COVINGTON — The Covington village council met on Monday evening.
Mayor Ed McCord and legal counsel Frank Patrizio were both absent. The meeting was led by council president Jesse Reynolds.
During the Administrator’s report, Kyle Hinkelman shared that Phase 2 of the High Street Project is expected to wrap up this week or next. He also shared that approximately $100,000 in funds were awarded to the village through an application filed by Miami County. The funds awarded through the county will go toward the demolition, infrastructure or rebuild, as well as cleanup and asbestos remediation of three properties on North High Street. The village will acquire one of those properties and pay for asbestos studies using their own funding as part of a required match of funds.
Business owner, Linda Williams, spoke to the council and shared her frustration with the way the High Street Project has affected her property and her business operations. She expressed worry that serious damage was potentially caused to her building during the sidewalk demolition that is part of the High Street Project. She shared photos of the building, located at 196 N. High St., which now appears to be missing chunks of its foundation. Williams stated that customers are physically unable to access her building safely and easily which has caused her profit to take a significant hit. She asked if there was a possibility of having her section of sidewalk completed sooner than planned.
Williams was advised by Hinkelman to speak with the ODOT crews about the potential damage to her building, as they have been working with residents whose properties have been negatively affected by the demolition. He stated that no guarantees could be made by the village for building repairs or changing the timeline of the sidewalk replacement.
The first discussion item on the agenda was a rental property registration program. Several Miami County communities are considering adopting this program including Troy, Tipp City, Piqua and West Milton.
“The goal would be…if every community is supportive of it, [they] would adopt the same language or roughly the same language in their codes to make it clear in Miami County that if you’re going to have rental property, there are expectations upon those rentals that are to be met,” Hinkelman said.
All rental properties within the participating communities would require a license. The program would consist of a license application, inspection if the property were to transfer tenants, and a nominal license fee to cover inspection cost.
“Obviously, if the village is not interested in going in this direction, we don’t have to take part. I will say again, most of the other communities in Miami County are looking at going this way to try to be consistent,” Hinkleman said.
Currently, the draft of the program does not include trailer park communities.
The second item was regarding the Government Center and upgrading the drop box, rearranging parking spaces to add more parking, as well as replacing the sign in front of the building.
The final topic of discussion was the final phase of the Wastewater Treatment Plant design. There are 3D renderings available for the public to view in the Government Center.
The third reading was held for an ordinance which will close Dodd Street at South Pearl Street and U.S. State Route 41. The ordinance was approved.
A second reading was held for an ordinance which would accept the Planning Commission’s recommendation for a split of .138 acres combined into an existing lot of 2.2 acres for an area on Mote Drive at the corner of U.S. State Route 41 and Mote Drive. The first reading was held for an appropriation of funds due to increases in fuel and other price increases for goods and transportation. The ordinance was waived of the three-reading rule and approved.
The next village council meeting will be held on Monday, Aug. 1.
