By Jill Summerville
For Miami Valley Today
WEST MILTON — Legislation was approved by West Milton Village Council for the Miami Street water main rebid project at its Oct. 10 meeting.
The council approved a resolution to award a contract for the water main rebid project, which will require the road to be closed for three months. The contract can be awarded to Outdoor Enterprise LLC for $1,849,355.00 as funding has been approved. A grant will cover approximately 65% of the cost of the project.
Other business approved by village council also included:
• The second reading of an ordinance amending legislation for placing garbage refuse and recyclables for the code of ordinances for the municipality of West Milton. City Manager Jeff Sheridan said this amendment was one of three changes staff had requested in the workshop.
Service Director Ben Herron said, although alley collection makes up only a fraction of the refuse collected, he understands village citizens might need time to adjust to the new standards. He said this ordinance will make areas safer for collection, reduce accidents and property damage, reduce stress on asphalt alleys and surfaces, speed up collection time, require less fuel, and reduce strain on equipment. He assured citizens a minimum of two weeks’ notice would be given before the ordinance took effect, so people could decide where to put their cans.
• An ordinance to amendwaste related to yard disposal in West Milton. Herron said approximately 20 plastic bags of yard waste were picked up last trash day. He will provide notice two weeks prior to the new initiative not to pick up yard waste. He said the same members of the customer base leave yard waste to be picked up monthly, so customers should be able to be notified promptly.
• An ordinance amending section of an ordinance concerning storage of refuse and recycling in West Milton. Herron said the objective of this ordinance is to make sure there are enough bins to service all West Milton residents. The ordinance states the number of bins can be changed if residents are abusing the privilege of having access to 12 additional bins.
• A resolution to enter into a contract with Choice One Engineering of Sidney for the 571 trail multi mobile path from the intersection of state Routes 571 and 48 east to Rachel Ann Boulevard in July 2024. The company will provide services for a shared path design survey, a right of way bridge and geotechnical design.
• A resolution authorizing the service manager to enter into a contract with E. J. Prescott Inc. (EJP) of West Carrollton. EJP will install a new meter cloud system. EJP will also provide upgrades to software and servers, server hosting and cloud storage, and FCC municipalities radio and tower sequences. The current meter cloud system, which is outdated, has been in use since 2014.
EJP quotes the amount of $35,835.00 with annual fees for four years after installation has been completed for a total of $17,989.00, $18, 538.00, $19,700.00, and $19,676.00.
In other business, in the city manager’s report, Jeff Sheridan shared that he attended a 6,000 person annual city manager’s conference in Austin, Texas. The theme was how developing technologies, including driverless cars and various other types of Artificial intelligence (AI) will impact cities and towns.
Theses reminders were also provided to the public: A street level renewal will be on the Nov. 7 ballot. Neighborhood Pride prizes are being awarded to various homeowners. Third Thursday updates are available on social media. There is a ribbon cutting on Oct. 21 on the nature trail in West Milton Municipal Park, with pumpkin carving.
During public comments during the end of the meeting, Shane Eshelman, of Larrel Lane, asked if his trailer is licensed, registered, and running, why isn’t able to park it in his driveway without incurring a $200 fine. According to a village ordinance, a trailer or a RV is not allowed to be parked in front of a residence, but council provided the process for proposing changes to an ordinance. One citizen, who did not provide his name or his address, said he was concerned the council was passing too many ordinances, but that he appreciated infrastructure reforms. Dennis Albaugh, of the West Milton American Legion, invited citizens to visit a new memorial for soldiers who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Council members Don Dohrman and Kasey Metz were absent at the Oct. 10, and their absences were excused by Village Council.
The writer is a regular contributor to Miami Valley Today.
