Millersburg water tank project applications postponed

A water tank to be located on land newly annexed by Millersburg has been put on hold.Kevin Brooks, village administrator, informed Millersburg Village Council Monday, Oct. 24, that he is holding off on applications for grant funds to pay for the project “for at least a year.”The project proposes a 100,000-gallon tank to insure adequate water pressure for new water and sewer utility lines running approximately a quarter mile beginning at the west end of the village along state Route 39 to County Road 301. The first customers to tap in will likely be the Holmes County Fairgrounds, which is scheduled to relocate to land off County Road 301, and New Pointe Church. While other potential customers lie long the route, no one will be required to tap in.Brooks gave two reasons to postpone the project.“The first is timing. We’re looking at multiple grant sources,” Brooks said. “The second is, we don’t know enough about what’s going on out there. Before we go forward with the project we want to make sure what we have.”Brooks said when the application process does go forward, he will seek funding from the Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC) and Appalachian Regional Council (ARC).The water lines are being paid for with private money, part of an agreement between New Pointe Church and the Holmes County Fairboard. Once installed to specifications, the lines will be taken over by the village.Brooks further updated council on a project scope meeting for Phase II of the state Route 83 south sidewalks project. Brooks said the meeting resulted in a proposal that a small strip of land be added to the project. The area includes a well-worn footpath “where there is clearly” a need for sidewalks, Brooks said.The area is located on South Washington Street north of sidewalks installed in Phase I.The village has already received funding from the Ohio Department of Transportation that will cover about 80 percent of project costs, Brooks said. The village is further seeking funds from ARC, OPWC and Community Development Block Grant dollars for the project.In other business, Police Chief Thomas Vaughn announced that his department will begin issuing alerts and other information through its Nixle account. Vaughn said the account is provided for free through Nixle, which recently made its services available at no charge to law enforcement agencies.Vaughn said the service will be used to issue alerts for everything from road closures, water boil notices and suspected criminal activity.“We’ll do alerts if we have neighborhoods having issues, for example, with break-ins of cars,” Vaughn said. “We can remind people to lock their cars and ask if anyone has seen anything. We can limit the alerts by section or (go village wide)”.The system is up and running and the first alert will likely involve traffic alerts related to Thursday’s Halloween Parade, Vaughn said.Council further approved a request by Vaughn to promote Patrolman Kim Herman to the rank of captain effective Dec. 3. Herman will replace Scott Akins, whose last day is Dec. 2.Herman will receive a 15 percent pay raise, half of which is effective during a six-month probationary period.The next meeting of Millersburg Village Council will be held Nov. 7.