Andover Village Council discusses bettering the community at monthly meeting
by Lauren Locke
ANDOVER – A recap on several of its June work session items were some of the main topics of discussion on Tuesday, July 9, during Andover Village Council's monthly board meeting within the village hall.(From July 12 edition).
According to President Curt Williams, Police Chief Christopher Baker and other staff are now taking steps to enforce four wheelers in the village by checking for license plates and insurance as there have been a lot of complaints of them speeding.
It was also noted that violators will be sent to the mayor's court.
The council also discussed its need to improve the dugout area of the ball field at John Overly Recreation Park in Andover as it is smaller than standard and has a mud problem around it.
Council members also talked about how bad the mosquitoes have been there and Village Administrator Rich Mead said that they will be spraying again soon sometime around July 18 as they have been spraying roughly every three weeks through a pest-control company.
Other work session items covered included information about a vacant lot in South Park that had was being used for cutting and baling hay with a lot of tall grass around it in which they have already contacted the owner to take care of the problem and plan to work on it not being used that way again next year.
It was also noted that the council has applied for an EPA permit to burn a brush pile the village has behind the village hall. Mead is looking for a secondary location for that purpose if they need it.
In other business, Mead noted that in his June administrator's report his main concern had been getting the generator switch repaired at the waste water treatment plant, which they were able to do and that it has returned to normal automatic operation.
In the report, it was also noted that he moved the remote readers on Oak and West Main Street, investigated a meter issue on South Main Street, added trim around all lift stations, disconnected the water from the valve on Oak Street for a house demo, fixed an exhaust fan motor at the waste water treatment plant, dug a main line on Eldorado Street and refilled the road, had the main line repaired to the lake village pool utility room, performed maintenance on the valves at the Holiday Camplands treatment plant, put a drain tile around the tower base at Holiday Camplands, had the storm drained cleaned up, opened one grave, have been removing trash from the square and rec park weekly, as well have been grass cutting.
Overall, Mead said that the work for the village crew and work at Holiday Camplands has been steady, that the Lake Village and Holiday Camplands have had some main line issues this season, as well as noted that plant operations and production are normal.
In other business, the council gave a first reading to Ordinance No. 2019-5-O: establishing tap fees to be charged for the connection to water and sanitary sewer lines of Andover Village, establishing procedures to be followed, which include than expiration date for taps that are not used in a timely fashion, providing a means for a developer to recoup a portion of the cost of installing water or sanitary sewer lines from property owners who benefit from their installation by tapping into them, providing the denial of taps where the water and sewer ordinances and specifications have not been followed, providing the deposit of all fees received pursuant to this ordinance to the water and sanitary sewer improvement funds, and repealing Ordinance No 2011-7-O.
During visitors comments, Doug Piontkowski from Kinsman discussed a petition (online and in paper form) that he already has around 600 signatures for regarding land owners being violated with the Pymatuning Creek Wild and Scenic River Designations, which he said has to do with Ohio Department of Natural Resources not following the Ohio Revised Code. He noted this is the third river they tried to do as the 15th designation (as there were disputes against land grabbing in the past among residents in other areas). He said he believes in personal property rights.
At the end of the meeting, the council went into executive session regarding litigation with no action taken.
Pictured: Andover Village Council on Tuesday, July 9, during its monthly meeting within the village hall.