GREENVILLE — Greenville City Council approved a number of resolutions and ordinances during its Tuesday night session.
Among the legislation passed was a resolution approving a finalized bicycle route through the city.
Previously, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources awarded the Darke County Park District and the City of Greenville a grant of $236,952 through its Clean Ohio Trail Fund for building the bike/walking path through the city. When finally completed, the path will extend from Bradford, through Greenville, and finally to Union City.
Council also passed resolutions authorizing the Safety/Service Director to advertise for bids for sidewalk installation on North Ohio Street and to advertise for bids for waterline replacement on Donald Drive.
Another legislative measure approved is an amending of section 99 of the municipal income tax ordinance. The amendment changes the penalties for those committing income tax violations. A first offense will be punishable by a $500 fine. A second offense within three years’ time will incur a fine of $1,000. Within three years of the offense, if the offender was convicted of or pleaded guilty to two or more violations, for which no penalty is otherwise provided, the offender will be charged with a fourth-degree misdemeanor.
Council also voted to approve an ordinance establishing a Drug Law Enforcement Fund to deposit and disperse any fines collected, which will be used to subsidize law enforcement efforts that pertain to drug offenses.
A resolution authorizing a one-year contract with Littman-Thomas Insurance Agency to provide liability insurance for the city was approved.
Safety/Service Director Curt Garrison updated council on a preliminary engineering estimate for replacing the city’s HVAC system. The estimate is $540,865 with a 10 percent contingency, with alternates. Council agreed to consider legislation at its September 19 meeting to begin the bidding process.
Garrison also discussed a request from the Greenville City Fire Department to install a tornado warning siren in the city’s industrial park. He told council one company in the industrial park is willing to contribute $12,500 toward its installation.
“The entire industrial park is an area which is deficient as it comes to weather warning siren notification,” he said. The city was denied a matching grant from the state for the siren. Fire Department Chief Russ Thompson suggested approaching other companies in the park to help offset the cost. Garrison received approval from council to do so, and give a 30 to 45 day timeframe for a response.
Main Street Greenville Director Crysta Hutchison presented council with potential remedies for reinstalling the recently removed bike racks from the downtown area. In its previous meeting, council had voted to remove the racks as safety concerns had been raised. She told council the company which manufactures the bike racks will remove the seats and repaint them for free or redesign them at a cost of $27 each. To reinstall the racks will cost $3,500.
Council President John Burkett assigned the issue to council’s Safety Committee with a report expected before council’s first October meeting.
Greenville City Council meets the first and third Tuesday of each month at 7:30 at the Municipal Building. The public is invited to attend and address council. Meetings may also be viewed via livestream at the City of Greenville Ohio Youtube channel or seen the following day.
