By Andrew Walsh
awalsh@wbcowqel.com
Longtime councilman Paul Forster tendered his resignation to the New Washington Village Council Monday night.
Forster was unable to be in attendance, but Village Clerk Julie Cronau read his letter of resignation to the rest of council. Forster cited an increase in responsibilities at work that would prevent him from being able to fully invest in his role as councilman. Council will begin considering appointees at the next regular meeting.
A couple of public comments raised some interesting questions for council to consider. Jim Gardner outlined some issues with the Mansfield Brass building that sits on Kibler Street. In his observation, there is a great deal of dilapidation to the building, and he expressed concerns about the environmental safety of some of the articles being stored in the building.
Gardner’s comments about the Mansfield Brass building melted into a wider critique of some of the rundown buildings in town. He lamented their presence, and urged council do something about them.
This segued into council’s discussion of codifying the ordinances. This is the process that the Village Council is undertaking for the village to have its own set of municipal ordinances. Later on the in the meeting, council passed a resolution to give Village Solicitor Tim Obringer permission to proceed with a quote for printing its book. They are planning to update the mooted set of ordinances they put together in the year 2000. By putting these laws on the books, Village Council is hoping to have greater latitude to react to these situations.
“We are trying to give ourselves the ability to remedy some of these problems,” Mayor Ben Lash said.
Brad Geissman was the other community member offering public participation. Geissman lives with his family on a plot that very much looks like he is outside the village limits. His only driveway faces Chatfield Center Road, which does not provide access to the village, and he has no sanitary sewer access. He was questioning what the proposed tax would do for him, since he will have to pay it but be on the short end of the stick when it comes to village services.
“How am I benefiting?” Geissman asked.
There is also the detail that his property is not accessible directly from the village without crossing two private properties. He used to have some access by being able to cross the railroad tracks at Poplar Street, but the railroad closed that crossing.
Geissman proposed several solutions: he asked to be released from the village and ceded back to Cranberry Township; build a village street that would reach his property; or open the railroad crossing back up.
Mayor Lash promised Geissman and Gardner that the village would follow up with both of them on their issues.
The various safety-service directors all had quiet reports, with the glaring exception being the incident on Main Street. Lash expressed his deep gratitude to all the organizations that helped get through that unfortunate day.
“I want to thank the police department, Chief Shook, the fire department, and the EMS. I think they handled a difficult situation very well,” Lash said.