March 2 2026
The regular council meeting was called to order by Mayor Jay Branson. Councilman Williams absent.
MINUTES: Minutes from the February 17 2026 meeting read and approved.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
OLD BUSINESS: Mayor Branson told Council that he along with Councilman Smith and Brad met with Paul regarding the lawsuit. He said it seems to be a clerical error. The property description is written the same as our property across Creager Lane from it, he said the legal description just needs to be amended.
NEW BUSINESS:
UTILITIES: Jake told Council he had a meeting with a representative from Silver Smith Data. He said the GIS mapping program will be available on a tablet with a satellite view similar to the County GIS that we use. He said we would be able to use it to mark meter pits, main valves, hydrants, manholes and more with GPS coordinates. He added that you can also make notes and attach pictures at certain points if needed. Jake said the start up is $7,200 and that includes transferring everything we currently have over, a tablet, GIS unit and internet will be provided to the tablet through Verizon. He said there is an annual cost of $1,490 and $600 a year for internet. Jake said he took it to the Board of Public Affairs and they approved the purchase.
STREETS AND SIDEWALKS: Mayor Branson told Council that the County received more salt so we should be good the rest of the season if more is needed.
Brad supplied Council with an itemized list for the County Road 8 project from Liberty Township. Mayor Branson said he spoke to Paul and Paul thinks we should do the project. Also, Paul said it is a Township project so we should pay the Township and not the contractor.
SAFETY: Brad had a quote from Hill Asphalt for $2,612 to repaint all the crosswalks in town. He said they are pretty faded and hard to see. Brad added that we will supply the traffic control and this includes an extra $50 to paint lines in the gravel parking along Wabash St across from Centsible Treasures. Councilwoman Bennett made a motion, seconded by Councilwoman Alexander. All members voted yes by roll call vote.
Councilwoman Bennett asked Brad about the information she sent him for crosswalk signs. He said they range anywhere from $1,500 to $7,000. Brad said the cheapest ones are solar and blink all the time, he is afraid if we get these people that pass them regularly will eventually just not pay attention to them because they flash all the time. He is going to talk to his contact at ODOT to see if the company they contract with can help us out.
PARK: Brad told Council the Capital Improvement Grant needs to be spent by June. He said he needs to get the building ordered because it could take up to 6 months to get here. He said the water and sewer is there, it just needs to be hooked up. The electrical, foundation and sidewalks will need to be done. Brad added that we should be able to do most of the work ourselves. He supplied Council with sample colors and it was decided to do the building in barn siding with the color of salsa red and the roof will be cedar shake in raven black. Councilwoman Bennett made a motion, seconded by Councilwoman Miller. All members voted yes by roll call vote.
Mayor Branson and Councilman Brown met with the coaches for baseball. He said they are a 501C and can apply for grants but they will come to us first if they want to do anything such as upgrading benches, seating or anything at the park. Councilman Brown added there are some repairs needed to the fence, and they have some benches they would like to have installed.
CEMETERY: Brad met with board members Rick and Rich they are going to cut some of the arborvitaes, the three of them went over which ones to cut and which ones to keep. Brad said we will be able to cut them down; the size of the stump will depend on whether we dig it up or have someone come in and grind down.
ZONING:
FINANCE:
PAY BILLS: Councilwoman Alexander made a motion to pay the bills, seconded by Councilman Brown. All members voted yes by voice vote.
GENERAL:
VISITOR COMMENTS:
ADJOURN: Meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m.The next regular Council meeting will be held March 16, 2026.
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