By: Bill O’Connell
At the beginning of the March 16 Delta Village Council meeting, Mayor Bob Gilbert spoke to all in attendance, first concerning the coronavirus which is currently gripping the entire nation and second, more locally, about the fire at Metal X.
“The coronavirus was an epidemic and is now a pandemic and we have taken action within the Village of Delta. Those things could change but as of today we have prohibited the public from coming into this building (Municipal Hall) during the day. Those people that were interested were able to come to the Council meeting tonight but that could change by the next meeting depending on what the Governor says,” explained Mayor Gilbert.
“We will be staffed here in the office so any questions, problems or concerns that come up, we can be contacted by phone or by email. So, there will be business as usual here.”
Mr. Gilbert also said the Delta Police Department would have limited physical contact with residents but would be available as needed. The Street Department and Water Departments will operate as normal. The parks, along with their restroom facilities, will remain open for now.
“We will probably follow the lead with whatever the State of Ohio does but for now we will continue to serve the community by way of the police and fire departments and the other departments I just mentioned,” said the Mayor.
The fire at Metal X was the second one at that facility in the past six months and required eight units to respond, but not as large as the one in September of last year that needed 15 responding units to extinguish the blaze that burned for two days. “Metal X and the fire chief (Scott Smith) worked very well together,” said Mr. Gilbert.
“Metal X was able to move some of the piles around to create fire breaks. It was pretty amazing that they were able to contain that fire much better than they were six months ago. It wasn’t as serious as it could have been so hats off to Metal X, the fire department and the police department for trying to keep order there.”
In a conversation with Clyde Phillips, the Director of Operations at Metal X, the Village was informed that fires at those types of facilities are not uncommon. The main culprit, according to Mr. Phillips, were piles that contained scrapped automobiles which consist of plastics, fabrics, carpeting, residual oils and gas and lithium ion batteries. Fires can be ignited by metal shifting within the piles or the batteries breaking open and generating heat.
“The message that I have for Council and the Village citizens is I’m proud of our fire department, proud of our police department and proud of our partnership we have with Metal X because they’ve done a good job of trying to keep that situation under control,” said Mayor Gilbert. It is just the nature of their business. Hopefully, they won’t have any more fires in the future.”
He added that Metal X is working closely with the fire department on ways to prevent future fires by strategically separating piles of scrap between flammable and non-flammable materials. Also, the onsite aqueduct system and treated retention ponds help contain contaminants from entering the local water supply.
In other business, the first reading of Resolution #20-07, declaring it necessary to renew an existing levy for recreational purposes and requesting the auditor to certify the amount of revenue to be generated by the proposed levy renewal was approved.
The five-year 1.0 mil levy for recreational purposes will expire on December 31, 2020. The Village must place the levy in the General Election on the November 3, 2020 ballot.
Emergency Ordinance #20-06, estimating amount of active and interim monies and amount of inactive monies of the Village of Delta and designating the depository of active and interim and inactive funds was approved.
It is estimated that the amount of active funds for the Village of Delta which will be subject to deposit in the Farmers and Merchants State Bank, Delta, Ohio, for the four-year period commencing April 4, 2020 is not to exceed $4,000,000.
The next meeting is scheduled for March 30, 2020 at 5:30 p.m. in Memorial Hall.
Bill can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com