NORTH LEWISBURG – Residents who see suspicious activity but want to remain anonymous are asked to use a new tip line in the village.
During Tuesday’s regular council meeting, Mayor Cheryl Hollingsworth informed residents that the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office established the anonymous tip line for village residents. The number is 937-210-4489.
Later in the meeting, Hollingsworth said the village has a new deputy assigned to the village in addition to the two deputies currently assigned to the village.
Village Administrator Andy Yoder said Deputy Phil McMahill will serve in a supplemental role to help fill gaps in service.
Informational pamphlet handed out
An informational pamphlet containing contact information for multiple departments, local businesses and churches was available for residents at the meeting. The purpose of the pamphlet is to help new village residents.
“I realized when someone came and they were new to the village that we didn’t have something to hand out to say ‘this is the village, this is who you call if you need utilities or set-up for cable or gas,” Hollingsworth said.
Yoder said the village is in the process of transitioning to new email addresses for village operations.
The email addresses include:
The changes are expected to be effective July 1.
Farmers market
During the citizens comments portion of the meeting, Cardinal’s Pizza owner Don Van Zant spoke with council about a potential farmers market in the village.
When he renewed his food handler’s license in the spring, Van Zant said, he was asked whether a farmers market would be useful in the village.
After doing some checking, Van Zant said, he was allowed to use a vacant lot east of the pizza store for a village market. As soon as enough produce comes available, Van Zant said he would like to hold the market on Wednesday afternoons tentatively between 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
“I will be bringing fresh produce in, some of which will be from my garden, some of which will be from the Scioto Valley Produce, the Amish auction up in Mount Victory,” Van Zant said. “I’ve been going up there for several years and they have good quality products. I plan on doing things at a very reasonable price, I’m not there to make money on it I want to provide the service to the community.”
Van Zant said any profit generated would go toward the Drew Mason Memorial Scholarship Fund, a fund in honor of Van Zant’s liver donor.
He thanked village residents for supporting fundraising events the pizza store holds.
“I just truly appreciate all of your unselfishness and generosity in supporting those projects for us,” Van Zant said.
Residents interested in participating in the farmers market can contact the pizza store and ask to speak with Van Zant or general manager Rissa Collier.
Other action
•Yoder said the village removed 27.63 tons of material during its Spring Clean Up Week. Also, 14,720 pounds of scrap metal were removed.
•Council approved contributing to the North Lewisburg Fireman’s Association for village fireworks. In addition to a $1,000 contribution, council added money generated from the recycling container during the Spring Clean Up bringing the total contribution to over $1,500.
•Council approved the Miami Valley Lighting street light contract, which Yoder said would be at the same rate as it was prior to a 3 percent discount the village received as a customer of the defunct DPL Energy. Council also approved a contract extension with IGS for electric supply through May 2020.
•Yoder asked for the budget finance committee to meet prior to the July council meeting to review appropriations and any changes that may need to be made to the budget through the remainder of the year.
•Village Water Superintendent Trevor Clark informed council of multiple repairs and improvement to the park he and village Street Superintendent Bart Stokes recently made, including installing three new benches and four of the eight swing sets being repaired.
•Hollingsworth thanked Triad High School for help during the village’s community day. Junior and senior students helped plant flowers around the park and at the library.
•Hollingsworth thanked everyone who participated in the Memorial Day events, in particular Stokes, the Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.
•Hollingsworth congratulated the Triad Baseball team for finishing second at state.
