By Amantha Garpiel
For Miami Valley Today
TIPP CITY – The Tipp City City Council swore in four new captains to the Tipp City Fire and Emergency Services department, officially beginning the process of staffing a full time department.
During the council’s meeting on Monday, Sept. 18, Mayor Mike McFarland swore in four new full-time captains, all of whom brought their families to witness them being sworn in in front of the City Council and a group of citizens attending Monday’s meeting.
The new captains are Doug Trent, Michael Bowman, Chris Brock and Jake Coverstone.
Following the swearing in ceremony, the council moved to hear the second reading of an ordinance for the final plan/plat of the Dave Arbogast Subdivision and Waterline Installation project. The final plan includes four new individual lots of record equaling 25.424 acres with 0.189 acres of public right-of-way.
Next, council approved a resolution to set the rates for the city’s property tax levy to be collected in 2024. The property tax levy, around since the 1920s, generates around $490,000 a year for the city’s general fund and council is required to pass a resolution approving the annual rates and file them with the county budget commission by Oct. 1.
The second resolution adopted authorizes City Manager Timothy Eggleston to enter into a contract for the 2023 sanitary sewer sliplining project with Insight Pipe of Harmony, Pennsylvania.
The sliplining project involves lining the inside of older sanitary sewer lines to help keep roots and cracks out of the pipeline. It also prevents clean water separated from the sanitary sewer system. For the 2023 project, four bids were received and the bid for $178,753.70 from Insight Pipe was the most logical and fiscally responsible choice for Tipp City according to Eggleston. This is a project the city tries to complete annually and this year the project is being focused on Fourth through Seventh streets.
Lastly, council heard the first reading of two ordinances. The first presented council with an ordinance to amend the zoning code and map for Tipp City. The change is in regard to a parcel of land on Tweed Road that is approximately 3.721 acres. The applicant for the change requests that council approve a change from light industrial to multi-family residential. This application comes to council with a positive recommendation from the planning board, despite the change going against the original comprehensive plan for the city of Tipp City.
The second ordinance is to amend the 2023 appropriations and budget for unexpected expenses. The expenses listed include: multiple health insurance plan changes, two additional school resource officers, overtime levels of the police department being higher than expected, revenue sharing obligations, the increase in cost of maintenance for the Tippecanoe Family Aquatic Center, the excess of costs for the expansion/renovation of the Government Center and the Interstate 75 exit 68 beautification project and the increase of cost and delivery delays for the electric department’s construction of subdivision electric services for the multiple residential subdivisions under construction.
The writer is a regular contributor to Miami Valley Today.
