Jewett council weighs salt supply, discusses hiring and water collections

The village of Jewett discussed the salt situation at their Jan. 29 meeting and after conflicting reports on the availability, decided that being frugal for the time being was best. Finance Officer Linda Ager opened up the issue saying that salt, for now, is hard to come by. At first, she was told salt was not a problem to get but has now been told it is.

“Well, they called me today, there is a problem,” Ager told council. “There’s no salt to get.”

She said the village had paid $90 per ton then added that she spoke to an individual that works with the village who could obtain more salt but that price would be $190 per ton. There were reports of $200 per ton at other places but Mayor Bo Bailie recommended the street crew “spot check” the hills and cover the intersections with salt. There were no objections to his suggestions.

Bailie said they had received no applications for their open position of village administrator. He said there might be interest there but no applications have been received at this time. He said the notice will be placed back into the newspaper to announce they are still looking for a village administrator.

“There is some interest in it so, since we don’t have applications we have to put it back in the paper and re-run it,” Bailie said. “Then, I’m sure at the next council meeting you’ll see a few there.”

Under Old Business, Bailie said the village did receive two applications for joining the police department. He said interviews would be set up and completed prior to their next council meeting, which is scheduled for Feb. 16 at 5 p.m.

Bailie also received approval to sign documents that were requested by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources regarding the culvert project on OH 9.

Also, Water Clerk Alice Hirshbach reported $31,167.12 taken in for the month of January. Earlier in the week, 23 shutoff notices were sent out that needed to be paid by Feb. 11, according to Hirshbach. She added that two of the shutoffs were suffering from waterline breaks where she said options could be given such as a certain amount to keep the water on.