WHAT IS THIS ONE? … Councilors Nathan Massie and David Short evaluate the list of invoices to be paid. (PHOTO BY TIM KAYS, STAFF)
By: Tim Kays
On the evening of January 14, members of the West Unity Village Council adopted a measure that effectively expands the village by nearly 6.5 acres.
Under suspended rules of reading, the Councilors unanimously approved Ordinance 2021-1, authorizing the annexation of 6.426 acres of village owned land located in Brady Township. The approximately 1,293 x 210 foot tract of undeveloped land runs westward from County Road 21 to the eastern property boundary of PJ&T Transportation and Logistics.
Mayor Don Leu suggested that in the near future, Council might want to look into Community Reinvestment Areas (CRA), sometimes also referred to as Enterprise Zones.
Both Enterprise Zones and CRAs allow a local government to exempt new businesses from municipal property taxes generated from a proposed investment project for a given time period, usually ten years, in exchange for a commitment of job creation and possibly other considerations such as donations to the local school district.
“We’re getting closer now to getting the land in,” said Mayor Leu, “…so we’re going to need to have discussions if we want to go ahead with the CRA…just for the new place out there, or do you want to do the CRA for the entire town? So I thought maybe next time…we could bring in somebody to give a more detailed information about what a CRA consists of, so you guys would have a little more information.”
Council also suspended the rules of reading to adopt two annual housekeeping measures. Resolution 1-2021-1 authorizes Village Administrator Joshua Fritsch to participate in the State Cooperative Purchasing Program on behalf of the village. Resolution 1-2021-2 authorizes Fritsch to sell village owned personal property via internet auction, on an as-needed basis.
In other annual actions, Kevin Gray was reelected as President of Council, and Mayor Leu gave his first State of the Village address, a message which would resonate later in the meeting. Mayor Leu’s message read…
2020 is finally over; hopefully things will begin to get back to normal. My first year of Mayor for the village of West Unity has, to say it mildly, been filled with many adventures due to the loss of our fiscal officer and deputy clerk, and the onset of the COVID-19.
I was fortunate; we were able to attract an excellent fiscal officer and deputy clerk to our village. They both have taken the job seriously, and have excelled in their positions.
With COVID-19, we had to look for budget cuts to cover shortfalls that everyone knew were coming. I had the administrator, fiscal officer, and police chief work together to find areas to slow spending in order to meet the shortfalls. To date, it’s not looking like we’ll be down horribly. By next meeting, we should have the closing numbers.
Last year I said I wanted West Unity to be the ‘Community that Cares,’ and from what I’ve seen and heard from the public, we’re on the right path.
Next, I brought up Terri LeBowsky’s idea of a ‘Welcome to West Unity’ flyer. I did initiate the project, however due to losing our two office employees within the first couple months, and having COVID-19 appear, the project had been put on the back burner.
Sorry Terri, but I’m glad to say I’ve got the Welcome to West Unity flyer back on track. Hopefully in a couple meetings I can reveal what the flyer will look like.
I’m hoping with this new year I can find the information needed to proceed with contacting the Turnpike Commission for introducing an interchange at US 127.
Last year I mentioned I wanted some new playground equipment, possible splash pads, and park benches, in Memorial Park. We are continuing to search for grants for the park equipment, and have already placed five park benches in the park with more arriving in the spring.
The memorial park bench program has been a great success, and is continuing. Also, Mike Beal’s idea of the ‘Lights in the Park’ this year was a great success, with a multitude of people driving thru enjoying the lights.
With the interest I’ve heard about this program, next year should be much larger. The water tower is finally done; the water line project is completed, not bad with the stoppage due to COVID-19. All that’s left is a little landscaping.
The safety grant is progressing and hopefully soon, we’ll discover whether or not we’ll receive our grant proposal. Also waiting is whether or not we’ll receive our small park grant for a swing set.
A water line project is continuing for Jackson, Jefferson and Church streets this year.
Also, we are looking into grants for North Main and Lincoln streets. Then, with our new land purchase, Mr. Fritsch is looking into grants, and he has firms looking into grant opportunities for the roads, storms, water and sewer for the subdivision.
I’m looking forward to this year. Hopefully the government has the desire to energize the country back to work. I want to have West Unity ready with a variety of projects to use the money on, if offered.
It gives me the feeling of gratification when the citizens of West Unity are talking to others and myself about a variety of nice changes or accomplishments they’ve seen in the village. So in closure, I’d like to thank all the village employees and citizens for helping to keep this a Community that Cares.
The village practice of honoring veterans of the community with banners was mentioned in comments from the Council. “My husband drives truck,” said Councilor Terri LeBowsky, “…and he gets around to different towns and everything.”
“And how we have our veterans up…he goes to another town that has veterans up part of the year, and then the other part of the year they honor their firemen, their policeman, first responders and EMS.”
“And so he brought that up to me, and I thought…especially with the times that are now, it’s rough on them. So maybe it’s one way of giving them a pat on the back.”
Council heard from Dee Custar, the unofficial ‘village chaplain’, referencing her phone calls to check on the well-being of the more vulnerable residents of the community. “Donnie (Mayor Leu) had asked me to start making my phone calls again to the older people in town,” she said.
“He had given me a list last year. J.R. (Jones – West Unity Chief of Police) and Donnie I think went out and kind of made a declaration of what the phone calls are. I didn’t do it over the summer, then Donnie asked again about a month or six weeks ago if would start again.”
“The only reason I want to say that to you is when I call these people, they are so appreciative of a town who cares enough. I mean, really…I just wish you could hear some of the conversations; some of them go on for a long time. I hear it every time I call them, just how much it means to them to know that a town has got their back.”
“And they know when I say, ‘Is there anything you need,’ you know you’ve proven it before. One person needed coffee, and I called Donnie and ten minutes later, she had coffee at her house. I’m just saying that, you guys…I wish you could hear the statements they make.”
“They really appreciate a town that supports them and cares. I just am blessed every time I get to hear it, but I wanted to make sure you guys know, they really appreciate this town. You guys initiated that, so I’m just saying I want you to know they really appreciate it.”
Tim can be reached at tim@thevillagereporter.com