Millersburg Council reviews evidence room audit, project updates and cost-saving measures

Millersburg Village Council met Monday, Dec. 8 and discussed the following:

—Planning and zoning met Dec. 3 and approved a variance application for excess signage at Millersburg Tobacco.

—The sidewalk project engineers are in the design phase of the project. They are going over the lighting design on the west end of Jackson Street.

—Aspen Energy sent the village an analysis it compiled of estimated savings over the term of the aggregation. Based on its data, the village saved over $500,000 by setting a fixed price over the life of the three-year contract.

—The county demolition projects are continuing at the various locations.

—The village met with Millersburg Electric and should be ordering the lights for the pickleball courts at Airport Park soon. Installation will be next year after the weather breaks.

—The kickoff meeting was held Dec. 2 and included a discussion on the plan for the housing study. The village is currently compiling lists of contacts for Envision to talk to from various housing sectors/industries/professions. This will begin the data collection phase of the project.

—The downtown traffic signal hardware was delivered this past week. The village is working with Pathmaster and Signal Service on the installation timeframe.

—The village met with its phone system provider a few weeks ago to discuss options for upgrades. The village has been experiencing a lot of issues with call quality and static. The consensus was the POTS portion of the system is likely causing these issues, so the village is switching to a fiber connection through Spectrum. It is estimated the village will save around $289 per month after the switch, so the village is proceeding with that.

—HDM will have a coffee truck in its parking lot Dec. 13 for the Chocolate Walk.

—The audit of the evidence room has been completed by the two officers who are now in charge of evidence. Of 727 pieces of evidence, three were missing: one from 2012 and two from 2022. Charges were not filed in either case, and the officers who collected those three pieces of evidence either retired or no longer work for MPD. The village has a new evidence filing system, and the two officers in charge are the only ones with access to the evidence room. The village will discuss with its solicitor about the return or destruction of evidence that is no longer needed or has exceeded the applicable retention timeframe.

—Village Administrator Nate Troyer will contact Baker Surveying regarding two possible alley vacations.

—Troyer will do some research and bring ideas to council to make the downtown crosswalks more visible after dark or in inclement weather.