Bucyrus City Council committees tackle list of projects

By Andrew Walsh
awalsh@wbcowqel.com

The committees of Platting, Health and Safety, and Finance banded together Thursday night for a meeting in Council Chambers. Committee members Bruce Truka, Monica Sack, Bill O’Rourke, Steven Pifer, Richard Rockwell, and Wanda Sharrock were present; as well as Council President Sis Love, Clerk Kelli Tuttle, and Auditor Joyce Schifer.

First up to bat was the Platting Committe and their business involved four street projects. Committee members approved an alley vacation that runs west from McKinley Avenue parallel to Woodlawn. This alley has been not been maintained by the city for 17 years and people whose property it runs through asked that it be formally vacated. The second act was to grant an easement to the Kaler/Wise alley intersection. The easement amounts to .008 acres at the southwest corner of the Clutch Dog LLC property. Many people rounded off this corner as they made turns onto the alley in the area of the easement. This easement will legitimize actions that have become the de facto practice.

The Health and Safety committee discussed switching over the downtown street lights to LED bulbs. A few of the bulbs are already LED, but council and John Rostash are preparing for a more thorough comparison study next week. Bruce Truka did some research on his own, having discussed the issue with Kiess Electric and officials from Marion who are working on the same changeover.

The monetary and maintenance figures are hard to argue with, however not everyone is sold on the new style of lighting. Mark McGrew of Hopley Avenue addressed committee members to voice his concerns. He asked council to check into this subject, stating his belief that various studies (although he did not cite any specific studies) have proven this lights to have harmful to sleep patterns. Council thanked him for his comments, and Steven Pifer asked if there were any Websites they could visit.

Althought Pifer went on to say, “I have a hard time, with a clear conscience, asking the people to pay five times the cost to light the downtown based on ambiance.”

The final committee to take action was the Finance Committee. They touched on an issue that had actually been brought up in the platting committee, and that was of the OPWC projects for storm water lines along East and Plymouth Streets. The Platting Committee had given its approval from its perspective, but the Finance Committee had to approve the $148,950 that would be the city’s share of the project. OPWC’s share is $158,500. Along East Street, the new line will run from Woodlawn to Lucas, three feet off of the east curb. Along Plymouth Street it will run from Sandusky to Vollrath, three feet from the south curb.

The Finance Committee also created funds for Crime Victims Assistance and the Victims of Crime Act. These are not new funds, but for bookkeeping reasons, they need to be created and appropriated for every year. This allows the city to receive the grant monies for these funds. The Police Department also added $4,200 for their K-9 units. The final act was to approve payment of engineering bills to Brandstetter-Carroll. This is from the storm water project, and somehow the appropriate purchase order was never made.