Mayor Louis Shaw commended the Street Department for the work of snow removal after the recent blizzard. Noting that the department was hindered by new workers and an extremely heavy snowfall the mayor expressed the boards appreciation of the job done by city workers. The board especially thanked volunteers Jerry Schultz and Geoff Absher for their assistance in snow removal.

Blizzard complaints

In lively and occasionally heated exchanges several citizens voiced their displeasure with the process of snow clearing.

One citizen complained that a city truck had removed his mailbox along with the snow in front of his house. The village is compensating the home owner for the damage.

Another individual complained about city workers refusing to assist stranded motorists. Board member David Kyle responded that the street crews could not assist one motorist without assisting all motorists and that would be counterproductive to the goal of clearing the streets for travel.

Another property owner asked if there was a written plan for the street crews to follow which assigned a priority to which streets were cleared first and asked if the city did an evaluation of performance after the road clearing had been completed. Mayor Shaw responded that there was such a plan in place which is being revised after the most recent snow fall and he expected to see a more efficient job of snow removal in the event of another heavy accumulation.

Drainage

In a related topic, a property owner living on East Trammel Street complained about an ongoing drainage issue affecting her property. At her location, several city drainage ditches merge into a larger drainage ditch and this was overflowing on to her property causing extensive flooding and eroding the foundation of a small footbridge she owns.

“We do have a water issue, big time!” she said.

After discussion it was determined that the flooding appeared to be caused by her neighbor to the north putting in a small pond and thus blocking the normal flow of the drainage water. The neighbor’s property is just outside the city limits and immediate relief of the drainage problem is impossible, though the Mayor directed the Water Department to inspect the situation and report back to the Board.

Sale of lot

David Kyle then initiated discussion about a piece of property that the village had taken procession of for unpaid taxes.

This property, located at the intersection of Pyle and Russell streets contains an abandoned mobile home and the village has decided to sell the lot as quickly as possible. Debate focused on removal of the mobile home and sale of the lot.

Page 2 of 2 - The board voted to authorize Board Member Greg Prince to arrange removal of the trailer and the village will then advertise the lot for sale as is, requesting sealed bids of not less than $750 to be submitted no later than the second Tuesday in February by 4 p.m.

In other business:

The mayor announced a Trivia Night at the American Legion to benefit the Catskin Days Celebration. This will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 26.

The board voted to officially schedule board meetings for the second Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m.

The board began arranging the process for interested individuals to apply for the Mobility Grant which will be used to improve access and mobility issues for 3-5 houses in Carrier Mills.