By Andrew Walsh
awalsh@wbcowqel.com
At Monday night’s meeting, Mayor Ben Lash brought the year to a symbolic close by recapping the major events of the New Washington Village Council in 2013. Lash provided a breakdown month by month as well as presented what were, in his opinion, the three biggest concerns faced by council. He listed them as the tropical birds noise nuisance, the Jeffrey Drive street paving, and the change in format to public speaking at council meetings.
Lash tackled each one in turn, beginning with the Jeffrey Drive issue. The street was chip and sealed earlier this year, and residents of the street were dissatisfied with the results of the job. It has since been decided by council that this street will receive paving treatment in 2014. Moving on to the tropical birds concern, Lash addressed that point by stating that they are in the process of organizing the meeting between the affected parties.
The last concern left standing was the newly implemented procedure for citizens to address council at meetings. The new policy, which was enacted in March of this year, must see citizens place themselves on the agenda before the meeting that precedes the meeting at which they wish to speak.
“I guess I want to ask, are you happy with the way this is?” Lash posed.
Council took some time to weigh the pros and cons of this arrangement. Carolyn Kaple recalled how in the past anyone could come to council and speak, but this had the potential to become, “chaotic” and caused situations where, “nothing was accomplished.” Also cited as good points to the new policy were that the waiting period helps remove some of the immediate emotion that may go along with a concern, and it gives Council a change to do some homework on the subject before they must address the issue.
Gerri Lucius highlighted some of the policy’s negative points. “If a citizen has a concern, they should be able to come in and address that concern,” Lucius said, “I just thought that was a long, drawn out process.”
After the round table discussion, Lash asked if Council would like to see this policy continue. After the vote ended in a three to three tie, Lash cast the deciding vote to maintain the policy. This does not necessarily make the policy permanent, but that council will continue it into the New Year before they make (potential) changes.
Some of the other highlights from the year-end report included: June 29 was the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Dollar General, all the alleys in town receiving official names, and just in December, Chief Ackerman of the Fire Department handed out smoke detectors to St. Bernard and Buckeye Central Elementaries, as well as the Golden Gems Senior Citizens Center. They will distribute the remaining smoke detectors to 7th and 8th graders at Buckeye Central. “You are to be commended,” Lash told Ackerman.