a notice its Facebook Page announcing the plan had come to fruition.

The officer and the police department will “oversee and enforce local zoning laws and ordinances within the city pertaining to nuisance, health, safety and environment issues by performing inspections of properties and grounds.” The city is hoping residents will “voluntarily remove visible violations, such as abandoned cars, debris, garbage, trash, and/or junkyard conditions, etc.; to properly maintain (or repair) structures on properties so as to not pose a health risk to the community by becoming dilapidated or a nuisance.”

Delk said, “We’ve already gotten a lot of voluntary compliance. He’s doing exactly what we wanted him to; going out and knocking on doors and talking to people. When it’s a police officer, they tend to listen a little better. If it keeps going the way it is, I’m extremely happy with the turnaround by the end of the summer. Maybe we can see about doing something more long-term after that. We’ll have to see how it goes. The police officer addition is really helping.”

The plan is to continue using the school resource officer in this position until school resumes at the end of August.

Delk also shared the city is receiving reports of companies coming to the city and going door-to-door to try and convince residents to sign up for their gas and electric aggregation companies. He reminded residents the city has banned solicitors from coming into the city. He urges residents to call the police department, 937-548-1103, if they have someone comes to their door for solicitation purposes. He asked the residents to get as much information as possible, including the name of the company and individual, type and color of car, and license plate number, if possible, so the police department can track them down. He shared he was visited by a resident who signed up for the solicitors service only to find out it was double what the city’s aggregation costs were.

“If anyone has anyone coming to their door, please call the police department and make them aware so we can run them out of town,” said Delk.

The city is continuing its work on North Ohio Street. Delk said they’ve almost completed the water lines, but they will have to run pressure tests and also test for bacteria before they can be put into service. The plan is to open South Ohio Street later this week, but it may need to be closed or restricted again in a few weeks when they begin the concrete work. “That should be the last major thing besides waiting for the traffic light mast arms to come in and paving and paint striping,” he said.

Council approved a Memorandum of Understanding with the U.S. Marshals Service. The city is asking for officers who are interested in getting additional training with the Service. The Chief and his lieutenants will choose two or three officers who will go to Dayton for training once a month. Delk said, “What that does is gives us great training and keeps our officers involved. If we were to have a need here to use the U.S. Marshals, they would extend the favor back our way. The big part of it is their tracking capabilities are bar-none compared to what we have. They would give us access to all of that as well.”

The city and Greenville City Schools teamed up to get bids on fuel for the next year. Council approved a resolution to accept EB Fuel Stop LLC’s bid. According to Law Director Michael Rieman, the city will save approximately 40 cents a gallon over what they spent this year.

The next regular meeting of Greenville City Council will be Tuesday, June 20, 7:30 p.m., Council Chambers, Municipal Building.

To contact Daily Advocate Editor Ryan Berry, email [email protected].