By Matt Clevenger
For the Miami Valley Today
WEST MILTON — West Milton Village Council has received the preliminary results of a recent recreation, health and wellness survey conducted in partnership with the YMCA.
“I’m very excited about the information,” Municipal Manager Jeffrey Sheridan said. “I want to thank everyone who participated in the survey, or encouraged others to participate in the survey.”
The survey was completed on March 11, and had a total of 508 responses. “Initially, the village agreed to pay half of the cost, but in the end the Y agreed to pay 100 percent of the cost,” Sheridan said.
The YMCA will receive a final report later this month, and the results will be discussed at a council meeting sometime in May.
“There is some very valuable data,” Sheridan said. “Seventy percent of the respondents don’t currently belong to the YMCA. In terms of a market for the YMCA to expand to, I think West Milton makes perfect sense.”
The survey included residents of the entire township, in addition to West Milton. “Sixty percent of the respondents were not West Milton graduates,” Sheridan said. “Something like 45 percent have either an associates, a bachelor’s, a masters, or a doctorate.”
“Any perception of it being a blue-collar community, I’m not sure if that’s exactly accurate,” he said. “That’s a high percentage of educational attainment.”
Village council discussed the survey results during their regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, April 12. In other business, council members also discussed the recent bankruptcy of the village’s natural gas supplier. Council members also heard a presentation by Ross Calliot, vice-president of operations for the village’s aggregation consultant Affordable Gas & Electric.
“On March 25, we were made aware of the bankruptcy of Volunteer Energy, who was the village’s natural gas supplier,” Calliote said. About 40 percent of the households in the community would be on the program.
The village should have a new natural gas contract ready by this summer. “We’re pretty upset that this has happened,” Calliote said. “Substantial savings have been realized.”
There are approximately 200,000 customers impacted across Michigan and Ohio, and 39 governmental aggregation programs. “No one’s gas service is going to get turned off,” Calliott-said.
Council members also voted to approve several contracts, including a $30,000 contract with Coate Construction for the installation of five ADA-compliant sidewalk ramps and their 2022 annual planning.
Council members also approved a contract with Wagner Paving of Laura $194,670 for street resurfacing and a $20,000 contract with Colobo Planning for comprehensive planning services.
