Scio to close Eastport Street crossing Sept. 15–19 for railroad work

The Eastport Street intersection at the railroad crossing will be closed from Monday, Sept. 15 through Friday, Sept. 19 for work on the tracks. Scio Village Administrator Jason Tubaugh placed special emphasis on this calling it a “hard” closure as no traffic will be permitted on the road.

“There will be no traffic, period,” Tubaugh said at their final August meeting.

Mayor James Clark said he would be sending out a One Call emergency notice. Tubaugh added that the work would involve maintenance and the railroad has the right of way and the village has no say in the matter. And according to an email sent from the subcontractor representative, Geoff Reeder of Safety Services and Supply to the village, work will begin at 8 a.m. for the upgrading of the tracks.

Also, council conducted a first reading of Ordinance 2025-8.5 that authorizes the mayor to enter into an agreement to allow the state of Ohio to collect delinquent taxes on behalf of the village. The contract would officially be between the village of Scio and the Ohio Attorney General.

The resolution states that the state of Ohio will collect delinquent taxes that the village is unable to collect “without charging the Village for the collection…” Clark said Village Solicitor Jack Felgenhauer, who was not present at the meeting, had no issues with the agreement and had approved it.

Another issue hanging in the balance was the money donated for pickleball recreation but was donated to the park. The problem, which was addressed at their previous meeting Aug. 13, is that money donated to the park must stay within park recreation and since pickleball is played at the Barr Memorial Gym and is owned by the Puskarich Library, the village cannot move that money over to the gym.

The idea floated at that last meeting was to withdraw the donation then re-donate it specifically for Barr Memorial. Clark said Felgenhauer hasn’t gotten back to them about whether they can do that and Clark repeated for council that park money cannot be used for anything else.

“It would be illegal for us to use that money for anything other than the park,” Clark said. “We can’t do anything until our solicitor tells us what we can legally do.”