AND YOU? … Village Fiscal Officer, Sarah Higdon, takes the roll call during a Council vote. (PHOTO BY TIMOTHY KAYS, STAFF)
By: Timothy Kays
After a lengthy executive session on the evening of December 10th, members of the West Unity Village Council suspended the rules of reading and adopted a budget for 2021 in the amount of $2,528,316.78.
Entered as Ordinance 2020-12, the budget for 2021 reflects cautious optimism coming through a COVID-19 colored 2020. $891,460 has been allocated to the general fund, and $822,815 set aside for capital projects. Other funds include $300,796.78 for the water fund, $284,835 for the sewer fund, and $120,000 for the street fund. The new budget weighs in $1,917,008.11 lighter than the final revised appropriations for 2020 of $4,445,324.89.
Councilor Kevin Gray moved to adopt Resolution 12-2020-34, a measure that grants a 2% pay raise across the board to all village employees for 2021, with the caveat that the measure will be revisited and reexamined on July 1, 2021. Council agreed to the proposal without dissent. Council also agreed to the purchase of Christmas gift certificates, valued at $40 apiece, for each village employee.
Council suspended the rules of reading and adopted Ordinance 2020-10. This measure authorizes Village Administrator Joshua Fritsch to enter into an agreement with John A. Coulon for the purchase of 11 acres of real estate located along U.S. Highway 20A and County Road 21 for possible future development.
“The town’s looking great,” said Mayor Donovan Leu as he reflected on the year. “Good appearance, we’ve been doing a lot of maintenance around town this year. We’ve started a new student parking course over here in the parking lot. We started our first annual Lights in the Park, thanks to our Park Committee. Hopefully next year we’ll be able to double that.
The street crew has worked great this year; the town looks fantastic. They made it more cleaner, more friendly. Wastewater Supervisor, you’ve been working relentlessly keeping up the water and sewer systems, and it’s working at top efficiency. The ladies in the front office, they’ve been maintaining everything perfectly. There’s a real friendly atmosphere up there, not just for us in the back, but for the public that comes in.
The Administrator is in charge of the operations of the whole entire town, and for his employees. He’s the supervisor over them…and I think they’ve been doing really great. I don’t hear the complaints I used to hear a lot in Council for years. I’ve heard all the stuff. He’s brought all those people together. Everybody’s worked great. You can see it around the community, and the community members tell me that the employees just seem happier. They’re working together, they don’t see all the griping anymore.
The Police Department…we have more policemen protecting and serving our community, 24 hours a day, putting their lives in danger every time they go to work. At the top of that department is our Police Chief. He’s maintaining a top match department. He works tirelessly…overseeing his patrolmen, equipment, the budget, and keeping the respect of the community which is hard when you’re a police officer. I don’t think you can find many people around town that don’t respect our Police Department and our Police Chief.
Last…the Council I have. I have a fantastic group of some of West Unity’s finest citizens who want what’s best for our community. My Council members are able to discuss and reach conclusions with no animosity towards each other. They all want what’s best for our community. I oversee this great group of people working together for the betterment of West Unity, even through this COVID-19 outbreak. We’re working together, maintaining top efficiency in all departments.
I’m looking forward to the next year as Mayor, and thank God for the task of letting me undertake this. We are ‘The Community That Cares,’ so good job everybody.”
Councilor Gray added, “It’s definitely been a challenging year as far as what’s going on in the world, but I have to tell you, this has probably been one of the best years that I’ve actually seen on Council. Everybody in this village has done an awesome job…and I’m extremely elated on how smooth things are going.”
“I’ll be honest, there was once a time coming into these meetings that I really didn’t want to come in here. I appreciate every single thing that you guys are all doing. It definitely is showing unity and pride of your jobs and what’s going on in this community, and I thank you all.”
Tim can be reached at tim@thevillagereporter.com
