NORTH LEWISBURG – Village council voted to move the date when council meetings will be held during this week’s regular meeting.

Council approved a resolution changing the regular meeting date from the first Tuesday of every month to the second Tuesday of every month. The change will go into effect next month when the next council meeting is held on April 12 at 7 p.m.

Council vacancy

Council was informed that Mayor Cheryl Hollingsworth will choose the next council member after a sub-committee was unable to come to a consensus decision on filling the vacant seat.

Council member Ted Murphy said the sub-committee received four applications and conducted three interviews.

Hollingsworth has 30 days from Tuesday’s meeting to make an appointment and said she will make the appointment at the next council meeting.

Sheriff’s update

Champaign County Sheriff Deputy Josh Welty informed council that in February six arrests were made, five traffic citations were issued, 18 incident reports were written and 15 follow-up investigations were completed.

Welty mentioned subjects would be presented to a future Champaign County grand jury following a drug bust conducted with the Adult Parole Authority. He added a search warrant was executed in January in a residence for pornographic material and this case will also be presented to a future grand jury.

Due to the number of follow-up investigations and how often Welty is in court, Hollingsworth said the village is looking at hiring deputies to help the village when he is busy.

Village Administrator Andy Yoder informed council of two plans where a deputy would provide assistance to the village in this situation.

Coalition provides park update

Champaign County Drug Free Youth Coalition director Stacey Logwood presented council with an update regarding the village’s park.

Logwood said the coalition conducted an environmental scan of the local park to tackle substance use by teens in parks and parking lots. The most recent scans in the village were conducted in September 2015 when coalition members looked for any substance abuse debris.

The scan of the park resulted in finding numerous beer cans, a prescription pill bottle and bags the coalition believed contained marijuana.

Looking through the bike path the coalition discovered a man-made bridge was made leading to an area where evidence of substance abuse was found.

In addition to providing information about the coalition’s scan, Logwood provided suggestions to council including having surveillance cameras at the park and adding signage to the park.

“Our job, our goal is to make it more difficult for kids to use out here,” Logwood said. “If we can push it further away, make it less convenient, make it places that are better lit, more monitored we think that is a win-win for our community and for our kids.”

During the presentation, Logwood also shared information with council gathered from a survey provided to youth in the Triad Local Schools district.

Later in the meeting, council approved moving forward with the coalition’s recommendations.